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"Iris
Peek " by JRJ 8" x 10" encaustic over acrylic on
board
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| "Iris
Peek " by JRJ 8" x 10" encaustic on board |
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| ""Wax
Lotus " by JRJ 8" square encaustic over acrylic
on matboard on board |
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| "Red
Bowl " 12" x 16" by JRJ encaustic over acrylic
on board |
"Red
Bowl " by JRJ encaustic over acrylic on board
"Wax
Lotus " by JRJ 8" square encaustic over acrylic on mat
board on board
"Bowl of Cherries" by JRJ encaustic & gold leaf over
acrylic 8" square on board
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| "Bowl
of Cherries" 9" square by JRJ encaustic & gold
leaf over acrylic on board |
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| "Iris Field" (Iris hoards) watercolor by JRJ 18"
x 22" |
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| "Lane"
by JRJ 12" x 14"encaustic on board |
| This
is hot wax applied to a cold board surface. The wax quickly
cools becoming 3 dimensional and thick, applied with old stubby
brushes, sticks and palette knives it quickly takes on an
appearance of impasto painting, with the juxtaposed visual
mixing of impressionist painting. |
"Lane"
by JRJ encaustic
|
Encaustic
is a fancy word for a simple medium. To individual heated pans pans
of molten bees wax, dry pigment is added to produce a working palette
of paints that may be placed on a rigid board surface to build up
a paint layer and make an image. Fter almost a century of avoidance,
artists have rediscovered this medium for its inherent high intense
color transmitting ability and the appeal of a truly elemental painting
medium that now seems exotic.
History
records portraits on caskets of deceased people from tombs and sarcophagi
with bright seemingly recently painted images uncorrupted by age
mold or consumed by insects. These painting have withstood centuries
of neglect to show us ancient cultures and the hand of artists from
antiquity. Paintings in this medium will last as long as the wood
surfaced used to paint upon. Recent practice sees pure encaustic
paintings standing alone as well as encaustic used in mixed media
applications. The final effect may be as crude or detailed and sensitive
as you wish. It is a wonderful plastic media with great characteristics
and warmth.
Homework
# 10 "Intense color" as the only requirement
in making an image You need not invest in encaustic paints, but try
to produce the most intense colors for this assignment. I
used encaustic in the painting "Red Bowl" when I discovered
the quintessential red bowl, I was trying to paint was not intensely
red enough. Casting about in my mind to imagine a redder red, I
thought of making my own by adding red pigment to acrylic gel or
medium. It did not seem red enough, so I tried encaustic producing
the reddest red bowl I could produce and selected background colors
to further enhance the red. It was an unqualified success, in my
view. Experimenting further with this "in-your-face" painting
medium, I conceived of 3-dimensionality as a further enhancement
of the form. This caused the experiments with adding mat board under
pieces to raise edges and better contain and control the molten
pools of wax while they cooled, until solid. This process added
an enhancement to the encaustic paintings un-contemplated before.
"Japanese Iris" also called "Iris Peek"and "Wax
Lotus" are the resulting paintings.
Painting
process for encaustic paint - the molten (melted- liquid) wax is
applied to an inflexible surface, hardboard or wooden panel as a
painting surface with the most crude painting tools, due to the
very liquid to very stiff paint texture as it cools. Painted on
a cool surface, it congeals quickly adding texture and height. On
a warm surface it rmains in a liquid state flowing and mixing almost
at will. Competent paint handling requires quite a bit of practice.
You quickly learn that sticks and painting knives serve better than
brushes to deliver and model the paint layer. There are commercial
premixed wax versions{Dorland's wax for instance] that includes
a solvent and mixes well with oils. It should be used without heat
since the solvent makes it even more volatile. It is possible to
produce a similar wax paste by using hot water and a blender, producing
a non solvent water based wax that blends with acrylics the way
the solvent/ wax mixture blends with oil paint, however the blender
container and cutting blades will be considered virtually ruined
by this process.
In
the hot or warm surface version the gessoed Masonite is placed on
a warm hot plate and paint is applied while it is warm, adding heat
to soften the paint layer with an infra-red lamp or a heat gun on
low [high settings are used to soften & remove paint] I have
even placed a cold masonite board in an oven for a few seconds under
a broiler to soften & work a paint layer.
There
is a process called burning in where the layers are heated so that
they blend together making a harder combined layer less likely to
peel apart. Dammar crystals may be added to harden the surface.
Just a few added to the molten source wax will suffice. I don't
recommend the microcrystalline wax and paraffin - both are petroleum
products which are hazardous and yellow over time. I also recommend
against the solvent based mixtures for the same reason. The water
wax mixture from the blender is fun, but creates another layer of
complexity. Try this media when you can acquire some dry pigment
colors and have time to play. Clayboard surfaces are an easy solution,
with raised support and small surface area
|
 "Courtyard
Plaza" 24" x 26" by JRJ encaustic on masonite.
"Quilt
Remnant " by JRJ encaustic 12" x 16" on board
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Encaustic
is a pleasant tactile experience for the painter,
but beware the seduction of advanced techniques.
Technique is there to serve the artists aesthetic,
and is not an end in itself. It is one of the weaknesses
of learning intense technical processes like printmaking
or paper making, that there are many artists swallowed
up by the seduction of technique and learning the craft.
Better to make use of simple means that serve your
aesthetic vision, than give up artmaking in pursuit of technical expertise. |
an
assortment of # 7 sable rounds