New Demo Video: Pigment Stick® Painter's Dozen

Lisa Pressman, Over Here, Over There, 36” x 30”, R&F Pigment Stick on Ampersand Gessobord, 2021

In our newest demo video, we challenged R&F Core Instructor Lisa Pressman to make a painting using our Pigment Stick® Painter's Dozen Color Set.

Reflecting a painterly palette, this set contains twelve 38 ml. Pigment Sticks®, including Brilliant Yellow Extra Pale, Cadmium Yellow Light, Indian Yellow, Dianthus Pink, Cadmium Red Medium, Quinacridone Magenta, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Blue, Indigo, Veronese Green, Cadmium Green Pale, and Turkey Umber Greenish, in a cradled 6½" × 7½" Ampersand Gessobord.

Have you painted with our Pigment Stick® Painter’s Dozen Set? We’d love to see what you’ve made!

Post your painting on IG or FB. (Use the public setting icon for the post so we can see the #.) Add #randfpaintersdozen.

We’ll repost your paintings in our Stories!

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Want to learn more about working with R&F Pigment Sticks®? Take a class with Lisa Pressman!

Narrative Abstraction: The Confluence of Imagery and Materials

February 4 - 6, 2022
FountainHead Art Space, Marietta, GA

An exploratory workshop using R&F Pigment Sticks®, oil paint, cold wax, drawing materials, and more. Lisa will provide demonstrations on techniques, including layering, excavating, monoprinting, glazing, color mixing, texture, mark making, and editing. Students will receive individualized attention with the aim of expanding their own artistic practice and a focus on content, how to see, and how to move work forward. To register, visit fountainheadartspace.com/lisa-pressman.

Artist Spotlight: Amy Weil

Amy Weil is a painter working with encaustic and mixed media. She studied painting at Tyler School of Art and attended the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art. Weil lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and is affiliated with 440 Gallery in Brooklyn. Her recent solo show, Burnt Offerings was an installation of over 600 drawings and collages hanging from the gallery ceiling, creating an ethereal grid. Weil creates paintings that are intuitive and emotional and has developed a voice that is uniquely her own. Her work is in numerous collections in the United States and Europe.

Burnt Offerings Installation, collaged drawing with encaustic and thread.

A stellar note from Amy on using our materials. Thank you Amy!

"I really love R&F products and I have been using R&F paints and Pigment Sticks® for years. I find the quality of their paints to be superior. The colors are so saturated and incredibly beautiful. I especially love the cadmium colors. I think my favorites are the Green Gold, Turquoise Blue, and Cadmium Green Pale but honestly they are all great. I always use Burnt Umber and Graphite Grey Pigment Sticks® when I incise into my paintings. Nothing comes close to the texture and consistency of R&F Pigment Sticks®. It is like going into the candy store when buying these products!"

Introducing The Encaustic Painter's Dozen: A Limited Edition Set

We designed this well-rounded encaustic color set with both the beginner and the professional artist in mind. It includes the following 40ml colors: Titanium White, Olive Yellow, Ancient Gold, Chromium Green Oxide, Alizarin Orange, Ultramarine Blue Pale, Unbleached Titanium, Manganese Violet, Indigo, Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna, and Turkey Umber Pale. These are true "workhorse" colors for the dedicated painter.

The Encaustic Painter's Dozen is a limited edition color set available now through the 2021 holiday season. Contact your local art supply store for availability.

Check out our newest YouTube demo video featuring the Encaustic Painter's Dozen Color Set for inspiration. Be sure to subscribe and stay tuned! In coming weeks we will share how R&F Core and Tier Instructors use these colors in their own work.

Complex Earth Colors

Sometimes it's good to be complex. This is especially true for our "complex earth" colors - an R&F Handmade Paints term to describe our color mixes which blend natural earth pigments (which often have strong undertones) such as Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and Burnt Umber with transparent pigments (that tend to have strong top tones).

Our paint line has ten complex earth colors; Blue Ochre, Courbet Green, Green Earth, Indigo, Magenta Earth, Olive Yellow, Payne's Grey, Sap Green, Turkey Red, and Turkey Umber Greenish.

The beauty in their "complexity" can be seen as these color mixes are drawn down with a scumble technique. As you begin to "thin" these colors down, the undertones of the earth pigment come to life. Payne's Grey is a terrific color to try this with in your own studio. Apply a thick layer of paint to a canvas pad, and wearing gloves, draw the color down applying pressure. You'll see the warmth of the natural earth pigment come to play, as the Ultramarine Blue and Quinacradone pigments found in this color mix, begin to recede.

