I majored in art at a small private college, but looking back, I feel my education was lacking in one important way. Art history was, of course, part of the required coursework, but there was very little emphasis on technique. I remember learning why a particular painting was revered in its time, or what made it unique or controversial, but not much about how the artist actually made it. How did they compose the painting? How did they choose their colors? What decisions went into creating it?
I’ve always been drawn to self-education. I know it has its limitations, and I’m perfectly comfortable with that. I still love figuring things out for myself.
Maybe that comes from growing up in an old farmhouse where I spent hours reading anything I could find. There was no teacher there to guide me through all the things I wanted to learn, so I mostly had to figure them out on my own. I was the youngest of three children and the only girl. My dad died when I was two, and a few years later my mother was diagnosed with mental illness. I spent a lot of time trying to teach myself things, and just as often ended up frustrated when I couldn’t figure something out or didn’t have the right tools or supplies.
My mom did teach me to crochet, and later my cousin taught me to cross-stitch after she learned. I immediately started crocheting Barbie clothes and designing my own cross-stitch patterns. At one point, I cut up a pillowcase to use as fabric for one of my creations. I got into trouble for that, of course.
I also watched a lot of PBS as a young child. Many of the programs I gravitated toward were cooking shows, and cooking became another creative outlet. There was always food available to experiment with, and I loved the idea that I could take a handful of ingredients and make something. So you can imagine my disappointment when our school district eventually dropped the shop and home economics classes I had been looking forward to taking someday. Those were exactly the kinds of classes I craved.
Not that long ago, I decided to learn watercolor painting. That instinct to figure things out for myself has never really gone away. Lately, I’ve decided to turn that curiosity toward some of art history’s greatest masters. I’ve been doing what are commonly called master studies – choosing a painting by an accomplished artist and attempting to recreate it, not simply as a copy, but as a way of understanding the decisions behind the work. I tried a few YouTube tutorials on watercolor, and while they were helpful, I’ve learned more from these two master studies than I ever expected.
There is something very different about slowing down and trying to reconstruct another artist’s decisions. Instead of simply looking at a painting and thinking, I like that, I have to ask myself: Why did they put that shape there? How did they get that color? Where did they place the light? How did they create that sense of depth? What did they leave out? I feel like I am literally in their shoes.
It turns out that studying the masters this way is teaching me exactly what I felt was missing from my formal education – not just what makes a painting successful, but how an artist gets there. Of course I have to add my own spin, so I have been doing watercolor interpretations of some famous oil paintings. That’s why I stated these are “sort of” master studies.
And, after decades of figuring things out on my own, I’m discovering that sometimes the best way to learn is to call on the masters show you the way.
Here are process photos from my study of Picasso’s “Fleurs” (1901).
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
Next, I’m working on a study of a small bouquet by Manet. I post process photos on Instagram/Facebook a couple times per week if you want to follow along.
I can’t say I like all of Pablo Picasso’s work (and there is lot of it), but I have always loved his “line drawings,” which you can see on this linked web site dedicated to the artist. To be able to represent a person or animal so simplistically is quite a feat. I set out wanting to create some flowers in that same style, but taking it a step further by carving the drawing in beeswax.
There are many ways to transfer an image to an encaustic surface, but I have a unique “connect the dots” process I like to use. First, I made a sketch of the flowers, then I made a more detailed line drawing of it on paper cut to the basic size of my canvas. The blank wood canvas had already been layered with dark then white pigmented encaustic medium, so the next step was to tape down the drawing on top of it. I heated the surface just a tad then began poking holes with the needle tool along the lines through the paper, right into the warmed wax surface as shown in this video.
Once that was finished, the canvas looked like a connect the dots page from a kid’s coloring book. (There’s nothing better than feeling like a kid again in my studio ha ha!) I set to work connecting those dots by carving deeper lines into the wax surface with the help of a flame. Those deep lines revealed the dark pigment underneath the white wax.
A very interesting effect I hadn’t expected was the dots merging with the carved lines and creating a unique textured pattern once I added more heat. I wanted to accentuate that texture as much as possible, so I applied black powder pastel then removed a lot of it with some mineral oil.
I like the dramatic results of leaving some of the black smudges and smears. This also depicts a contrast to the floral outlines, and it shows off the distinction of encaustic medium as compared to flat paintings and illustrations.
“Idle Charms” Encaustic Painting by Rachel Rivas-Plata
The title of the piece is “Idle Charms.” That came from my idea of taking colorful flowers from nature and abstracting them to just a few jagged lines. The 12×12 inch canvas has been framed and is available on Etsy linked here as of the date of this post.
