Connecting Artists: Wayne Montecalvo & Nanette Rae Freeman

Detail from Wayne Montecalvo's mixed-media work.

This week we designed our newsletter to connect artists and to share their work. We reached out to R&F Teaching Artist Wayne Montecalvo and asked him to suggest an artist he recently worked with in a workshop, and whose work shared a similar spirit. Wayne is known for experimental approaches in making his mixed media and photography work. Wayne's suggestion, Nanette Rae Freeman, also utilizes an array of materials, printed imagery, and encaustic to explore her personal narrative.

Wayne Montecalvo, Overloading, digital images, paint, wax, silkscreen, coffee stains, and India ink.

Wayne and Jeff Hirst first introduced and encouraged Nanette to work with encaustic. At the beginning of March, she began attending a virtual artist residency, The Enso Circle. Her goal during the residency was to develop an artistic style using encaustic and photographs to create what the human eye cannot see, what reality conceals, and what evades our view.

Nannette attributes her obsession for working with diverse populations to her childhood spent accompanying her father who owned, operated, and repaired pinball machines, jukeboxes, and vending machines throughout Chicago. After the sudden loss of her husband, some of her making is part of her grieving process. She knows her husband is amused to see her working with experimental objects and photographic material as it echoes their shared longing for the unusual, which they pursued throughout their lives together.

Nanette Rae Freeman, "New Ray's" series, encaustic and mixed-media.

A note from Nanette on using R&F materials:

"I use R&F Encaustic Gesso because it is the easiest, fastest way to prepare highly absorbent encaustic substrates of all kinds. Of course, R&F Encaustic Medium is also essential. I often add it to increase translucency for glazing. On its own, I use it for effortless collage work. R&F products certainly are all I need as a working artist—but then there is their amazing website full of information."

Thank you Nanette and Wayne!

Virtual Demo: Encaustic & Photo Collage with Jodi Reeb

We are gearing up to offer another in our series of free virtual demos.

Join R&F Core Instructor Jodi Reeb on Wednesday, May 19 from 1:30 to 2:30pm CT for a virtual demo using encaustic with photo collage. This process involves printing photographs on lightweight tissue paper and embedding the image with encaustic medium and paint. Image transfers will also be explored. Beautiful, translucent layers are created by adding R&F Pigment Sticks® under or above your image for color and depth. Editing your photographs to print large with software and apps will also be covered.  All levels welcome. There will be time for a Q&A.

Pre-registration required. To sign up, go to our Virtual Demos page and fill out the form.

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Jodi Reeb specializes in a range of media from collage and sculpture to landscape and abstract paintings. Exhibitions include Concordia College in St Paul, MN; Kolman & Pryor Gallery in Minneapolis, MN; On Center Gallery in Provincetown, MA; The Painting Center in New York City; and ADC Gallery in Cincinnati, OH.

In 2018 and 2021, she received an Artist’s Initiative Grant from Minnesota State Arts. She was recently awarded an outdoor public sculpture award at the CBS Conservatory at the University of Minnesota, as well as a Hinge Arts Residency in Fergus Falls, MN. Jodi teaches workshops at Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art and Wet Paint in St Paul, Minnesota, and offers virtual mentoring, instructional videos.

Ready to travel? Jodi will be teaching an Essential Encaustic Workshop in Anchorage, Alaska at Spenard Art Studio July 23, 24 & 25, 2021.

In this three-day encaustic workshop co-hosted by Gayla Ranf and Jodi Reeb, you will explore creating translucent, layered paintings with molten beeswax. A brief history and description of encaustic painting will be discussed, as well as basic supplies and tools, safety, preparation of supports including application of grounds and fusing. You will learn a variety of techniques including how to build layers, texture, fuse, make your own stencils, embed objects, incise, image transfer, collage & incorporating mixed media. There will be lots of studio time and one-on-one instruction. You will create paintings that will develop your aesthetic and artistic voice with this medium.

Spenard Art Studio is a 1000 square spacious studio in Anchorage, Alaska and is fully-equipped with standing-height work tables, ventilation, heat guns and torches. Many supplies will be provided including R&F encaustic medium, paint, gesso and oil pigment sticks. Also included is an Ampersand Encausticbord panel. A supply list will be provided after registration.

Register Early Discount - $395 until May 30th. $450 after June 1st. To learn more, visit https://jodireeb.com/news.html

Encaustic: Using A Torch

As you apply layers of encaustic paint to your support you will need to fuse (or re-heat) each and every layer to ensure it adheres to your ground or substrate. Heat guns and torches are great tools for fusing encaustic. They each have their own benefits, but for the purpose of this newsletter we will be focusing on fusing with a butane torch.

Torches are lightweight and allow you to cover a sizeable area quickly. This is especially helpful if you are working large scale. Two common torch head brands are the Iwatani - Professional Cooking Torch and the Bernzomatic TS1500. These are portable, lightweight, and since they use a butane canister, no need to plug-in. These torches have a head with an adjustable flame to allow for a gentle fuse for some applications (such as accretion). There are also some techniques you'll want to save for your heat gun, such as collaging thin papers.

When using a torch, we suggest moving back and forth across your painting. Keeping the torch moving at all times to avoid overheating an area. One common mistake, is leaving the torch in one area for too long. Core Instructor Leslie Giuliani says, "Let fusing be as sensitive a decision as a brush stroke."

If you are new to encaustic, Core Instructor Lisa Pressman recommends starting with a heat gun and working with an experienced teacher to show you how to control the adjustable oxygen and gas level on the torch head. Lisa also recommends working on a metal table or a heat resistant surface designed to handle the heat from the flame. You'll find more information about studio setup - here.

R&F Abroad: Experimental Printmaking in Ireland

Dramatic coastal area at Downpatrick Head ten minutes from Ballycastle.

In 2018 and 2019, R&F Core Instructor Jeff Hirst taught experimental printmaking workshops at Ballinglen Arts Foundation in County Mayo in Ireland, an opportunity that came about through his connection to artist Rebecca Crowell. They met when they were both teaching at Cullowhee Arts in North Carolina. Rebecca admired the work being produced in Jeff’s workshop and he invited her to his studio in Chicago.

Workshop printing materials included Akua Intaglio inks and R&F Pigment Sticks.

In Jeff’s studio they worked on carborundum, monoprinting, and chine-collé, producing a suite of fifteen prints. Rebecca left to teach at Ballinglen a week later, taking a few of the prints with her, which she ended up exhibiting. When director Una Forde mentioned that they were looking for an additional printmaker to teach, Rebecca recommended Jeff. He submitted an application and was awarded a Fellowship, which meant that after he was finished teaching, he had the opportunity to stay for an additional six weeks producing his own work. 

Ballinglen Arts Foundation is located in the small village of Ballycastle, which lies along the northern Atlantic coast. Many who visit find that it is an ideal location to contemplate and create. Ballinglen was started in 1992 by art appreciators Margo Dolan and Peter Maxwell, owners of Dolan/Maxwell Gallery in Philadelphia. Artists and instructors from around the world have come to Ballinglen to create in this idyllic atmosphere. 

Jeff Hirst, Here not There, 30” x 22”, encaustic collagraph, drypoint, chine colle, 2019

Jeff’s classes at Ballinglen incorporate encaustic collagraph, carborundum, chine-collé, and found materials, in addition to combining painting and printmaking with R&F Pigment Sticks®. During his first year, Jeff had students salvage materials from what he affectionately referred to as the local ‘dump,’ which was basically a pile of building materials from an inn being remodeled. As Jeff notes, “sometimes just digging through a bunch of refuse will inspire you to work in a different way.” Jeff also had his students work with corrugated cardboard. The class quickly became familiar with when the local grocery store received shipments, taking advantage of the free cardboard boxes.  