Selecting Papers + R&F Handmade Paints

What papers should you choose for working with our two different paint lines? It's very easy to get lost in the wonderful world of paper types, brands, weights, textures, etc. And there certainly isn't just one paper to solve all of your aesthetic and project needs, but we hope to bring attention to on some of the factors worth considering when selecting papers for working our materials.

Paper pulp beater at Women's Studio Workshop during the paper making process.

Archival Papers - If you would like your paper to last many, many years without deteriorating (and to prevent possible changes in color), make sure you pick a paper that is acid free. This is a very important factor to consider.

Surface texture and weight - Picking a paper with the correct tooth can help you achieve the results you're looking for. For example, smooth and delicate washi papers such as Kozo and Kitakata will pick up the finest of detail when printmaking with our paints. The weight of the paper should also be considered. Slightly heavier papers (such as Arches Oil Paper) are commonly used for R&F Pigment Sticks®, and a wide variety of weights can be used with encaustic.

Paper for Encaustic

When choosing a paper for encaustic you'll want to look for absorbent or semi-absorbent papers. For this reason, hand-made papers tend to work very well, although absorbent machine papers can also work. A few types we have found to be successful in our workshops are Kitakata, Kozo, Kozuke, Mulberry, and Gampi. When coated with encaustic medium, papers become translucent (some darken more than others). As a rule of thumb, if a paper is absorbent it should work, so it's worth experimenting with many paper types until you find what you need for your work.

Paper for R&F Pigment Sticks®

When selecting a paper for oil-based mediums you may consider a paper that has been treated or "sized" with a barrier to allow the oil to remain on the surface layer. Papers are sized to improve the surface strength, printability, water resistance, and to make them more archival. In modern times, a pH neutral PVA is often used (or a surface primer such as a clear gesso). You may also consider papers where sizing is added to the pulp before forming the sheet, ‘internal’ sizing. Some common oil painting papers are Arches Oil Paper and Hahnemühle Oil Paper. You can work on untreated paper (this works best if working in thin layers such as monotype), but you may experience an oil "halo" effect and the paper could break down over time.

Resources & Downloadables

At R&F, we value education. That’s why we’ve spent so much time this past year putting together helpful blog posts, hosting virtual demos, filming YouTube demo videos, and creating content-driven and informative newsletters delivered to your inbox twice a week.

Our website is an excellent tool as well - and you might not be aware of all the things you can access there. On our website you can find a teacher or a workshop in your area, download our Color Chart or Basic Encaustic Manual, as well as access information on health and safety, and so much more. Below are a few highlights.

STORE FINDER

Under the More tab on our website you will find a Store Finder that can help you locate a retailer in your area who carries our products.

UNIQUE COLOR

Just below our Store Finder is Unique Color - R&F’s blog. The blog is such a rich source of information. Blogs posts range from our “From The Collection” series that highlights works in our permanent collection and introduces you to contemporaries in the field, to articles on working with our color line and tools, and so much more. Once or twice a week we send out a link to our most recent blog post. If you aren’t receiving these, consider subscribing to our e-newsletter. It’s so easy. Just sign up for our mailing list and we’ll take care of the rest.

RESOURCES

In addition to the blog, you will find a Resources page under the More tab. There you can download an R&F Color Chart (super helpful for identifying that favorite new color that no longer has a label on it), a Basic Encaustic Manual, or a Color Lines brochure. You will also find a link to hop on over to our YouTube channel where we have a bunch of useful demo videos.

On this same page is our Teaching Artist List - a pdf with hyperlinks to teachers organized by state. It even includes a few international instructors. (If you know someone who should be added to this list, let us know! We update it regularly.)

Further down on the Resources page you will find downloadable articles on “Combining Oil and Wax,” “Blooming and Bleaching of Wax,” “The History of Encaustic,” “Ventilating Your Studio,” “Myths And Realities About Encaustic Gesso,” “What Does Encaustic Gesso Adhere To Best,” “Caring For And Shipping Encaustic,” and “Fat Over Lean.” You’ll also find an Oil and Wax Ratios Chart and our Temperature Chart.