You might think it’s all beeswax and heat guns or blow torches in an encaustic artist’s studio, but a lot of work is also done before and after the art is created. I thought posting about a few of the more unconventional tools I regularly use might interest or even surprise you.
12 Inch T-Square
I did some cleaning up of clutter in my studio recently. Not because it needed done (which it did!), but because I lost one of my most valued tools: a 12 inch clear T square ruler. I never found it, and had to buy a new one, but I’m sure it will turn up somewhere, someday.
I bought it many years ago – can’t even remember why now – but I use it at least once a week. It’s great for marking the backs of my canvas when I need to wire them and I use it to mark lines on package inserts and labels which need cut out.
Awl
This is something I never would have thought to buy if my husband didn’t already have it (but it’s mine now hee hee). I mainly use it to pound holes into my wood ornaments and to pilot holes for screws in wood canvas.
Sandpaper
After I paste a print onto wood canvas and let it dry, I sand the excess paper off the edges. Sometimes wood canvas sides are rough, so it’s useful for that too.
Blue Tape
Some encaustic artists let the wax medium drip over the edges, building up a wrapped canvas look. I prefer a clean black or wood stained profile on my work, so I use blue tape to keep the drips from adhering to the sides.
Laptop/Photopea
My reference photos can come from several sources – photos I’ve taken, images I’ve scanned, images I created using Midjourney Ai, images from other artists on Pixabay, as well as combinations of all these sources. Photopea (an online version of Photoshop) has been invaluable to me since it’s usually a first step in being able to map out, scale, and visualize my art work.
After the work is completed, I use it to edit photos of the art and create images to use in my social media marketing and Etsy shop listings.
Old Nylons
Do they still sell pantyhose? I use old knee highs to buff a beautiful shine onto the encaustic wax surface when it’s completely finished. (If any gold leaf has been added, I avoid those areas or it might rub off.) Interesting fact here is that I wait until all my photos are taken of the work since the light reflections can look like white space in a listing photo.
Frame Glass Inserts
When creating cyanotypes (photos created with sunlight), keeping the branches or blossoms or negative films underneath a piece of glass keeps them flat and in place, especially if it’s a windy day. I have a lot of these laying around since encaustics typically are not covered with glass when they’re framed.
That’s all I can think of for now – I’ll do another list someday if I think of several more to highlight. Hopefully someone can take something from this list and incorporate it into their creative process too.
I’ll start my post with a happy ending: My largest encaustic art work entitled “Where Now Meets Then” has been accepted into the Gates Mills, Ohio, Art Show, and is on display through April 27, 2025. See the Art for Sale page for location and hours.
Now for the beginning: The inspiration for this piece was the cover of a Jan Brett book I bought for my daughter years ago. I discovered the children’s book author and illustrator in our weekly visit to Hudson Library looking for books to intrigue a preschooler. I was fully intrigued this time – I fell in love with Brett’s art work accompanying the familiar fairy tales which I had been so enthralled with as a child. I still keep many of them in my studio, and often gift her books to my favorite young people.
One sketch I did looking at her book “Beauty and the Beast” which had a large tree trunk and branches with a few plump roses placed about the tree. A couple years ago, after looking at my sketch again, I went a step further and conjured an image through Ai synthography. This was a more gnarly, textured large oak tree with several roses like big apples nestled all about the boughs. I digitally edited one Ai image to make it my own style, then used it as a reference for my largest encaustic piece.
The 24 x 24 inch blank wood canvas had been sitting in my house for well over a year. I was frozen on what to do with it for a long time – I knew once I had this tree idea on paper I was ready to work big.
I prepared the canvas surface with a couple coats of encaustic gesso, then layered it with encaustic medium. I quickly learned when working on a large encaustic, it’s necessary to work in smaller sections in order to add and fuse the wax properly. Next I had to transfer my reference image to the wax covered canvas. I used the grid method, and drew it in nine separate sections. Once the drawing was complete, I went back over it with a needle tool in order to create deeper lines.
After the lines were carved, they magically came alive when I covered the canvas with black powder pastel. The powder sinks into the carved lines when wiped away to show a fairly detailed drawing.
The oil and powder pastel pigment palette changed quite a few times, adding frustration to the process at certain points. I ended up keeping the leaves various shades of green and blue from the start, but the trunk and branches were gray at first. They morphed in to a bronzy brown and taupe mix which I really think looks great with the walnut frame I chose.