On a class tour of a 6,000 year old pre-historic farm lead by archeological tour guide and Irish boat builder Declan Caufiled.

In addition to teaching, Jeff takes his students to explore the local environment, visiting the gorgeous hiking areas of Benwee Head and Downpatrick Head, touring archeological sites, visiting abbeys, and exploring vast aquatic beaches and strands. Last year, Declan Caulfield, a local Irish boat builder and archeological tour guide, gave his classes a tour of a 6,000 year-old prehistoric farming community that his father, an archeologist at University of Dublin, had discovered and spent years excavating.

Jeff on top of a 13th century castle at Enniscrone Beach, an area rich with fossils.

During his time at Ballinglen as a fellow, Jeff came to realize how important serenity is for an artist. With its slow pace and deep quiet, Ballycastle is the polar opposite of his life in Chicago. Jeff rented a bicycle and rode around the village whenever he needed a break from creating.

In the fall of 2020, the Ballinglen Museum of Contemporary Art opened next door to the Foundation in Ballycastle. It houses over 350 pieces of art from past Fellows. Jeff’s work will be included in an upcoming exhibition, which will feature works on paper. He will also return to Ballinglen this fall to teach “Expanded Approaches Towards Printmaking” from September 27 to October 5, 2021. He will also co-teach “Taking Chances: An Experimental Drawing Workshop” with Ballinglen fellow Amy Metier from October 7 - 12, 2021.

There are still a couple of spots left in Jeff’s fall workshops in Ireland. To learn more about Jeff and to register for workshops, visit jeffreyhirst.com.

R&F Pigment Sticks®: Gloves & Barrier Creams

R&F Pigment Sticks® have none of the additives, extenders, substitutes, or facilitators that are commonly used in industrial production. However, it's still a good idea to minimize skin contact with paints and pigments when possible. This is especially true if you will be adding solvents, driers, or other materials when painting.

Disposable gloves are great way to protect your skin and reduce clean-up time. They will prevent paint from entering your body through any nicks or cuts you may have on your hands. Nitrile and Latex gloves are common, and provide two options should you have an allergy to one of these materials.

Some artist prefer not to wear gloves because they can be an allergen and may slightly hinder mobility. Barrier creams provide an alternative option. These creams are used in many industries, such as automobile mechanics who often work with oils and liquid chemicals.

Barrier creams can be found in both hardware stores and art stores. They will help minimize contact and enable you to easily wash off paint with soap and water when you have finished working.

From The Collection: Elise Wagner

Elise Wagner, Untitled, 6” x 6”, encaustic on panel, 2015. Permanent collection of R&F Handmade Paints.

We return to our blog series "From The Collection" this week to focus on artist and teacher Elise Wagner. R&F is fortunate to have two pieces by Elise in our permanent collection. Elise is a painter and printmaker who has spent the last three decades of her life in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Jersey City, Elise found the subject matter of her work shifted when she moved to Oregon. With paintings that reference climate change, satellite imagery, and aerial photography, Elise's art focuses on the impact humans have had on their environment and raises awareness of how fragile our existence truly is.

We spoke with Elise about her process, recurring themes in her work, and how she transformed her garage into a studio on wheels.

Please share a little bit about your background.

I grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey and am the youngest of three children. My sister and brother are 10 and 11 years older than me. My parents are second generation German and Italian-Albanian. I’ve lived in Portland, Oregon since I was 19.  

Why Portland? 

I fell in love over the phone. I was working in the fashion industry as the showroom receptionist while taking drawing and art history classes at New Jersey City University. I spoke with a sales rep from the Northwest region and there was a  spark (this was before social media). Sometime later we had the chance to meet and I eventually followed my heart west.

Elise Wagner in her studio in Portland, OR in 1999. The painting behind her was Remote Reference, encaustic, oil, and tar on panel, 42” x 42”.

What I found in Portland was an opportunity to affordably pursue parallel interests in geology, geography, and physics to further feed my art. Enrolled at Portland State University, I studied with Mel Katz, an important artist and a mentor to me. The love that has endured is my love for the unique geology and the grandeur of the landscape here.

You reference your interest in depicting Earth from above. How did this originate?  

Growing up and making art as a teenager in a densely populated city like Jersey City surrounded by sky scrapers, my work was all about people, still life, or city scapes. When I moved to Oregon, I was exposed to the expanse of nature. It was the first time I saw the open sky without light pollution. It had a huge impact on me visually and became part of my work.  

As time went on, I became more interested in the growing erratic weather patterns of the Pacific Northwest combined with the volcanic and glacial soils that formed its geology from the last ice age. I became concerned with the environment in the 90s when the Northwest Spotted Owl was threatened with extinction by lumber companies. Driving down the Pacific Highway to the Oregon coast I saw the clearcuts. That, and the underlying message of films like Chasing Ice and Koyaanisqatsi, captivated me.

Astral Legend, 51” x 46”, encaustic and oil on panel, 2015. Inspired by vintage images of subatomic particles in a bubble chamber. This was the centerpiece image for my 2020 virtual solo exhibition, This Decade in Painting. Photo credit: Rebekah Johnson

Around the same time I came across “Exploring Space with a Camera,” which was filled with the earliest images of Earth from space from the 50s and 60s. I was in awe. I am still wildly intrigued by aerial photography and archival images from Hubble, the International Space Station, and so on. These things offer perspective on our impact on the Earth and inspire much of my work. 

How do the recurring themes in your work relate to your mark making or color choices? 

The overarching theme in my work is the impact that humans have had on their environment and navigating nature’s grand indifference. I view my studio practice as a spiritual practice, a way to express my own fragility and raise awareness of how fragile our existence on Earth truly is. Artists are in a constant state of revealing and discovery. My creative impulse is to stay open and negotiate these elements of tension within my work.  

One of the things I love about encaustic painting is that it is both fragile and durable - like human beings and our planet. Sometimes the marks in my work reference planetary positions, some are alchemic and Rune symbols.

Valley, 32” x 20”, encaustic and oil on panel, 2019. This piece was part of a solo exhibition at Frederick Holmes & Company in Seattle and was inspired by a massive chunk of ice that broke off of Antarctica. Photo credit: Rebekah Johnson

My color choices are directly related to what I see in colorized satellite imagery. I use iridescent paint and inks for stardust and atmosphere, Paynes gray for blue-hued glacier maps, and a range of other colors to reference shaded topographies, multi-colored cloud forms, and the evergreens of the vast wild nature that is Oregon.  

What is your process like? 

I work on many pieces at once. Working this way allows time for the practical — cooling and hardening of wax or allowing oil paint to dry — but also time for me to reflect on what each piece is revealing and where it wants to go.  

I practiced printmaking in college. In 2002, I began printing from the texture of my encaustic paintings as collagraphs on thin panels. I originally did this with a rolling pin, then on a press using R&F Pigment Sticks. Later, I began using non-toxic soy and honey-based Akua inks and plexiglas or Ampersand Claybord for my collagraph plates.

Do you know where a piece is going or is the development of the work more organic?  