ARTICLES & LINKS

Below the Resources page is Articles & Links. This page acts as an index to our blog. It’s organized into sections to make it easier for you to find the specific post you are looking for. On Articles & Links you will find a section devoted exclusively to encaustic, one for Pigment Sticks®, another for Color & Tools, an area with shortcuts to all our YouTube demo videos and their accompanying blog posts (loads of helpful tips and tricks here as well as step by step instructions), and finally a section on Featured Artists and another on posts highlighting works from R&F’s Permanent Collection.

We hope you find our website to be your go to source for helpful information and ideas. If there is something you are looking for that you can’t find, let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Keep painting.

Tinting: Turkey Umber Pale, Indanthrone, Nickel Yellow

This week we tinted three of our Pigment Sticks®: Turkey Umber Pale, Indanthrone, and Nickel Yellow with Titanium-Zinc White to observe their range from full saturation to practically white. Turkey Umber Pale, already a subtler version of Turkey Umber Greenish, contains Phthalo Green in its makeup. As we tinted this color the cooler undertones of the Pthalo emerged. Indanthrone, in full saturation has a likeness to the inks found in pens. Tinting this color showed just how dynamic this blue truly is as its lightened and made more opaque. Nickel Yellow, which doesn't have quite the acidity of our Cadmium Lemon but still vibrant, enjoys a milder, but slightly cooler resemblance to our Brilliant Yellow Extra Pale as its lightened.

Turkey Umber Pale Indanthrone Nickel Yellow

Artist Spotlight: Givan Lötz

Givan Lötz is a South African artist whose work references places of emotional resonance as a search for enchantment in natural terrain. His work manipulates the capacity for paint to render organic forms and natural cycles of growth and decay. Givan has recently exhibited at the Association For Visual Arts in Cape town, South Africa, and Hazard Contemporary in Johannesburg, South Africa. Givan attended the 2018 spring session at RESIDENCY 108 in Germantown, New York and soon discovered R&F Handmade Paints.

"In May of 2018, I travelled from South Africa to Germantown, New York to attend a month long residency at Residency 108. I had a pre-defined goal of making mono-print drawings informed by the charged natural surrounding. I needed the right material and came across R&F Handmade Paints. I quickly realized they were but a short drive away from Germantown, in Kingston across the river. Moreover, I noticed an upcoming workshop for encaustic wax painting on their website and signed up immediately, enthusiastic about a medium I had never even heard of before.

As soon as I started using encaustic during the workshop, I recognized everything I was trying to achieve in my oil painting experiments could be accomplished with encaustic. I’m interested in how paint can, in certain instances, act as a trace of the physics of the world, of nature. In the entirely physical process of melting, cooling, burning-in and scraping involved in the encaustic approach, the patterns of the physical world emerge naturally, a painting acting like a petri-dish, a small simulation of the real world, a small gestural trace of a larger expanse.

On returning to South Africa, I ordered a batch of R&F encaustic medium as well as a handful of colors and set out to create large scale encaustic paintings. The results became Unearthly and since then, I’ve been working almost exclusively with encaustic whether it’s for paintings or new mono-prints on paper."

Pack Your Bags! International Encaustic Workshops

Zijdelings - Tilburg, Netherlands

Creative Monotypes: No Press Printmaking with Encaustiflex 2-Day workshop with Janise Yntema, 10/15/21 - 10/16/21.

In this workshop, students will discover the infinite versatility of printmaking with encaustic monotype. Artists will be introduced to Encaustiflex™, allowing the layering of unique textures and effects towards creating image complexity­ - all without the use of a printing press! 

This course will cover a variety of techniques including the use of suminagashi (Japanese marbling), image transfer, creating a resist, trace monotypes, and working with the gel press. You will explore the advantages of both encaustic and Pigment Stick® in developing intricate visual vocabularies through monotype. 

Click here for more details and to register.

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Plot VI, Joanna Kidney, encaustic on panel, 61x61cm.

The Ballinglen Arts Foundation - North County Mayo, Ireland

Abstract, Expand and Excavate: Encaustic Painting Workshop with Joanna Kidney, 11/3/21 - 11/11/21.

This workshop is focused on developing ideas, content, and meaning through the medium of encaustic paint. There will be an emphasis on expanding your conversation with the paint, developing your personal vocabulary and vision. Studio time will combine plenty of painting time, demonstrations, discussions, presentations, and a strong focus on individual support. Field trips soak up the extraordinary North Mayo landscape - its light, history, archeology, and folklore - to feed back into the work.

​The course content will include a review of techniques and tools (for adding/subtracting/manipulating layers) and media compatible with encaustic to paint such as R&F Pigment Sticks® and other drawing media.