The roses were initially bright red, then became coral and then orange. I finally settled on yellow once I decided to keep the scheme more analogous. Adding some gold metallic pastel also gave the tree a sense of being a monument. Changing the roses to yellow was the point at which I really started to connect with the piece in a deeper way. The yellow roses said “remember” to me, so I began to think of those blooms as beautiful memories situated on a weathered tree of life.
The background had been a light blue sky for most of the time I worked on the piece, until the yellow roses were done. This is where my intuitive autopilot kicked in. You can’t plan for the intuitive work or explain it, but other artists surely know what I’m talking about it. It’s a bit like when you’re driving somewhere and after you arrive you can’t recall any of the specific motions/turns that got you to your destination.
I also do not recall how I came up with the title exactly, but I often read poems online to get the best words or phrases for my art titles. Emerson is a favorite simply because he wrote a lot about nature, coinciding with my muse. All I remember is after reading an Emerson poem I settled on “Where Now Meets Then.”
The tree is life now, the roses are the best of memories, and the sunrise and barely finished landscape in the background is what is ahead in life. Or, perhaps it’s a sunset and the landscape symbolizes a past that is mostly forgotten. You decide, and finish the story your way.
We’ve all heard or even know that art is a journey, not a destination. For me it’s about immersing myself in the process – exploring, experimenting, and expressing. In 2021 I signed up for the Essence of Mulranny Painting with Fire nine-month series. I cannot praise this set of courses enough, and I have only purchased one year of them.
Essence of Mulranny Arts linked here is an art studio and classroom located in (as their site says) “sheep country” of Ireland. (In case you’re wondering, I’m not being paid to write any of this. I currently do not have any endorsements or monetize my web site. All my business income is from art sales.) I did not travel to Ireland, but I purchased the Painting with Fire video courses in April of 2021 and found a few favorite instructors: Elise Wagner, Pamela Caughey, Ezschwan Winding, and Lyn Belisle.
Elise Wagner has a very interesting background in collagraph printmaking and has used encaustic wax surfaces as the basis for prints, which I find very fascinating. I kept her techniques in mind when working on pieces where the texture is a focal point, like my encaustic painting below, “Beyond.”
Ezschwan Winding taught me how to approach a portrait and after watching her course, I ended up making the following piece, “Heavy,” which was accepted into the Lakeland May Show a couple years ago.
Abstract encaustic master Pamela Caughey’s course was my inspiration to make the Waterfall series. They were created all at once by first binding all the canvases together. The photo below shows them right after they were separated.
And Lyn Belisle’s course highlighting faux surfaces made me experiment further with metallic powder pastels in my work. I love when I can make beeswax look like burnished metal, such as the following piece, “Straw Into Gold.”
The handful of courses I have viewed have been so enriching to me that I have yet to finish watching all of them. They never expire, so that has been a huge benefit as well. I better catch up because more courses have been released every year since 2021!
I’ll always be striving to learn more. Looking back, it’s satisfying for me to see how I’ve learned from many sources and forged my own unique path with encaustic medium.
Color is one of the most personal and powerful elements in art. As an art collector and/or creator, the colors you gravitate toward say a lot about your tastes, your personality, and even your approach to building your collection. Let’s explore what your favorite color might reveal about you.
Blue If you’re drawn to blue, you likely have a calm and introspective nature. Blue lovers value depth, stability, and serenity, often preferring artworks that evoke peace or invite contemplation. You might favor abstract landscapes, tranquil seascapes, or minimalist pieces that embody clarity and balance.
Red Red enthusiasts are passionate, energetic, and fearless. If red is your favorite, you probably love making a statement with your collection. Bold, vibrant works with high emotional impact—whether in abstract or figurative forms—draw you in.
Green Green lovers are often grounded, nurturing, and deeply connected to nature. Your ideal collection might include organic forms, earthy textures, and works that celebrate the natural world. You likely appreciate encaustic art for its raw, tactile quality and connection to organic materials like wax.
Yellow If yellow is your go-to color, you exude positivity, curiosity, and creativity. Your collection likely reflects this energy, with vibrant, joyful works that inspire and uplift. Bright abstract compositions or whimsical, lighthearted pieces are your calling card.
Black Black represents elegance, mystery, and power. If this is your favorite color, you have a refined, minimalist aesthetic. Monochromatic works, striking contrasts, and bold compositions in shades of black and white likely captivate you.
