Tips & Tricks: Markmaking with R&F Pigment Sticks®

We'd like to share a few resourceful tricks & tips from teaching artist Wayne Montecalvo for unique mark-making with R&F Pigment Sticks®. Wayne is known for employing a wide range of inventive techniques in his practice. Below, we take a look at block printing with carved foam using R&F Pigment Sticks®, and Wayne's experimental reverse painting with paper and glass.

Insulation Foam Board is a great material for carving. Wayne uses R-5 1" foam. It's relatively inexpensive (recycled and free if from a renovation or construction project), easy to carve, and can mimic woodblock printing. Wayne uses ceramic carving tools to carve linework into the foam, and a brayer to roll R&F Pigment Stick® colors across the surface. With light pressure you can transfer the image to papers or the surface of an encaustic painting.

Wayne paints directly on glass with our Pigment Sticks® as a reverse painting, and then presses or lightly burnishes thin paper on the backside. He leaves the work to dry with the paper attached, and it becomes one cohesive painting. The paper provides a backing so the paint isn't easily scratched, and can accentuate the contrast of the paint. To learn more from Wayne, check out his upcoming classes on his website.