Please contact Una Forde at unaforde.baf@gmail.com for availability and booking form.

Virtual Demo: Drawing Between Layers

On September 29th from 1:30 - 2:30pm CDT (Central Daylight Time) we will host the 8th (and final) of our Summer Virtual Demo series. Join R&F Core Instructor Dietlind Vander Schaaf for Encaustic: Drawing Between Layers.

In this demo, Dietlind will provide an overview of what can be done directly onto a substrate, what works best between layers of encaustic, and ways to finish your surface. Working on both unprimed wood panels and Ampersand Encausticbord, she will discuss a variety of materials including encaustic gesso, India ink, Pan Pastel, metallic foils, R&F Pigment Sticks, colored pencils, graphite, charcoal, and more. In addition, she will touch on ways to fuse and apply layers to create optical depth and dimension. All levels welcome. There will be time for a Q&A.

Please note: If you are not in the Central Daylight Time zone (CDT), you will need to convert your time zone in order to figure out what time the demo is taking place. You can use thetimezoneconverter.com to do so.

Registration is not required. To attend the demo, visit our Virtual Demo page where you will find the Zoom link.

This demo is sponsored by R&F Handmade Paints. R&F is unique color.

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Dietlind Vander Schaaf holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco and an MA from the University of Southern Maine. Her work has been described as “the transformation of disparate objects into elegantly simple compositions of pattern and grace” (Artscope). Vander Schaaf has exhibited at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, Conrad Wilde Gallery, The Fuller Craft Museum, and On Center Gallery, among others, and been featured in Maine Home + Design, Decor Maine, UPPERCASE, and Downeast magazines.

Dietlind is a Core Instructor for R&F Handmade Paints, an Ampersand Ambassador, and the former president of New England Wax. In addition to her role at R&F overseeing demos, donations, and special projects, she is an annual presenter at the International Encaustic Conference and has taught workshops throughout the country, including Haystack, Arrowmont, Castle Hill, Snow Farm, Penland, Maine College of Art, R&F, and internationally at Zijdelings in The Netherlands. She runs the Maine Coast Encaustic Retreat each September. In addition to teaching painting, Dietlind and is a certified Kripalu yoga instructor with speciality training in meditation, advanced asana, Ayurveda, and pranayama. The recipient of grants from the Maine Arts Commission and International Encaustic Artists, as well as a Tending Space Artist Fellowship from the Hemera Foundation, Dietlind is represented by Portland Art Gallery and Artemis Gallery.

Layers and Translucency: An Encaustic Retreat

July 24 - 28, 2022, Wild Rice Retreat, Bayfield, Wisconsin

Layers + Translucency takes students beyond the basics involved in working with encaustic, offering participants a deeper understanding of how to create paintings that suggest luminosity, depth, and dimension. Students will work with a range of opaque and translucent paint, using both medium and color to push some elements back and bring others to the foreground. Emphasis will be placed on creating a sense of radiant light, on the balance and weight of composition, and on expressing meaning through an exploration of accumulating marks and drawings at varying levels. Writing and drawing exercises will help students explore and develop their own visual vocabulary. Yoga will offer a chance to recharge and reconnect to our bodies. Walks in nature will serve as inspiration for line drawings and color studies. Each student will have dedicated 1:1 time with the instructor.

To learn more, visit wildriceretreat.com.

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.

Selecting a white in the R&F color line

To follow up our recent post on selecting a black from the R&F color line, it only makes sense to take a closer look at our whites. We produce many options in white. Our chromatic whites are pale tints with subtlety. They include Brilliant Yellow Extra Pale, Scarlet Extra Pale, and Sienna Yellow Extra Pale. You’ll find them in both of our paint lines. We, of course, make several other whites. In encaustic, there is Titanium White, Neutral White, and Unbleached Titanium, and in Pigment Stick® Neutral White, Titanium-Zinc White, and Unbleached Titanium.

Titanium White (encaustic only)

Titanium White is the whitest, brightest, most reflective, and most opaque white in our paint line. It’s the most commonly used white paint in our color line and has good covering power. It mixes well with most other colors, although transparent colors will become much more opaque.

Unbleached Titanium

Made in both color lines, this color gets its brown tint from a tiny percentage of iron oxide that has not been refined out of the rutile ore in making Titanium White. Our Unbleached Titanium is a single pigment off-white color. Next to white or other light colors, it has the look of raw linen. Alongside dark colors, it has a sedate whiteness that does not pop.