One of the things that stands out from learning abstraction in college was detachment, which is the basis of every beginning. I frequently start with a linear structure and topographical lines, or I’ll draw out the scale of a piece’s composition in my sketchbook and think through the steps of a piece and its colors. Often the scale can be the sole inspiration and I rely on chance occurrences in the materials to allow for a dialog between me and the painting. Other times I have a general framework and images of reference that I feel compelled to interpret. I follow NOAA, NASA, and ISS and look at maps, for inspired imagery and color choices as well. 

Images of encaustic collagraph prints in process.

Tell us a little about your studio and how you transformed the space.

When I bought my house, it came with a garage. It made sense to give up my giant studio and squeeze it into 400 square feet. I had the garage sheet rocked and insulated, and installed windows and transoms to take advantage of the light. After receiving a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, I was able to rewire my studio for encaustic and install ventilation, heat, and air-conditioning. A collector generously gave me  a Takach 24” x 48” etching press. Having my own press was a game changer and  added a whole new dimension to the studio.  

This year I’m installing a new ventilation system and a built-in tabletop hot plate for my wax palette. Everything in my studio is on wheels to accommodate encaustic, oils,  printmaking, online workshops, visitors, and gatherings.

Elise Wagner, Untitled, 8” x 8”, encaustic on panel, 2015. Permanent collection of R&F Handmade Paints.

What can you share about your pieces in R&F's collection? 

They were created for the International Encaustic  Conference Hotel Fair in 2013. In the lighter, more monochromatic piece, I tried to match the colors to old worn paper maps which I’m fascinated with. The other piece expresses my fascination with building history using intersecting line, stencils, incising, embossing and inlaying techniques.

How do you come up with titles? 

I never want to project too literal a meaning or concept with my work. Yet at the same time, I want there to be a certain narrative or allegory for viewers. My daily news feed is full of updates about science and discovery. I am consciously or subconsciously thinking about these things while working with the first layers of a painting. Words pop into my head. This also happens when I’m running or meditating. I let words simmer and write them down as they come. I use a thesaurus with a concept index to refine a title to my liking. All of my favorites are circled in there. It is the best reference book in the world.

How many days a week do you work?  

As an artist and an art-business owner, I work almost every day. If I’m not in the  studio working on a commission or other work in progress, I’m preparing for classes, coordinating with the photographer who shoots my work, talking with my galleries, and so on. Having a studio at home makes it more of a fluid process but with success comes more to do and only the same number of hours in the day to get it done. Last year I was able to hire someone part time to help me with marketing, workshops, and video shoots. Allowing someone else to help me has made a huge difference in the amount of time I’m able to spend making and finishing new work versus responding to emails or coming up with ideas for how to promote my work. 

Has your attitude toward painting/ art making shifted as you have gotten older?  

Though I’ve dabbled in working in fashion, as an admin in higher education, art materials marketing, and working at a winery, I have never been anything other than an artist. All of my day jobs were a means to an end. I have remained true to myself, to my vision, and to art as my ultimate vocation. There have certainly been times I’ve doubted my purpose and even my own devotion to art. I learned from my teachers and mentors to expect nothing, to keep working and to give my art my very best. I keep showing up, planting seeds, and it never ceases to amaze me that they germinate into opportunities, grants, patrons, commissions,  sales, and, sometimes, awards.  

Over the years, running and meditation have become integral to my daily life and making art. Both help me maintain clarity when the stress of the world threatens to split my focus.  

Elise Wagner in 2021 surrounded by her work. Photo credit: Rebekah Johnson

Where are you represented?

I show at Calloway Fine Art & Consulting in Washington, DC; Gremillion & Co. Fine  Art in Houston; and Frederick Holmes & Company in Seattle. Last  year I hosted my own solo virtual exhibition, This Decade In Painting. My work is currently on view as part of the online show I Solation, and in a group show at Texas A&M titled Wax Applications: Exploring the Depth and Breadth of Encaustic and Cold Wax Mediums.

To learn more about Elise, visit her website: elisewagner.com.

Encaustic: It's All About Temperature

Temperature affects virtually everything when you are altering an encaustic surface. Developing a thorough understanding of how temperature impacts wax takes time, but will make you more efficient with brushed on layers (achieving smooth or texture), scraping, collage, transfer, and much more. It can mean the difference between a beautiful crisp image transfer and transfer paper undesirably sticking to your painting. Or getting a clean carved channel to use for line inlay instead of gouging through more layers than you wanted.

We reached out to artist Kelly McGrath to learn about the importance of understanding temperature in her practice.

"One of the hardest learning curves I had to get through when I was first working with encaustic was understanding the importance of the wax temperature for virtually every process I was doing. I found a really good analogous material is plaster; the physical properties of wax will go through changes as it warms and cools in a similar way from liquid to plastic to solid. This knowledge was really helpful with casting and modeling wax (R&F’s Impasto & Modeling Wax) when I would use it for sculpture and 3D pieces. It’s useful for painting with as well. I always think of wax as a very dimensional painting material because compared to other media it has the ability to build physically thicker and quicker than other painting materials.

The biggest tip I recommend to anyone working with wax sculpturally is to use a large deep-covered griddle to heat the wax as opposed to a slow cooker. Griddles have more precise temperature control giving you the consistencies needed to liquefy and pour but also to achieve a modeling consistency, which is also great for building surface and texture quickly."

Another essential component of painting safely and effectively with encaustic is a palette thermometer. Our thermometer is perfect for reading the temperature of your encaustic palette or other heated surfaces. The surface thermometer has a temperature range of 50° - 600° F.

Encaustic: Tinting Gesso

One of the best ways to take advantage of the transparent qualities of encaustic and explore color relationships, is to work over a colored ground. Fluid acrylics provide a great way to evenly "tint" R&F Encaustic Gesso prior to applying encaustic or oil paint. You'll find instructions below sharing this simple and effective technique.

How to mix: Pour a small amount of fluid acrylic into the jar of gesso. The fluid acrylic should only be used to tint your gesso to a pastel hue. If too much acrylic is added you will begin to lose the absorbent qualities provided by the high ratio of solids in encaustic gesso.

Generously mix the two materials with a brush or by closing the lid and shaking until the color is even. Brush the encaustic gesso onto your substrate, allow ample drying time before applying encaustic.

Note: If you are looking to begin with a deep or rich hue for your underpainting, nothing beats a layer of pure encaustic color applied with a wide brush - such as an R&F hake brush (see the difference in the small blue panels below).

R&F's Core Instructors: 2021 Workshops & Happenings

Artwork credit: Julie Snidle

Our R&F Core Instructors are teaching loads of workshops virtually and in person this year, as well as exhibiting work. Check out the listings below to see if there is something happening near you.

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JODI REEB

5/7, 7/9, & 8/13: One Day Encaustic Workshops at Jodi’s studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota

6/7 - 6/8: Photo Collage with Encaustic (virtual) as part of the International Encaustic Conference post conference workshops

6/25 - 6/26: Surfaces: Structure & Connection co-taught with Dietlind Vander Schaaf at Kolman & Pryor Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota

7/23 - 7/25/21: Encaustic Essential Workshop at Spenard Art Studio, Anchorage, Alaska

Jodi has a virtual exhibition “Botanical Expressions” on view at Confluence Gallery through April 30. She offers private mentoring and educational videos. Visit jodireeb.com to learn more.

