catch up/process/changing times

it's great that many of the paintings in the jasper johns show now at the Met are not behind glass. it allows the viewers to really see his encaustic techniques. i am wondering what, if anything, will be the influence of this serene show? a majority of the work is encaustic-will more people learn about this medium, will more artists explore it, will we see more interiors done in gray?

also currently at the Guggenheim is "i want to believe" by the chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. see this show. talk about a process using heat. Cai uses gunpowder and fuses on large sheets of paper to create his large drawings. destruction, transformation, matter, energy, politics, history and science are all expressed in this work of various media. he is also one of the creative people planning the open and closing ceremonies of the coming summer olympics. can't wait to see what that will look and sound like.

a polaroid just isn't fast enough any more...the polaroid company-which really isn't the company since the company went bankrupt and another company bought them for their name-has announced that they will stop making polaroid film next year. many artists use their film but don't know about this. the film should be saved. each photo is  unique, a quality as far as i am concerned and if you don't know about polaroid transfers onto water color paper it is a great process that can also be taken further with hand coloring or by using encaustic on top. for further information just google save polaroid film.

Heated Palettes

nowadays there are a variety of palettes to chose from for the encaustic painter. still many artists just starting to work with this medium would like other, less expensive options. one choice is to make your own palette-i often talk about this in my workshops as this is how i started and many of my students seem interested in also starting this way. in its most basic form-

purchase an electric hot plate (hardware stores or the large chains with kitchen depts.).

find a metal shop in your area and ask them to cut you a square of anodized aluminum sheet 1/4" thick ( i started with 12" square, kind of small and it wasn't even anodized which prevents a black film from forming on the heated metal surface). also have them drill a 1/4" hole in each corner.

get a 1"diameter wood dowel. measure the height of the hot plate and add 1/4"-this is the measurement to use to cut the dowel for the legs.

use screws from the top to attach the legs.

set over the hotplate and you are ready to start. 

it is also handy to have a small level to check  your palette-if it is not level the wax will run over the side and burn on the hotplate.

one more thing-you should use a surface thermometer to monitor the temp. of the palette-very important for safety and health reasons.

i used this palette for about five years and did many large paintings during that time although now i do use the r&f palette. every artist has different needs and i would suggest looking into the other palettes that are now available.

coming events

so many artists working with other media are investigating encaustics to add to their process and work. i will be having a one day workshop on encaustics with photography on 3/15 at silvermine guild arts center. if you have not seen the two combined take a look at the recent work of the Starn twins.

microcosms, a show of my encaustic work and that of friend and fellow artist Roger Mudre who works primarily with acrylics (but he does have an encaustic set-up so one of these days...) will be at the Kershner Gallery in fairfield from 3/30-5/18. the opening will be on saturday, april 5 from 5-7. I will also be doing an encaustic "show and tell" sometime during april. my work in this show will be an expansion of my "elements" series-this time focusing on h2o.

another talk will be at the second encaustic conference in beverly, ma on june 7. more about that to come with images. the talk is titled "warp, weft and wax".

and finally i was selected to have a solo show next september at silvermine arts center. tentative title-"mapping the genome".

ps: at times encaustics seem to have a mind of their own. in regards to that i like this quote by Tanguy "i found that if i planned a picture beforehand, it never surprised me and surprises are my pleasure in painting". so let yourself be surprised.

bits & pieces-collage

collage comes from the french coller, to stick. a better description would be "glueing together bits and pieces of unrelated images including previously used commercial materials to create something unprecedented". it has a long history although Braque and Picasso and usually given credit for its "invention". between the two, Picasso used a wider range of materials-everything from sand, wallpaper, printed papers to dimensional objects. since the 1920's many artists have explored collage from Hannah Hoch, Kurt Schwitters to Rauschenberg and beyond. a collage artist whose work you might not be aware of is Fred Otnes. his book (of the same name) is available through amazon. his work may be considered somewhat traditional in subject matter but he has a wonderful sense of materials, imagery, composition, color and surface. so why bring up collage? encaustic is great for collage. the wax becomes the glue but with no waiting for drying and it is completely reversible. plus, by building up layers you can create depth and many types of surfaces. once again you might also want to refer back to the master-Jasper Johns-and revisit his interpretations of collage using encaustic.

Art and Science

if you are an artist interested in science (or vice versa) check out the magazine SEED (also online). Their 12/07 issue front cover asks "the future of science is art?". in this article the author, Jonah Lehrer, whose recent book is titled Proust was a Neuroscientist, quotes string theorist Brian Greene about the arts having the ability to "give a vigorous shake to our sense of what's real" thus jarring the scientific imagination into imagining new things.  i also like Lehrer's suggestion that all theoretical physics departments should have an artist-in -residence. there are numerous, thought provoking ideas expressed here that will hopefully increase the dialogue in this subject. read it and see what you think.

misinformation

from talking with many artists about encaustics there is still a lot of misinformation on this medium. with more access through workshops, books ("the art of encaustic painting" by joanne matera is a great start with more books coming out this year) hopefully that will change. i teach intro and other specific encaustic workshops at silvermine guild arts center in ct. we just had an open house and there were many questions along the lines of "will my finished painting melt"?

many artists love the look of encaustic but have no idea of the process.  that is why i like the intro class-it gives you a good idea if the process is something that you want to invest more time (and money) into. more on process later...

time to start

welcome to the encaustics process page. i have admired the many blogs created by artists and thought it's about time for me to do one too.  please send any comments and/or questions. for those of you who are new to this fascinating medium i recommend the R&F website and attending the Second National Encaustic Conference to be held June 6-8 in Beverly, MA. the first was informative and fun (i did a demo and will also be doing one this year) and gives you access to people involved with encaustics from all over america. also of interest will be the Jasper Johns show "Gray" coming soon to NYC. Johns has said, when asked if he used encaustic for its materiality and quick "drying"-"I enjoyed those qualities. But it may have helped that when I began to work with it, no other artists that I knew were using it. The events that happened with it seemed discoveries." Today there are many artists using encaustic-hope you are one and making discoveries too.