Titanium-Zinc White (Pigment Stick®)

Our Titanium-Zinc White is made of 70% Titanium Dioxide, and 30% Zinc Oxide. This combination takes advantage of the hiding power of the warm Titanium with the clean tinting properties of cooler Zinc. Titanium-Zinc White is better for color-mixing than pure Titanium and will require less color to tint.

Neutral White

Neutral White is made in both of our color lines. With spectrum colors it looks white but does not tend to "pop" out like Titanium. It has a calmer and more reserved presence. It's a perfect warm white to use next to a vibrant color palette for a moment of pause, but it’s not the best mixing white.

Virtual Demo: The Versatility of Pigment Sticks® with Lisa Pressman

On September 8th from 1:30 - 2:30pm CDT (Central Daylight Time) we will host the 7th of our Summer Virtual Demo series. Join R&F Core Instructor Lisa Pressman for The Versatility of Pigment Sticks®.

R&F Pigment Sticks® can be used with encaustic but they have an entire life of their own. Lisa has been painting with oil for over thirty years and has been using R&F Pigment Sticks® since they were released. In this hour-long demo, Lisa will show you how she approaches mixing color, glazing, mark making, adding solvents and painting with these richly pigmented oil sticks. As time permits, Lisa will touch on painting directly and indirectly, monotyping, cold wax, linseed oil, minerals spirits, and dryer additives. You will come away with a better sense of health and safety; storage; supports; transparency and opacity; complex color and chromatic blacks; using blending medium; warm and cool tones; and working thin and thick. All levels welcome. There will be time for a Q&A.

Please note: If you are not in the Central Daylight Time zone (CDT), you will need to convert your time zone in order to figure out what time the demo is taking place. You can use thetimezoneconverter.com to do so.

Registration is not required. To attend the demo, visit our Virtual Demo page where you will find the Zoom link.

This demo is sponsored by R&F Handmade Paints. R&F is unique color.

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Lisa Pressman earned a BA in Art from Douglass College of Rutgers University and an MFA from Bard College. In 2021, she had a solo show at Susan Eley Fine Arts in Hudson, NY, was part of a group show at The Telluride Gallery of Fine Art in CO, and will be in an upcoming show at the Tubac School of Art in Arizona. She has shown at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, The Holter Museum, The Provincetown Art Museum, Addington Gallery, Causey Contemporary, The Curator Gallery, the Hunterdon Art Museum, and OTA Contemporary, among others. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections and was included in Cold Wax Medium by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin, as well as Encaustic Art by Anne Lee & E. Ashley Rooney. She received an Anonymous Woman Grant in 2021. 

A Core Instructor for R&F Handmade Paints, Lisa is also a workshop instructor for Gamblin Artists Colors, an Ampersand Ambassador, and a Silver Brush Educator. She is an annual presenter and instructor at the International Encaustic Conference and teaches workshops in both encaustic and oil and cold wax media in the U.S. and abroad. She recently founded c2c-art with artist Susan Stover which is a collaborative and creative teaching site. lisapressman.net

Narrative Abstraction: The Confluence of Imagery and Materials

June 24 - 26, 2022, Fountainhead Art Space, Roswell, GA

An exploratory workshop using multiple mediums and drawing materials. Course materials will include R&F Pigment Sticks®, oil paint, cold wax, drawing materials, and more. Lisa will provide demonstrations on techniques, including layering, excavating, monoprinting, glazing, color mixing, texture, mark making, and editing. Students will receive individualized attention with the aim of expanding their own artistic practice. The class will focus on content, how to see, and how to move work forward. Conversations and presentations around contemporary art will take place each day. Some painting experience is suggested. To learn more, visit fountainheadartspace.com/lisa-pressman.

Artist Spotlight: Kelly Austin Rolo

Kelly Austin Rolo is a Denver-based artist working in the historic Art District on Santa Fe. Kelly studied design at Syracuse University and worked in the design and architectural field in NYC for many years. She moved to Denver from the east coast in 2016 and started her own journey of being a full-time artist. Rolo is an intuitive process-based creator. The first time Kelly worked with encaustic she was hooked.

"When I first started experimenting with encaustic, I discovered and was inspired by its unending possibilities; from creating texture, scraping to reveal the past from below the surface, and fusing the wax with a torch to create smooth surfaces. I am intrigued by the fragile yet durable qualities of beeswax. I was hooked on encaustic from the start because I could create with it in ways that conveyed my visions."

