Roughing It

8" x 8" encaustic on panel

☛ Gallery
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10" x 10" encaustic on panel
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8" x 8" encaustic on panel

Care and Display of Encaustic Paintings

Wax has been used throughout history as a preservative and a protective sealant. It is impervious to moisture and will retain its look over long periods of time. Encaustic is one of the most durable of all artists' materials. Despite its high archival rating, the encaustic painting does need special care.

1- Environment -- The oft-asked question is, “Will it melt?” And the answer is “Well yes, of course it will”. But the melting point of encaustic medium 155ºF. Encaustic artwork should be kept between 35-120ºF. That means, in the home, keep paintings out of direct sunlight. In my home my paintings are often hung near sliding glass doors with a southern exposure. They are in indirect light, never receive direct sunlight, and are fine.

Also avoid wall areas that are above heaters or near incandescent lights. Use common sense!

2- The Surface and the Edges -- “Bloom” is a dusty, hazy look that often appears on the surface of a new encaustic painting. It’s caused by elements in the medium that reach the surface during the initial curing period of a month or so. Gently buff the surface of your new painting with a soft old t-shirt or a similar very soft cotton cloth or chamois. After the first few months, buff the surface to suit yourself, depending upon how high a gloss and level of transparency you enjoy seeing.

The surface of an encaustic painting will scratch. If a scratch occurs, consult me. Repairs might be possible.

In my paintings the wax extends right up to the edges of the panel and often drips over. So the edges and corners are vulnerable and the wax may chip off if subjected to a hard knock. Be careful and protect them. (Try not to drop your painting!) Edge and corner chips and cracks are more difficult for me to repair.

3- Framing -- Ask your framer to use a “float frame” for your encaustic painting. The height of the frame should be sufficient to protect the highest parts of the painting. The recess around the edges should average 3/8”. A properly sized float frame will protect the surface, the edges, and the corners. Experienced framers will know how to proceed.  (More detail on pages 4 and 5 in this PDF: http://tinyurl.com/float-frame.)

4- Packing -- For transporting a small painting, some artists assemble a box with an inner padded cradle for the painting, lined with glassine opposite the top and sides of the painting. (Glassine is a special paper used, in this case, to minimize abrasion and to keep the wax from sticking to the padding.)

An alternative to this custom-made box is, of course, bubble wrap. First, wrap your painting in a sheet of glassine. Next, wrap the piece in bubble wrap, bubbles facing away from the painting. Pay attention to protecting the edges and the corners. You might want to put additional padding there. Place the bubble-wrapped painting inside a box. Be aware of temperature extremes during transit and do not subject the painting to very cold or very hot conditions. (Don't put it in the trunk of your car!)

For shipping, put your inner box inside another, larger box with lots of cushioning (packing peanuts) between the inner and the outer boxes. This insulates as well as cushions. If you're using a commercial shipper, try to ship in Spring or Autumn, so as to avoid, as much as possible, those temperature extremes. And of course cross your fingers.

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More:

☛ Chapter 16 "Preparing Encaustic Art for Display and Exhibition". Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax. Lissa Rankin (2010)
☛ Chapter 5 "Preparing and Exhibiting Your Work". The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax. Joanne Mattera (2001)
☛ Packaging and Packing Encaustic Paintings, by Rodney Thompson (no date; accessed 30Aug2010)
☛ Float Frame Variations for Encaustic Art, by Chris A. Paschke (June 2009)

One Skyline

Jardin de la Connaissance

I am not sure what I think of this. I may like it a lot. Especially the part about the mushrooms.
The Jardin de la Connaissance  was created by German artist Thilo Folkerts and Canadian artist Rodney LaTourelle. It's an installation at the Le Festival international de Jardins, in Métis, Quebec. It uses "discarded" books as construction elements for a garden.

"Invoking the mythic relation between knowledge and nature integral to the concept of ‘paradise’, we invite the emotional involvement of the visitor by exposing these fragile and supposedly timeless cultural artefacts to the processes of decomposition."

and

"The decaying books are organized between structural coloured plates, while their deterioration is further stimulated and accentuated by varieties of mushrooms that will be cultivated on selected editions."

Hmmm! . . . . more here.
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☛ By the same token, CDSea is fairly great too. 
☛ As well as "the giant travelling human-shaped herb garden".
Please, God: love, nurture, and protect all artists!

A Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover

8" x 8" mixed media, walnut powder, and encaustic on panel

(So, okay. Was I into white this weekend? Or what?)

☛ Gallery

Hollow promise

10" x 10", encaustic on panel

☛ Gallery

Book Review: Encaustic Art, by Lissa Rankin

Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax, by Lissa Rankin (Watson-Guptill; 2010)

Here is Lissa Rankin's worthy and admirable successor to the now-former 'Bible' on encaustic art, The Art of Encaustic Painting, by Joanne Mattera (Watson-Guptill; 2001).

The format of this new book is large and the quality of the reproductions are outstanding, with more than enough detail to illustrate the explanations in the text. The layout is spacious and well-designed. Sidebars are used aptly, adding key details to the accompanying text. The book is a pleasure to quickly browse, read, or study closely.

But more importantly, the content is highly useful. And it's organized in a sensible and logical way. The sections on technique are particularly rich. Reading them sparked a number of new ideas, plans, and strategies for me.

I recommend this book for all those (of us!) out here who are cranking through a solo learn-as-you-go program on encaustic painting. This new book will give the receptive reader not only the tools to move forward with determination, but new ideas and new techniques to explore and incorporate.

I highly recommend this book! 

☛ More on Lissa Rankin is here, on her website. See her galleries.

The Table of Contents is below the jump.
Click below, on 'Read More'.

Pakal Cabeza

Welcome to Palenque.

Muggish, fetid, oppressive

Madonna of the Trail

12" x 15"; paper, seeds, walnut powder, and encaustic on plywood

Sun Shield

Pigments

Buy:

☛ The Earth Pigments Company
☛ Sinopia
☛ Williamsburg
☛ Kremer
☛ Rublev, at Natural Pigments
☛ Sennelier Pigments, at Blick
☛ Pandora Pigments


Learn:
☛ Pigments Through the Ages
☛ Colors of Nature

Gambrinus

Gambrinus, a legendary king of Flanders, and the patron saint of beer. Gotta love the guy, eh?

(Whatever happened to "Flanders" anyway?)
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Highly recommended: Shiner Smokehaus Mesquite Smoked Beer --- Giddyap, pardner! Not entirely surprisingly from Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas.

Alm-Öhi

12" x 12", mixed media, Pigment Stick, and encaustic on panel
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Somers Isles

10" x 10", nori, seeds, encaustic on panel

Keeping chickens and lovers from wandering

10" x 10", seeds, paper, and encaustic on panel

Closer!

Amytis' Causeway

12" x 12": paper, molding paste, nori, and encaustic on panel
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10" x 10": nori, seeds, and encaustic on panel
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Amytis of Media, queen consort of Nebuchadnezzar II, and the woman for whom he built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Brava, Amy!

Get Legs

10" x 10", encaustic, mixed media, on panel +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
10" x 10", encaustic, mixed media, on panel

Contempo

Watch vid of gallery show entitled Luminous Layers: Exploring Contemporary Encaustic, in Lake Oswego, Oregon, last month.

More here. Very interesting!