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JULIE SNIDLE

5/23 - 6/4/21: Encaustic & Mixed Media at Penland School of Craft, Penland, North Carolina

6/26: Color Theory Intro: A Hands On Workshop at Eastern Shore Art Center, Fairhope, Alabama

7/23 - 7/25: Discovering Oil & Cold Wax at Eastern Shore Art Center, Fairhope, Alabama

11/5 - 11/6: Encaustic & Mixed Media at Eastern Shore Art Center, Fairhope, Alabama

Julie will be doing a demo at the Dauphin Island Gallery April 10. She also offers private workshops for individuals and small groups in her home studio. For more information, visit juliesnidle.com.

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JEFF HIRST

4/26, 5/3, 5/10, 5/17: Discovery & Release: Mixed Media Printmaking Without A Press (virtual)

6/1 - 6/2: Mixed Media Encaustic on Paper (virtual) as part of the International Encaustic Conference post conference workshops

7/18 - 7/22: Artist Invitational Workshop & Exhibition with Lisa Pressman at Hirst Studio, Chicago, Illinois

9/8 - 9/12: Encaustic Monotypes and Silkscreen: Alternative Routes with Paula Roland at Hirst Studio, Chicago, Illinois

Jeff offers private mentoring and self-guided workshops through Catalyst Art Lab. He currently has work on view in Wax Applications curated by Jane Cornish Smith at Texas A&M University and at Bridgeport Art Center. For more information or to register for workshops, visit jeffreyhirst.com or Catalyst Art Lab.

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LISA PRESSMAN

6/7 - 6/11: Contemplative Practices with Susan Stover (virtual) as part of the International Encaustic Conference post conference workshops

8/3 - 8/6: Narrative Abstraction: The Confluence of Imagery and Materials at Ah Haa School of the Arts, Telluride, Colorado

10/31 - 11/6: Advanced Studies in Oil and Wax at Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, New Mexico

Lisa offers private mentoring, online classes, and educational videos through Catalyst Art Lab. Visit lisapressman.net for more information.

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DIETLIND VANDER SCHAAF

4/3 - 5/3: Metal | Metallic: Shimmer, Luster, Depth (virtual)

6/1 - 6/3: Layers, Translucency & See Throughs at Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, Massachusetts

6/19 - 6/20: Encaustic 101: Painting with Wax at Snow Farm, Williamsburg, Massachusetts

7/26 - 7/30: Exploring Landscape Through Encaustic & The Mark with Lorraine Glessner, Lareau Farm, Waitsfield, Vermont

Dietlind will be exhibiting her work along with Jodi Reeb in a two person show at Kolman & Pryor Gallery this summer. She offers virtual mentoring, private instruction out of her studio in Maine, and an annual encaustic retreat. For more information, visit dietlindvanderschaaf.com.

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SUSAN STOVER

July (Dates TBD): Interplay: Combining Textiles and Encaustic at Textile Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

9/17 - 9/19: The Encaustic Center, Richardson, Texas (Details TBD)

10/2 - 10/4: Advanced Encaustic: Layers Of Meaning with Lisa Pressman at Tubac School of Fine Arts, Tubac, Arizona

Susan is one of 26 instructors teaching through Essence of Mulranny’s Painting With Fire online series this year along with Jodi Reeb, Lisa Pressman, and Michelle Belto. She offers private mentoring, videos, and virtual workshops. You can find more information at Catalyst Art Labs, as well as susanstover.com.

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LESLIE GIULIANI

4/29 - 4/30: Intro to Encaustic Painting and Printmaking (virtual) at Center for Contemporary Printmaking

5/23 - 5/27: Perfect Partners: Encaustic & Collage at Connecticut River Inn, Glastonbury, Connecticut

6/7 - 6/8: No Press Needed: Printmaking With Encaustic on Encaustiflex at Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Truro, Massachusetts

Leslie teaches encaustic and cold wax workshops out of her studio in Weston, Connecticut. She also offers video resources and sells her own stencils online. Visit lesliegiuliani.com.

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MICHELLE BELTO

7/16 - 7/18: Encaustic & Mixed Media at Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, Texas

Michelle has partnered with artist Lyn Belisle to create a series of online classes. They have also developed an invitational online residency called The Enso Circle. You can find more information on her website michellebelto.com.

Tricks & Tips: R&F Pigment Sticks®

We checked in with printmaker and visual artist Kate Collyer to find out the answer to a useful question we hear around the studio.

I've worked my way down to a small piece of R&F Pigment Stick®, can it be used?

We all end up with bits of R&F Pigment Sticks®. This is a perfect opportunity to use a brayer to maximize the luscious paint you can no longer hold in your hand. Spread out these small pieces of Pigment Sticks® on a paint palette or piece of vellum with a palette knife or spatula. This will get the Pigment Stick® to the consistency of tube paint or printmaking ink. You can add some R&F Blending Medium to add body and transparency to your spread Pigment Stick®, or oil painting mediums such as linseed oil to make the paint more fluid. Now you can roll out the paint with your brayer for a number of traditional printmaking techniques.

You can roll it directly onto a linoleum block or paper lithography and hand print it using a spoon or baren to press your print on your paper. When using Pigment Sticks®, paper choice is important. You can coat any paper with encaustic medium and then print. This will prevent the oil in the Pigment Stick® from bleeding into the fibers of the paper. You can also use sized papers such as Arches Oil Paper, which is pre-coated for oil-based media.

Kate Collyer demonstrating linoleum block printing with a brayer and R&F Pigment Sticks®.

Demo Video: Transparency & Opacity

The opacity of a paint describes how it interacts with light. Opaque colors hide what is underneath them, while transparent colors allow light to pass through and partially reveal the underlayer. Our newest demo video highlights the differences between opaque and transparent colors, offering two simple exercises you can do at home to learn more about opacity and transparency.

You will need two R&F Pigment Sticks® (one opaque and one transparent), a Titanium-Zinc White Pigment Stick®, some R&F Blending Medium, and a substrate such as Ampersand Gessobord or Arches Oil Paper. For this demo, we selected Cadmium Green as our opaque color and Sap Green as our transparent color.

To begin, take each color and paint them side by side. Note that it is easier to make a solid covering with Cadmium Green than with Sap Green.

On the left: Cadmium Green Pigment Stick®. On the right: Sap Green Pigment Stick®.

With your gloved finger, extend both colors until you can see the top tone and undertone of each color. Now add some blending medium and work it around with your gloved finger. The undertone is observable when a color is thinned out enough that it looks translucent.

Observe that the Sap Green glaze is more vivid and jewel-like compared to the Cadmium Green glaze. A transparent pigment has a strong undertone and a weak top tone, while the undertone of an opaque color is weaker and the top tone is stronger.

Next add a bit of Titanium-Zinc White Pigment Stick® to both colors and extend them further making a tint. Notice how muted the Cadmium Green tint is when compared with the Sap Green tint.

On the top: Sap Green Pigment Stick®. On the bottom: Cadmium Green Pigment Stick®.

Another quick way to observe the differences between opaque and transparent colors is to use a sheet of Arches Oil Paper, some R&F Blending Medium, and a squeegee to draw down each color, revealing their top tones and undertones.

R&F Pigment Sticks® are high quality oil paint with just enough wax added to maintain a solid stick form. They bring color, texture, and immediacy, allowing you to draw and paint directly or manipulate with a palette knife, brush, or brayer. Pigment Sticks® have none of the additives, extenders, or substitutes that are commonly used in industrial production. We use only beeswax and plant wax, linseed oil, and pigment. Our formulas are complex and our manufacturing is labor-intensive, handmade in small batches, carefully milled and molded. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Keep painting.