Rolo creates highly textured encaustic paintings, encaustic monotypes, and sculpture. She also uses encaustic monotypes as a base layer for some of her paintings as well as for collage material in her mixed media works. Rolo is the co-director of D’art Gallery in Denver, a two-year-old contemporary gallery in the Art District.

Kelly Austin Rolo working in her studio.

"I use R&F encaustic paints in all my work. I particularly like the way R&F paints respond with my printmaking processes. Their Pigment Sticks® are unrivaled. I use them as the filler for carved lines as well as a finishing glaze on most of my encaustic paintings. I also combine them in my mixed media works. In addition to using R&F products, I also take advantage of the wealth of information about encaustic techniques and information available on their website."

Confluence 1, 48” diameter x 2”, encaustic and Pigment Stick® on cradled panel.

Selecting a black from the R&F Handmade Paints color line

Black has played a vital role in the development of the arts as an early pigment used in prehistory and the first inks used by printers. We produce three blacks in our encaustic line (Mars Black, Ivory Black, Intense Carbon Black), and four in our Pigment Stick® line (with the addition of Lamp Black). Each of these pigments contain characteristics and qualities uniquely their own. So how do you know which to choose next in your painting?

Mars Black

Mars Black takes its name from Mars, the Roman god of war and patron of iron - it is an iron oxide pigment developed in the 20th century. It is a very dense and opaque black with slightly violet and grey undertones if extended. It mixes cleaner than other blacks. If you're in need of a quicker drying black when using our Pigment Stick® line, Mars is a great option.

Ivory Black

We categorize our Ivory Black as opaque, but it's not as opaque as Mars Black. It has a slightly warm, brown undertone. The name Ivory alludes a little to the history of the pigment though it is obviously no longer made from ivory. Sometimes it's called Bone Black now since it comes from charred animal bone. Ivory Black is an all-purpose black and is a solid choice for mixing greys and creating colored shades in our encaustic line.

Intense Carbon Black

The blackest of all blacks. Best for special effects. Intense Carbon Black has reddish undertones and tints and is rated as a slow drier in our Pigment Stick® line. Similar to Ivory black, the name alludes to the history of the pigment - the burning or carbonizing of natural gas, oil, wood, vegetables, and other organic matter. This is a super dark black that absorbs enormous amounts of light, making it definitely our strongest black for both color lines.

Lamp Black

This black is unusual for its very bluish undertone and the grey that can be made with it. The pure carbon pigment is made from the residual soot from burning oil and its name comes from the practice of making it with oil lamps. Slow drying due to its oily origins.

Virtual Demo: Encaustic Painting on Paper with Susan Stover

On August 25th from 1:30 -2:30pm CDT (Central Daylight Time) we will host the 6th of our Summer Virtual Demo series. Join R&F Core Instructor Susan Stover for Encaustic: Painting on Paper.

Traditionally, encaustic painting is done on a rigid surface such as a wood panel. In this demo, Sue will break the rules a bit and apply multiple thin layers of encaustic paint on paper, utilizing the characteristics of encaustic paint to build translucency and visual depth. Each layer will add various elements and subtle complexity of color.

Painting with encaustic on paper has many benefits. It provides an opportunity to generate several pieces without feeling "precious" about the materials. It allows you to quickly work out ideas. You can expand on an existing series or create a new series of small works. And matting and framing your pieces gives you another format to display your work. Join us for this demo to see another possibility of painting with encaustic. All levels welcome. There will be time for a Q&A.

Please note: If you are not in the Central Daylight Time zone (CDT), you will need to convert your time zone in order to figure out what time the demo is taking place. You can use thetimezoneconverter.com to do so.

Registration is not required. To attend the demo, visit our Virtual Demo page where you will find the Zoom link.

This demo is sponsored by R&F Handmade Paints. R&F is unique color.

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Susan Stover has been working as a professional artist and instructor for almost 30 years. She received a BFA from Miami University and a MFA from California College of Art. She is represented by Seager/Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, CA and Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, NY. Her work has been featured in several publications and is in many private and corporate collections. She teaches in her northern California studio, throughout the US and internationally. Sue offers one-on-one mentoring, portfolio and website review, online workshops, videos, and in person teaching. susanstover.com

Layers of Meaning in Wax

October 2 - 4, Tubac School of Fine Arts, Tubac, Arizona

Co-taught with Lisa Pressman, this workshop is for the intermediate or advanced artist who works in encaustic or cold wax.  Whether you have a story to tell or want to dig deeper into your own artistic motivations, we will look at how the pieces of our histories come together to influence how we work and what we create. Working with a limited palette, we will be making collage materials to embed into encaustic and participants are welcome to bring personal artifacts such as journal pages, letters, or photographs. Techniques include processes such as gestural mark-making, image transfer, Pigment Sticks®, embellishment, stenciling, glazing, layering and depth, transparency and opacity, repetition, and pattern. Topics of discussion and slide presentations will focus on personal meaning and cultivating a student’s own visual language.

