I use an electric griddle with heat control as a palette. You can mix encaustic paint right on the griddle or mix large quantities of paint in cat food cans. The paint is made by mixing some of the melted medium (damar resin and beeswax) and oil paint. Notice how a clothespin makes a heat proof handle for the tins. To clean the griddle, I use melted paraffin and wipe it with paper towels.
Now I know why I shouldn't use the store brand of aluminum foil to cover my work surface!!! Look at how it tore when I wanted to lift my project!! I will have to put down another layer of foil and try to use up this cheap stuff. Covering the work surface with foil helps to protect it from wax and heat. The foil also helps you to save the hardened splashes of encaustic so that you can re-melt them.
Today I worked on encaustics in my garage set up. Here are the two that I completed. In the dark, textural one, I used many layers of color and applied black for the final layer. I pressed small items on, added encaustic color over them and then pulled off the items. Textures and impressions were left behind. Lace made an especially nice pattern.
In the red encaustic, I tossed many of the small items that I had pulled from the previous work. I embedded them in more medium and finished with a top layer of alizarin crimson. I used a small clay working tool to gouge lines into the red layer revealing the colors beneath.
Tonight I taught a "Corks and Canvas" class at the Arts Council in Chambersburg. This is an enjoyable, "party atmosphere" kind of class in which a group of friends meets at the arts council classroom to paint a "step by step" acrylic painting. The whole experience is designed to be low pressure and lots of fun. All of the painting materials are provided and the participants bring their own snacks and drinks. In three hours everyone creates a work of art. I enjoy teaching this very much and the group of ladies tonight did a fine job.
This is the fun part! Here I am fusing a layer of medium over a layer of pigment.