Encaustic: Palette Setup & Temperature

So you've set up the studio and received your R&F heated palette. Now it's time to check out the in's and out's of your new equipment, along with safe and effective working temperatures.

Our 16" x 16" palette requires a few assembly steps before you can paint. Make sure your palette is level using the adjustable legs and ensure the electric coil burner is touching the underside of the anodized aluminum plate. The brush holder is made of flexible metal. It should be bent to your ideal angle to hold your brushes upright and to fit your workspace. You'll find these steps in the image below. (The 12" x 12" palette arrives fully assembled).

Before turning on your electric burner, make sure to place a surface thermometer on your palette. Turn the burner dial between the low and medium settings until you've reached the safe working temperature of 200° Fahrenheit (it will take 10 - 15 minutes to warm up). Make sure your palette never goes higher than 220°. You may choose to work at slightly cooler temperatures for encaustic monotypes. Below you'll find our temperature chart for successful and safe working temperatures.

From The Collection: Diana González Gandolfi

Diana González Gandolfi, Suddenly Heard, encaustic collage and pigment stick on panel, 16” x 16”, 2000.

Diana González Gandolfi is a painter-printmaker with an extensive exhibition record of solo and group shows including the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, NJ; The Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ; The Newark Museum, in Newark, NJ; The De Cordova and Lincoln Museum in Lincoln, MA; The Boston Museum of Fine Arts; The Print Club in Philadelphia, PA; The Bronx Museum of Art; The Boston Public Library; and The International Print Center in NYC to name a few. She has also shown internationally in invitational print exhibitions at the Yinchuan Art Gallery in Yinchuan, China; the Khmu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia; Altos de Chevron Gallery in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic; and Centre d’art du Mont-Royale in Montreal, Canada.

R&F is delighted to have a painting by Diana as part of our permanent collection. We chatted with Diana recently about her education, her process, where her titles come from, and how the many places she’s lived have influenced the ideas behind her work.

Please share a little bit about your background - education, where you've lived, how you got started with printmaking and painting.

Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, I spent part of my childhood living in Bogotá, Colombia and Bandung, Indonesia and came to the United States in 1965, at a time of serious social, cultural, and political changes. My father, an architect, worked for the United Nations in New York City so I spent my teenage years in Manhattan attending the United Nations International School, graduating in 1970.  

While in high school, I attended the Arts Students League, followed by two years at Hunter College (1970-72) before transferring to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The Museum School at that time was affiliated with Tufts University, so I received a BFA from them in 1974, as well as a Four Year Diploma from the Museum School. The following year I participated in their graduate program and was awarded a Fifth Year Graduate Certificate in Fine Arts and a Traveling Fellowship. In addition to my art degrees, I also hold a Masters of Education in Art Therapy from Leslie University, which I received in 1978.

Diana González Gandolfi, Rooms Of Their Own: 1958 Trujui, pigmented wax  with oil over encaustic collagraph mounted on panel, 40” x 60” x 2”, 2014. Trujui is the name of a suburb of Buenos Aires, the place I lived in the first nine years of my life before I left Argentina.

When I started college, I knew very little about painting, but at Hunter College I was fortunate to study with Ron Gorchov, Doug Ohlson, Robert Swain, and Samford Wurmfeld, who not only were amazing teachers but were also exhibiting artist that taught me by example. By the time I got to the Museum School in 1972, I was pouring, staining, and working very large on raw canvas, mostly creating atmospheric color field paintings that hinted of landscape. My work took a turn once I started teaching art in prisons, a job I had through my years of undergrad and graduate school in Boston. Always sensitive to environments, teaching in prisons changed my work and it began to deal with themes connected to place, borders, containment, and time – all themes very much present in my work today.

While at Hunter I also took my first printmaking classes, mostly learning intaglio and relief techniques, and I got hooked. I loved the process but I was not enamored of multiples or editions, so once I got to the Museum School, monoprinting became my medium of choice. Around this time, I started working in series and experimenting with layering and viscosity techniques, generating images that influenced and fed my paintings.  

Where have you shown your work? Are you currently represented?

After graduate school I shared a studio in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston where I did mostly painting and started working with cold wax medium and oil for the first time. I also joined the Experimental Etching Studios in downtown Boston and began to print larger scale monotypes, which I started showing at Graphics I and Graphics 2, a gallery on Newbury Street. We began an exclusive relationship that lasted over 21 years, ending when the gallery closed after changing owners (and its name) several times. 

By 1984, I was living and working in New Jersey, printing at Bob Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in Chelsea, painting out of a home studio, and showing in New York City at the Bess Cutler Gallery in Soho.

Through the years, I have been fortunate to have had numerous relationships with dealers and galleries representing my work including The Simon Gallery in Morristown, NJ; The Pringle Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia; the Cervini Haas Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona; Morpeth Contemporary in Hopewell, NJ, and J Cacciola*Gallery W in Bernardsville, NJ. Most of these galleries have closed so currently I have no gallery representation. Since I moved to Philadelphia in 2018, my focus has been on establishing myself in a new city and making my studio the sanctuary I need to create new work. 

Diana González Gandolfi, Trinity Of Memories: 2015 NYC, pigmented wax, graphite, pigment stick and watercolor over encaustic collagraph mounted on panel, 40” x 132” x 2”, 2016.

Can you let us know what some of the recurring themes in your work are? How do they relate to your mark making or color choices?

My work has always been autobiographical, exploring themes connected to place, time, and memory among others. Using a symbolic vocabulary, I create sequential diaristic works that through the years have addressed a multiplicity of subjects from illness (Linked Legacies Series - 2009, Prayer Beads Series - 2012, and Veins Of Time Series 2013 - 15) to natural disasters (The Flood Series - 2012). 

In the more recent series, I use map imagery of places I grew up as an abstract concept to explore personal and universal narratives. The titles for these bodies of work explore the notion of identity and place, questioning the boundaries of space and the geography of expatriation. These series include: Memory Terrains (2014), Djalan, Djalan (2014 - 2016), Navigated Territories (2016 - to present), Migratory Moves (2014), Contours and Webs (2014), and Between Traced Homelands (2021).

Diana González Gandolfi, Passing Through: 2015 NJ To Seattle, pigmented wax, graphite and pigment stick over encaustic collagraph mounted on panel, 40” x 40”, 2016.

The experience of geographic and temporal separation from the place I once called home is very central to my present work. I grew up in many countries and learned early on to make home wherever I found myself. My recent work specifically relates to these experiences of being uprooted and in transition, of moving from a known singular place to a layered world where multiple cultures and geographies compete and connect. It explores questions about migration, exile, and the tenuous meaning of home.

In most of my work, color is an important player. After years of color theory in art school, I use color intuitively as a means of expressing emotion and to add visual weight to the work.    

What is your process like? How do you start a new piece? Do you know where it is going or is the development of the work more organic?

As a painter-printmaker that likes to work intuitively, I find that process is a fundamental part of my work. For the most part, the work is unplanned and meditative. I am always trying to find my voice in the materials I use to create it. I can’t separate the process from the meaning of the work because the process guides me to my imagery and leads me to the soul of each piece. Working with encaustic for the past 23 years has changed my process but the essence of the work, its focus, and my need to make it has remained the same.  