This workshop includes a private session with both Lisa and Sue in the weeks before class starts to clarify each students direction and ideas about the class. To learn more, visit tubacschooloffineart.org.

Encaustic Brushes + R&F Handmade Paints

Finding the right brush for encaustic painting is key. We recommend working with natural-hair brushes – synthetic brushes are not able to sustain the temperatures necessary during the encaustic painting process. Encaustic brushes often have smoother bristles than chip brushes so wax can be applied evenly.

R&F Hake Brushes, 1 1/2”, 2 1/2”, 4”.

Below we take a look at the ideal brush for absorbing wax and laying down large washes of color - the hake brush.

HAKE BRUSHES

The name "hake" (pronounced Ha-keh) comes from a Japanese word for flat brushes originally used for sumi-e painting. The hake brush's ability to absorb liquid lends itself perfectly to absorbing wax.

R&F hake brushes feature a split shank with sewn in bristles for added durability. Each brush is made of soft goat hair, which won't scorch or melt. They come in 1 1/2", 2 1/2", or 4" widths. The larger 4" brush is often used for laying down large washes of encaustic medium and color.

For information on how to clean your brushes - click here, you'll also find a direct link to cleaning your brush with soy wax - here. 

From The Collection: Debra Claffey

Debra Claffey in her New Hampshire studio in 2021.

R&F Tier Artist Instructor Debra Claffey earned her BFA in painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and an AAS in Horticultural Technology from the University of New Hampshire. In both 2011 and 2021, she received grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been shown throughout New England, including AVA Gallery, the Southern Vermont Arts Center Gallery, Cotuit Center for the Arts, and at Worcester State University, and is part of the permanent collection of Laventhol & Horwath in Boston.

Debra is a member of the Monotype Guild of New England and the New Hampshire chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art, as well as New England Wax. She served as president of New England Wax from 2013 - 2015 and as Senior Editor for ProWax Journal from 2014 - 2018. We are delighted to have a painting by Debra as part of our permanent collection.

In your artist statement, you describe how your experience in horticulture and organic land care led you to focus in on the plant world and the assaults on the soil, biodiversity of plant species, and the protection of native flora. Can you share with me how your work brought you to these deeper understandings and became the focus of your artistic practice?

Debra Claffey, Edges and Spaces I, 36” x 36”, oil monotype, oil, and encaustic on panel.

In 2001 I started a company - Artful Gardener Professional Garden Services - that specialized in organic landscape design and maintenance for residential gardens. I received an Associate’s degree in Horticultural Technology from the University of New Hampshire, and became an Accredited Organic Landcare Professional through Northeast Organic Land Care of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Both of these programs gave me detailed knowledge about photosynthesis, plant behavior, and soil biology. It changed my life and world view.

New information about mycorrhizzal (fungal) networks in the soil and plant communication, both within and between species, has reinforced what I learned and the startling awareness of plant life as a major force in our existence as humans on the planet we share. I can talk your ear off about the role of plants in our eco-system, as much as anyone will take.

How does your printmaking and your painting practice intersect?

For me, both printmaking and painting are a form of drawing, and the drawing is an extension of my body. My prints are made without a press, usually with R&F Pigment Sticks or Williamsburg oils and R&F Blending Medium. My paintings are often a layering of prints combined with painting and connected with encaustic medium.

You served as president of New England Wax (NEW). In what ways does being part of NEW feed your practice as an artist?

New England Wax supports the artistic life we often make in isolation, with other artists who work with wax. The friendships I have made in my time with NEW are forever and deep. Together we pursue the skills we all need to succeed — both sharing and learning. When we exhibit together, I get to see the fruits of cross-pollination (forgive the plant reference!). So often the approach any one of these exceptional artists takes with encaustic opens up new avenues of investigation for me.

Debra Claffey in her studio in 2019. (Video still: Jason Modeski)

What is your studio practice like? How often do you work?

In 2015, I reduced the size of my company in order to have more time in the studio and less time on the highway commuting. I’m in the studio almost every day now.

