We continue "People & Places" this week with a group of gifted artists from the North, East, and South. We begin in the North, where we are captivated by Tracy Penn's layered surfaces. Tracy's work combines encaustic and found materials, giving a second life and mesmerizing texture to discarded items. In the East, we look at Alteronce Gumby's geometric, colorful, and abstract works. Gumby’s paintings examine culture through the use of color, often packed with rich hue and touch. Shelley Jean lives, works, and teaches in Florida. Much of her artwork reflects the landscape surrounding her. You can feel the ocean topography in her brushwork and use of color.

Don Maynard lives and works in Kingston, Ontario. His art practice includes painting, sculpture, and multi-media installations. Previous public art works include Stand of Birch, Archive and Fallen Star for the City of Ottawa and Wave for the City of Toronto. Maynard shows nationally and internationally. He is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and a Chalmers Fellowship. Previous solo exhibitions include Tidal Mass, and Franken Forest at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, and Franken Forest at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa.

To begin the second round of "People & Places" we direct the spotlight back towards creators in various stages of their careers. This week we focus on the Midwest, West, and an artist from beyond our borders. We get to know our paint even better when we see it in action, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the results when it leaves our factory and enters your studio.

Energized linework, pale washes, and text are just some of the ways ink can provide unexpected elements to your encaustic painting. You can draw, write, or print directly on the wax as a final layer, or you can add encaustic medium on top of dry ink to create a pale wash and faint lines.

We've been lucky to know Jane Allen Nodine for many years. Jane is University Gallery Director and Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina Upstate where she served as head of the art program for over twenty years. Prior to joining the University she owned and operated a full-service jewelry design and manufacturing company. Jane has worked in a variety of media throughout her career and she exhibits widely in the US and Europe.

Paper glued to panel can create a lovely surface to work on and bring a finished quality to your artwork. If you've already tried this in your studio, you know the results are well worth it. It is important to follow each of the following steps carefully to prevent bubbles from forming, which can be detrimental to a piece of artwork down the road.

Leigh Palmer received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1966. He is the recipient of a MacDowell Colony Fellowship and has had numerous solo shows in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. His paintings Interior with Three Pears and Striped Tablecloth with Two Apples, both oil on linen from 1983, are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (gifts of the Sara Roby Foundation), and his work is in multiple corporate and private collections, including the National Museum of American Art, The New School for Social Research, and American Bank and Trust.

We've been watching the many ways artists have explored geometry with our materials, which came to light while researching for our newsletter on encaustic inlay. We spoke with two artists, Joe Celli and Penny Dell, about the application of geometric ideas in their encaustic work. Penny visits our studio regularly and works with collaged geometric patterns, often on paper. Joe inlays a multitude of translucent geometric shapes to build a dimensional surface in an almost cathartic experience.

Our latest YouTube video is a demo on how to clean your encaustic paintbrushes using R&F soy wax. Artists ask us what soy wax is for all the time. In this brief video, we share a few tips and easy to follow steps to help you get started.

We continue our series on "People & Places" this week with a group of exceptional artists from the West, Midwest, and abroad. We begin in the West, where we are uplifted by Tracey Adams’ wandering and seemingly effortless line-work and color command, Tracey lives and works in California. In the Midwest, Sarah Rehmer is an artist and educator who teaches regional R&F workshops at La Grange Art Center outside of Chicago. Process is paramount throughout her practice. Finally, Joanna Kidney lives and works in Ireland. Her work is patiently organized and has a captivating weightless quality.

First, we make the paint. Next, we watch in awe at the boundless creativity you bring to it. Over the next two weeks, we take a moment to recognize artists working with our materials at all different stages of their life in the arts. We've decided to see what's happening around the United States by region, and also beyond our borders.

Artist, author, and founder of the annual International Encaustic Conference, Joanne Mattera’s use of color is nuanced, rich, and deep. R&F is fortunate enough to have two paintings by Joanne in our permanent collection. In this conversation, we learned a bit more about Joanne’s relationship to color, the way she creates tension within her paintings, and how the element of surprise affects her work.

We asked a stellar group of artists about the tools they find indispensable in their practice. Some of these are store-bought items and some are found objects. Artists hunt and look for whatever is needed to make the perfect line, scrape, brush mark, or whatever is required.

For good reason, artists are often concerned about shipping or transporting works in encaustic. Encaustic in extreme situations is vulnerable to cracking, chipping, flaking, or softening (or worse, melting). This is especially true when the shipment or transportation is done in extremely hot or very cold temperature conditions.

Have you ever wondered, what exactly does encaustic stick to? The visual and physical structure of a painting is about more than the paint medium itself. It is also about what it is painted on — how the substrate, or ground, influences and enhances the paint film above it and ultimately the artwork itself.

This week we return to our Ask Richard series to take a deeper dive into all things Pigment Stick® with founder Richard Frumess. For those of you that haven’t experienced the magic and immediacy of working with them, R&F Pigment Sticks® are oil paint with just enough wax to be molded into stick form.

This week we had a conversation with artist and educator Pamela W. Wallace and looked back at photographs from a wonderful visit to her studio prior to COVID 19. Pamela worked as a physician until closing her practice to pursue a BA in painting, followed by three years of study in printmaking.

One of the beautiful qualities of working with encaustic is its malleability. There are so many things you can do with it. Carve it, pour it, layer it, paint with it, cast it, transfer images on it, really - you name it. This week we share a technique that uses fresh leaves as stencils. As you will see in the video below by R&F instructor Dietlind Vander Schaaf, this is an easy and fun way to capture some of the beauty around you this summer.

Jodi Reeb has been a full-time artist and teacher for over 23 years. She lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jodi teaches printmaking, acrylic, and encaustic painting, as well as book arts. Her artwork has been shown nationally, received numerous awards, and is in many private and corporate collections. She is the recipient a the Minnesota State Arts Board Grant in 2018. Jodi received a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD), where she taught printmaking for over 9 years.

How are artists using encaustic inlay? We chatted with a few of our instructors to see just how they are making use of inlaid design, pattern, and material in their encaustic works and through their teaching practices. Below you will find responses from Dietlind Vander Schaaf, Kelly McGrath, and Lorraine Glessner. One thing is certain, there are many ways to take advantage and even reinvent this age-old technique.