I have spent the last decade more engaged with printing than painting, focusing on learning new encaustic printmaking processes. Paula Roland introduced me to encaustic monotypes in 2005 and Elise Wagner and Dorothy Cochran taught me the encaustic collagraph process. My recent work is a hybrid of techniques and mediums, incorporating painting, drawing, and encaustic printmaking. The resulting works are symbolic of everything I have learned and done throughout the years. 

All my work starts with a concept followed by decisions about size, medium, and substrate. Some ideas are best as small prints on paper, while others dictate larger scale, working on a rigid surface, layering images, or using more color. Since I began working with map imagery over ten years ago, my process has become more elaborate and layered and almost always begins with a printed image.

To start, I create a series of loose collagraph plates, print them in a range of colors, mount them to wood panels, and then begin to develop and rework the compositions with layers of watercolor, gouache, color pencils, graphite and pigmented wax.  These printed, drawn, and painted layers are then sealed with encaustic medium and fused together to become one.  I do not always know where the work will lead trusting the process and my intuition.

Diana González Gandolfi, Round-About Grid, pigmented wax, graphite, watercolor and pigment stick over encaustic collographs mounted on panel, 14” x 14” x 1 ¾” (each), 2016. This is a series of six mixed media works that reflect on the six trips I have made to Argentina since I left in 1961.

Each image depicts the political tempo at the time of each visit and it is dated accordingly. Top row - left to right: Round-About #4: 1975 Buenos Aires, Round-About #5: 2004 Buenos Aires, Round-About #1: 1967 Buenos Aires. Bottom row - left to right: Round-About #3: 1971 Buenos Aires, Round-About #6: 2008 Buenos Aires, Round-About #2: 1969 Buenos Aires.

Is your studio at home or outside your home?

After 34 years of living in Central New Jersey and working out of a home studio, three years ago I moved to Philadelphia and now rent a space in a converted carpet factory building 8 miles from my Center City apartment.  The studio space has plenty of storage and room to spread, but it has taken me a bit of time to find a new rhythm and to feel fully settled in. I am slowly adjusting to the commute and not being able to work late into the night, to the noises of others in the building and the blinding afternoon light.  

During the initial months of the pandemic, getting to my studio was difficult and not safe so I worked from home, on our dinning room table, drawing and printing little works. After a year I am now back working and thinking in my studio, getting reacquainted with a series of works I started over a year ago and re-evaluating the direction I want them to go.   

How do you come up with titles?

Earlier in my career, I had a love/hate relationship with titles finding them too suggestive of a narrative, so I numbered the work instead. Once my work became more autobiographical, titles followed. The titles in my work are often influenced and inspired by poetry, especially the poems of Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges, but also by the work of other writers and thinkers I like. For the recent cartographic works, the titles are inspired by memories of a location. Each title makes reference to a place, time, and relationship in my life.   

Diana González Gandolfi, ATTUNED: 1964 BANDUNG, 2017,     pigmented wax and pigment stick over monotype mounted on panel, 24 x 16 x 1 ¾ inches

Over the years I have amassed a collection of notebooks that contain phrases and bits and pieces of poems that have captured my imagination or I have connected to on some other level. When I am ready to title new work, this is the place I first go to, looking for those special words that may emotionally describe the work. Most often the work gets titled months after completion, after some distancing has occurred and I can look at it more objectively. 

How many days a week do you work? Has your attitude toward painting/ art making shifted as you have gotten older? Do you feel more urgency or less? 

Art is very personal for me and making it is a very ritualistic experience.  I start most days reading and listening to news before going to the studio, a habit I inherited from my mother. This ritual feeds me with information that provides much material for my work. I like taking that knowledge and energy to my studio no matter where it is.  

Under normal circumstances, I try to work in my studio daily, Monday through Friday, 7 to 8 hours, unless I have a deadline or an appointment. When in the studio, I try not to have too much around me to distract me and carve out time at home to do anything connected to the business of art.   

As I have gotten older, my interest in art making has not wavered but this year I have been struggling with some health issues that have affected how and when I work. I try to remain engaged and in the moment, open to other ways of doing things and establishing new routines. There is a feeling of wanting to be more productive, but lately, life has been so interrupted that at times it’s hard to muster the physical energy needed to do the work. 

Diana González Gandolfi, Among The Luminaries: 1963 Bogota, 2014, pigmented wax and oil over monotype mounted on panel, 24 x 24 x 2 inches.   

Can you tell us a little bit about your piece in R&F's collection?

Suddenly Heard is typical of much of the work I was creating in the late 1990’s. It is full of symbolic metaphorical images that depict the turbulence of an emotional moment. The split center image showing a tornado-like white shape on the right and the questioning dark image on the left makes references to a difficult period in my life where I was trying to balance motherhood and an art career. It is one of the first successful encaustic paintings I made and I am thrilled it is part of the R&F collection.  

Encaustic: Handy Tips & Tricks

Occasionally you make a discovery in the studio that changes the way you go about your process. Our "Handy Tricks & Tips" newsletter is designed to offer you "tips from the pros." We hope this shared knowledge can be a shortcut for some of the more pragmatic items in the studio, so you can get right to the most important part. Creating!

Kelly McGrath on using the palette for more than mixing and melting paint

Coating paper with wax: "Having a flat heated surface for working with encaustic can be beneficial for more than just mixing and melting paint. If you've ever tried coating paper with wax by dipping it into a vat, you know achieving a thin and even coat can be tricky. The paper can easily absorb a light amount of wax by sprinkling wax onto the heated palette's surface, allowing it to melt, and laying the paper over it to soak in the wax."

Finishing edges of panels: "The palette surface is great for finishing the edges of a painting. Whether working on a flat or cradled panel you can create an even flat or beveled edge along the finished side of a painting by simply rolling the edge of the surface across the hot palette. This is a good alternative to scraping, which can chip edges and will sometime resist finishing evenly."

Creating beveled edges on an R&F workshop sample panel.

Encaustic Monotype: "The palette surface serves as a tool to produce encaustic monotypes. Imagery can be composed right from a block of paint ‘drawn’ across the surface, and textured tools of all varieties can be used to create designs and patterns. To give you more control over the painting process, melt the wax just above the melting temperature."

Pamela Blum on wood cabinet scrapers

"Wood cabinet scrapers are excellent time savers. They are steel and longer than clay tools so cover larger areas when scraping encaustic surfaces. Scrapers range from flexible to very stiff. They come with a range of edges: straight, gently curved, and as a French curve. The French curves are particularly useful for scraping concave surfaces. The straight edges expedite scraping on flat and cylindrical surfaces.”

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Check out our NEW Articles & Links page. We've gathered many of our blog posts and resources onto an easy reference page for you.

Articles & Links Webpage + Virtual Demos

Here at R&F we’ve been busy this past year building helpful content for our followers, everything from articles on working with our paint lines to demo videos designed to inspire and educate. To enable you to access this information more easily we recently added a new resource.

Hop on over to Articles & Links (located under the More tab in our menu) to find links to all of our blog posts including our popular “Ask Richard” series, our “From The Collection” posts highlighting R&F’s permanent collection, our featured artists, and much more. You will also find downloadable pdfs on subjects such as encaustic gesso, safe working temperatures, and ventilation, in addition to our color charts and Basic Encaustic Manual.

All of this content has been organized in a way to allow you to access it easily and quickly. We hope this benefits your artistic practice and serves as a tool for teachers to share with their students. As always, if you have questions for Richard or a demo video you’d be interested in seeing us make, give us a shout! We love hearing from you.