Where do you exhibit?

I exhibit as often as possible, share my art with supporters in a monthly newsletter, and work with three fellow artists in a type of collective, called Elemental (Charyl Weissbach, Donna Hamil Talman, and Patricia Gerkin).  Currently we have an exhibition at Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

I’ve discovered how rewarding teaching what I love to other artists can be. I reorganized my studio space in my teeny barn so that I could give workshops for up to 4 artists, and travel a bit to do encaustic workshops in art centers and museums. With Covid everything changed, of course, and I spent time learning Zoom and camera setups, and everything else we all had to learn overnight to keep going. Now my workshops are mostly virtual, but I have opened the studio again to one or two artists at a time.

How have you sustained your creativity through the years?

I sustain myself by learning. I’ve taken several fabulous workshops at R&F over the years with Cynthia Winika, Laura Moriarty, Lisa Pressman, and Alexandre Masino. I’m currently enrolled in the Yellow Chair Salon, a “virtual residency” with Michael David and the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. The discussion, feedback, and connection with other artists from all over the world really helps with the sense of isolation that comes with a solo practice away from the city and during a pandemic.

Debra Claffey, Leaves and Green, 12” x 12”, encaustic, oil, and metal transfer on panel, 2014. R&F Permanent Collection.

Can you tell me a little bit about your painting Leaves and Green in R&F’s permanent collection? Where does it fit into your evolution as an artist?

I love this piece. I finished it in 2014, but it presages my work today. It’s about the field of plant forms connected to the layer of drawing that represents my hand, my body, my self in the world. It’s on my favorite paper, Rives BFK, worked with oils and graphite, layered onto a panel with encaustic medium and drawn into with a gifted sheet of metal transfer paper. Whenever I look at it, it brings up memories of those plants, that experience of drawing, and the gift from a friend of a new material to try.

Debra Claffey, Leaf Music, 36” x 84”, oil on paper, 2021. This piece was exhibited at the Fitchburg Art Museum as part of the 85th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft.

How can people find you? What upcoming workshops do you have available?

My website, debraclaffey.com is the portal to my new work, to workshops, and to my blog. Day-to-day explorations of work and life are posted on Instagram, @debraclaffeyart, and Facebook, DebraClaffeyArt.

I run a weekly online interactive class that is part demo, part art share, and part open-studio on Wednesdays and Fridays, called Painting and Drawing and Everything in Between, as well as any of the several workshops on my website. I work slightly differently in that dates are not set until someone asks for a workshop and then we schedule it. So, if you see a workshop that interests you be sure to contact me and we will set it up. I will return to teaching encaustic painting in person at the New Art Center in Newton, Massachusetts September 23.

My painting Leaf Music is currently on view at the The 85th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, Massachusetts through September 5. And if you find yourself in Falmouth, Massachusetts, be sure to visit Highfield Hall and Gardens to check out SeaChange: Meditations in Sustainability, which features work from members of Elemental and will be up until October 31.

An Inspiring Visit With Leslie Giuliani At Brown Pink

We'd like to give a big thank you to Leslie Giuliani for visiting the R&F Handmade Paints Residency at Brown Pink over the last two weeks. We adored sharing in conversation, watching your creativity with our paint, and hearing your feedback as we continue to development Brown Pink into a one-of-kind residency experience.

Make sure to stay tuned, we'll be sharing more of the wonderful details and information about how to apply with you soon!

Can You Combine Pigment Sticks With Tube Oil Paint?

Yes, in fact we recommend giving it a try. Our Pigment Sticks® offer a terrific tool for painting and "drawing" directly onto your support. Beyond this, as you play and push their limits, and combine them with items you may already have in your studio, you'll find out just how much you can do.

One way you can try this is by building up an abstract ground, or the general shapes, values, and contrast of a representational scene with a brush and tube oil paints. Once you have these forms established, apply Pigment Sticks® to build up layers and apply the "final touches". This could be the glimmering light in a plein-air scene, the heavier contrast of a still life, or visual textures easily achieved with our sticks.

Underpainting with tube oil paints.

Building up layers and texture with R&F Pigment Sticks®.

You can also integrate oil painting mediums traditionally made for tube oil paints. Oil painting mediums have long been used to alter the state of oil paint, such as transparency, consistency, drying time and so on. You can use any of these mediums, varnishes, solvents if you choose the same way you would with tube oil paints. To learn more about the mediums we produce, click here.