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Image credit: Jesika Theos

We will be offering two more virtual demos in April!

Our February demos were wildly popular, but we know some of you couldn’t make them. Join us on April 10 from 11am to 12pm EST for a Zoom demo to learn more about working with R&F Pigment Sticks® and on April 17th from 11am to 12pm EST for a Zoom demo on encaustic painting.

Both demos are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Visit our Virtual Demos webpage to register.

Painting with Transparent Colors

As you may remember from our recent newsletter on our opaque colors, the opacity of a paint describes how it interacts with light. Opaque colors hide what is underneath, while transparent colors allow some light to pass through and partially reveal the underlayer.

Knowing the attributes of your paint puts you a step ahead as an artist. Being familiar with whether a pigment is transparent or opaque will help you in predicting how the paint will behave and give you a greater command over techniques such as glazing, layering, and color mixing.

Joanne Mattera, Silk Road 248, 12” x 12”, encaustic on panel, 2016. Collection of R&F Handmade Paints. Image courtesy of Joanne Mattera. A wonderful example of layering transparent color.

We categorize 19 of our colors as transparent, and 32 as semi-transparent. If you'd like to make your colors more transparent, R&F Blending Medium (for Pigment Sticks®) and encaustic medium (for encaustic) can be worked directly into a color to increase transparency.

More information about the opacity of our colors can be seen on our complete color chart - here. To see a list of our transparent colors, click here. And be sure to let us know your favorites!

Making Your Own Artist Residency

Lorraine Glessner, encaustic monoprint on Masa paper, 8” x 10”. Inspired by sun, sand, and light.

Many artists struggle to carve time out of their lives to create. We have been inspired by R&F Tier Artist Lorraine Glessner’s decision to design and create her own residency opportunities. We reached out to her to find out more about what she was looking for and how the time alone benefitted her practice as an artist.

How did you come up with the idea of a self-made residency?

When I was teaching in academia, I often got invited to residencies. When I applied to them, I either got in right away or was at least waitlisted. After leaving academia, I found that most residency programs weren’t really interested in what I was doing. This doesn’t mean that all residency programs are only interested in academics - this may have just been the programs I was interested in applying to.

After being rejected by too many residency programs, I decided to save the application money and put it toward my own residency.

Hiking and photographing the natural world is part of Lorraine’s residency practice. She noted that her residency in Florida is the only place she sees pink lichens.

What are some of the benefits from your self-made residency that might be different from a more traditional artist residency?

The main thing that I love about organizing my own residency is that I say when, where, and what. I schedule a residency during a time that is convenient for me and with amazing sites like Airbnb, I can choose anywhere in the world to create my residency. Most residency programs ask that you do something to earn your keep. It could be as simple as an artist talk, donating a work to the program, or teaching a class, or it could be as difficult as working in the kitchen, cleaning, etc. During my own residency, I clean and work in the kitchen when and if I want.

How is a self-made residency different from going on vacation?
In a lot of ways, it can be very much the same as going on vacation. You really have to go into it with the mindset that even though you’re set free from the everyday doldrums of home, you’re doing this residency in order to contribute to your studio work. You really must set a structure or plan and set some goals so you’re ready to get to work once you get there.  

A rare cloudy day in Florida is actually better for photographing the landscape - less reflections allow Lorraine to focus on the layers.

How do you structure your time during your residency? Do certain times of the day lend themselves to specific activities?

I don’t like every day to be the same, but I do like to do certain things every day and usually plan each day the day before, so I know what I’m doing. I make sure I paint, read, write, and draw every day no matter what, but the time of day I do these things may differ. Other daily considerations might involve weather in case I want to hike or take part in other outdoor activities. I like to get out and see some art a few times during the residency. Then there are life chores, like laundry, food shopping, which I only do every other week so it doesn’t impede on my time while I’m here.

Before my residency, I make a list of studio and studio-related goals that I frequently consult during the residency to make sure I’m completing a few of those goals each week. Studio goals are self-explanatory and include painting, working with new materials, etc. Studio-related goals are more about marketing and could be any project that supports my work and/or livelihood. I usually choose to do projects that I don’t have time to do at home, things that involve concentration and learning. For example, this year, I’m brushing up on my book-making skills for a class I’m teaching this summer. I’m also learning more about video editing, watching tutorials, etc. as well as updating my website and developing new classes. 

Creative studio set up that protects surfaces and floors is essential when staying in someone else’s space.

Do you bring art books or other types of reading material with you? Do you have supplemental creative processes that you explore while on residency?

If I do bring art books, it’s only 1-2 special books. I like to travel light and art books are just too big and heavy. If I do find myself in need of art book inspiration, most places - even small towns, have a public library that I can browse. There are also some great flea markets and used book stores in some of these Floridian towns I’ve stayed in and I’ve found some real gems. I usually do bring a few books to read that are non-fiction and related to my creative interests and/or to my practice.

I also spend a lot of time hiking and photographing during my residencies. Because I’m interested in landscape, hiking allows me to explore the area while also exploring new terrain, geographical features, plants, insects, and animals. I spend a lot of my residency time choosing and embarking on special hikes that allow me to see unspoiled terrain devoid of tourists.

Setting up for encaustic monoprinting on the deck at this year’s self-made residency.

What are some factors to consider if bringing encaustic or Pigment Sticks to a self-made residency?

Your materials are a huge consideration, especially if you’re staying in an Airbnb or another place that isn’t yours. Unless you have a designated area and/or have asked permission of the owner, encaustic, Pigment Sticks, oil paints or anything that requires solvents are probably not a good materials choice for your residency. All of these materials have a certain pungent odor that may hang in the air long after you’re gone. There are also mess and safety concerns with all of these materials and an Airbnb host may not be comfortable with you using them on their property.

Encaustic brings electricity and ventilation concerns in addition to the other concerns I already mentioned. If you do have an outdoor area that is suitable for you to work with these materials, make sure the host knows what you plan to do.

Lorraine started this painting at her residency last year and completed it this year. Ink, gouache, graphite, mixed media on Duralar, 11” x 17”.

I generally stick with water-based media for my residencies. I like the limitation that not having my usual materials at hand provides me. Using only water-based media on these residencies in the past has allowed me to explore a new way of working and develop a whole new series.

That said, this residency year is different for me in that I am actually teaching an encaustic workshop here in Florida at the end of March (Encaustic Fiber & Line, March 24-26, Aya Fiber Studio) and have my encaustic materials with me as a result. I set up an encaustic area on my back deck and made a few monoprints for an afternoon. I didn’t plan to do this, but it was nice to know I could if I so desired.

How important is it to be alone during your residency vs planning a residency with a fellow artist friend?

For me, it’s important to be alone on my residency. When I applied for residency programs, it was important to me that there weren’t too many people on campus and/or I didn’t have to share a studio with too many people. Don’t get me wrong, people are wonderful! I just have a tendency to get caught up in others’ energy and it can distract me a bit.

Inspiration in terms of line, color, texture, and form.

As for planning a residency with friends, I am planning a few with a few different groups. These plans have been in the works for a while and got derailed because of covid, but I’m excited about doing this. Like I said above, it’s all a mindset and when I’m on my own, that’s where I want to be. When I’m with a group, I’ll be happy to be there as well.

Would you share one highlight of your residency experience?

I have many highlights and thankfully only a few lowlights. One highlight occurred during my first year here on my last day. I was sad to be leaving and went to my favorite state park to do some painting. This park was very new, few in the area even knew about it, and I had only seen the park ranger there most days I visited. As I settled in to paint, he approached me and asked where I was from, what I was doing, and then offered to show me around the park.

Thinking I was just going on a short ride, I hopped in his golf cart. I was happily surprised that it turned into an hour-long tour. He showed me areas of the park where only staff were allowed to go, areas that were yet undeveloped, and some that were nearly impassable. I took so many great photos. It was an exhilarating ride and an awesome finale to my trip.

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To learn more about Lorraine’s self-made residencies, including what factors she considers when deciding how length of stay and location, visit her blog Art Bite. She will also have a video tour of her home/studio soon on IGTV and YouTube that explains her setup and safety precautions.

Artist Spotlight: Adrian Arleo & Deborah Kapoor

Deborah Kapoor, Vestige, 7” x 7” x 3”, paper, faux greenery, and encaustic, 2020

This week we place the spotlight on two artists working with encaustic and form in imaginative new ways. Adrian Arleo's impressive ceramic sculptures make use of the natural surface quality of wax. She combines the figure and natural imagery to create a kind of emotional and poetic power. Deborah Kapoor's process-driven work uses contemporary cultural markers to explore narratives related to spaces the body inhabits. Encaustic is often the catalyst for adding dimension and texture into an array of absorbent materials in her work.

Adrian Arleo, Genesis II, 14" x 10" x 8", clay, glaze, encaustic, 2020.

Adrian Arleo

I first experimented with encaustic to get a deep lustrous black on a low-fired ceramic raven that was part of a sculpture. The surface of the raven was black Terra Sigillata, (like a very fine slip made from clay and ceramic colorants that can be buffed to a sheen), but the color was not intense enough. The encaustic with the addition of dry, black paint pigment melted in created a beautiful translucent and luscious surface that worked well in contrast to the other ceramic surfaces. From there I was hooked!

Just to be clear, the encaustic is always applied over fired surfaces, it’s the final finish and is not fired. All the ceramic surfaces I use encaustic on are porous or toothy, and I always do tests to make sure the density of color and the flow of the medium is right. When applied, a heat gun is used to fix it and to smooth the surface, or move it around to get the texture I’m looking for. I frequently use it over a glaze that has a slightly pitted surface to create what looks like a rich waxy residue in areas. I’ve also used it on a series of sculptures that look like they’re made of honeycomb.

For these, I use natural yellow beeswax with damar and add a little yellow ochre oil paint to pop the color. The honeycomb texture is literally filled with encaustic, and because the natural wax is not processed, the pieces have a wonderful beeswax aroma, at least for a while. Sometimes, I use a natural white or bleached beeswax to make a medium that can be used as a colorless translucent coating that’s mostly melted into the surface of the clay with a heat gun to enrich the color underneath. It works well over underglazes, slips, and Terra Sigillata for this purpose.

I’ve found encaustic to be a versatile medium that, with a little practice, has the potential to add great richness to ceramic surfaces.

Deborah Kapoor, Upadhi (Inscription), 12" x 13" x 1.25", handmade book, encaustic, dryer lint, paper, ink, and batting, 2020

Deborah Kapoor

So much of making for me is about the "tactile," now more than ever. My intention in adding dimensional materials with encaustic is to further expound upon content. The process of finding the ‘right’ materials for artwork is intuitive. I teach at different locations and will stop by little stores or thrift shops when out and about, to peruse the aisles. Sometimes I ‘know’ what I am looking for, but other times the material’s potential will just speak to me and I will get it not knowing what I will do with it. I also collect from nature, a constant source of inspiration.

As I begin to develop a theme, I make a lot of small works for testing how materials work together and ensuring they are structurally sound. I have little bins that I keep within my vision as I work, as options. Porous surfaces are key for adhesion.

My experiments sometimes initially fail, but through experimentation, I gain knowledge, which spurs me on to try something else until things click. What winds up happening is that the development of the process thereby impacts the form. Both are important to me in completing a work. The desire to innovate is strong. I want to see and feel new combinations I haven’t encountered before.

Demo Video: Encaustic Scraping

Scraping is a technique many artists use with encaustic to reveal the history of layers and color in their painting. This demo video was inspired by R&F Tier Artist Lorraine Glessner who writes a wonderful blog called Art Bite. The tools featured in this demo video include a pear-shaped loop tool, a razor blade, and a wax scraper from Sculpture House.

There are different ways to approach scraping. In her blog post, Lorraine divides them into categories based on whether your painting is cold, slightly warmed, or quite warm, and by how much pressure you apply as you scrap. It’s probably best to practice all of these techniques on a painting that you are not invested in as you develop a sense of how much heat and pressure yields the best results.

To begin you will need a painting that has between 8 - 15 layers of paint. How you layer color will impact what you discover as you scrape. Be sure to put down thick layers of color - if you put down too thin of a layer of paint, you are lightly to scrap all of it off easily. You can also try drizzling paint or creating drips that you paint around. These will re-appear when you scrape back your work.

The cold scrape is best done at the start of your studio day - before heating the board. Using the razor blade as your main tool, scrape slowly without digging. This will give you a subtle effect on the surface of your painting. Do not rush - take your time discovering.

The warm scrape is next. To delve a little deeper into those layers, slightly warm the surface (1-2 layers) of your painting with your heat gun or torch. Your painting should be warm to touch, but not hot. Scrape slowly and lightly without digging using the loop tool or razor blade.

TIP: MANY ARTISTS START SCRAPING AGGRESSIVELY WHEN THEIR WORK IS QUITE HOT. MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT OVERHEATING YOUR PAINTING. IF YOU FIND YOU’RE REMOVING TOO MUCH, LIGHTEN YOUR PRESSURE.

A deep scrape is to be used only in the event that you wish to remove many layers at once. Fuse the surface of your painting until it is quite warm and use the loop tool or Sculpture House wax scraper to pull back sections of your painting. For a deep scrape, you will use more pressure than with a cold or warm scrape. Try to keep your scraping tool level so you don’t gouge your painting accidentally.

Another way to remove layers of your painting and reveal colors underneath is to carve. Carving can be done using a variety of tools to incise lines and other shapes. This is best practiced when your painting is recently fused - warm, but not hot.

After any of these scraping techniques are practiced, you can fuse the surface of your painting lightly to remove scratches from your razor blade, loop tool, or other scraping tools. Once you have a sense of how warm your painting should be and when to scrap lightly versus applying pressure, you can begin to use the scraping technique to create interesting backgrounds or compositions. Leftover wax scrapings can go back into your palette cups to be melted and reused.

Painting with Iridescent Colors

Our iridescent colors shimmer like metal when added to your painting surface. We produce eight iridescent colors: Ancient Gold, Iridescent Brass, Iridescent Copper, German Silver, Iridescent Gold, Iridescent Pearl, Iridescent Pewter, and Iridescent Silver.

These colors can be used soundly on their own or blended with other colors to create beautiful, glistening mixtures. They are made in both our encaustic and Pigment Stick® lines. This week we placed the spotlight our newest iridescent color, Ancient Gold.

To see them all, visit our color line - here!

Added in to our color line in 2020, Ancient Gold is a boldly metallic iridescent gold. Unlike the subtle iridescent colors that harmonize more readily with the rest of the palette, this one jumps out and demands its own space.

Watch R&F Core Instructor Leslie Giuliani apply Ancient Gold over Mars Red in this demo video, a striking combination with a nod to historical painting palettes.