Purple Purple fans are imaginative, introspective, and a little mystical. Your collection might include surreal or fantasy-inspired art, as well as works that evoke a sense of wonder. You’re drawn to encaustic pieces for their layered, dreamlike textures.
White White lovers are drawn to simplicity, purity, and light. Your ideal collection features clean lines, open spaces, and a sense of serenity. You may gravitate toward minimalist works or mixed-media pieces that play with texture and light.
Orange If orange is your favorite color, you’re energetic, social, and full of warmth. You likely enjoy art that feels inviting and dynamic, such as bold abstracts or pieces with rich, warm palettes.
You might recall me stating one big reason I like encaustic is its versatility in the studio. I have been watching and learning from other artists since I first used the medium around 2018. Shari Replogle is an artist who taught me not to be more playful and not fear mistakes. Her web site linked here shows her talent for creating the most intriguing images from various mediums.
Shari has posted a series of videos called “Wax on Wednesdays” that are filled with beautiful, nature-inspired experiments with the medium. I especially love how many of her mixed-media art works included use of leaves and other natural materials. I found Shari’s YouTube videos to be quite addictive back in the first weeks of learning to work with encaustic. Her numerous tutorials gave me a foundation of playfulness which served me well when trying out new techniques of my own, uninhibited by expectations but with the purpose of learning. The videos are still on her YouTube page if you want to watch some yourself, linked here.
What I found most influential from Shari was the use of PanPastels with encaustic wax. To this day I consider them an essential part of most of my art works. The medium consists of powdered oil pastel which easily fuses into the encaustic wax with just a little time under the heat gun or torch. With limited time in the studio, it’s necessary to work quickly. Once I switched from pigmented wax to this alternative color option, my art work flowed much more easily from my ideas.
Here’s an older, sold piece I remember being directly influenced by one of Shari’s videos. From what I recall she had built up several layers of multicolored wax on her canvas, then carved away the top layer to reveal what was underneath. I used a picture of a chain link fence to create this pattern, and the green color on the surface was done with PanPastel. The second image is a closeup.
“Pattern Revealed” by Rachel Rivas-Plata, 8×8 in., 2020“Pattern Revealed” detail
Occasionally people ask if I teach encaustic – currently I do not, but wouldn’t turn down a request for a demonstration of my own techniques. This is the first of a series of blogs where I will highlight why I found each of my online teachers so influential. First up has to be Alicia Tormey. As you can see from her web site linked here, she’s a knowledgeable encaustic artist who currently provides several resources and courses to artists.
Source: aliciatormey.com
I discovered Alicia on Instagram years ago after I had followed just about every encaustic artist who appeared in my “encaustic art” Google alert. At the time she was doing a Q&A series every Tuesday where she shared her experience and answered questions not only about encaustic but also regarding the business of art. Watching her invaluable live streams helped me understand various techniques, how to care for encaustic, and how to present my work. She’s simply an amazing teacher with the utmost business sense.
In my early years of working with encaustic medium, I religiously watched her posts every Tuesday and took her Learn to Burn course. She pioneered the shellac burning process herself decades ago. People love her vibrant, bursting florals, but I’m more enamored with her vast, ethereal landscapes. Her ability to make an abstract image have realistic properties has me in awe.
Here is one older piece I did that shows the shellac burning techniques I learned in her class. I haven’t gone too far in that direction with shellac (yet), but I still have my Bernzomatic torch on standby for when the mood strikes.
“Renaissance” by Rachel Rivas-Plata, 8×10 in. Encaustic Mixed Media (SOLD)
Untamed is the best way to describe my process of creating cyanotypes. Sources for the images I develop outside with sunlight are quite varied, and the possibilities are so endless that I really have to reign it in every time I work on these. My cyanotypes are not just created with found objects like leaves and flowers, but I also create photo negatives from various digital images and then make the sun prints using the negatives instead. These negatives can start as photos I’ve taken with both my phone and digital camera, images of my finished art works, and some scanned images of antique ephemera. I also recently began to use photographs rendered with Midjourney Ai.
To make the process even more complex, each time a cyanotype is made from a negative, I usually change up the sun exposure time and/or the treatment of the paper. Manipulating the surface of the watercolor paper with additives like soap, salt, or vinegar can create really cool textures and effects. There is risk with additives though, since I don’t use them often I’m less sure of how the images will turn out. But that certainly adds to the fun of it all!
My creative process tends to be more intuitive than scientific, so I rarely keep detailed records when I change things up. “Mistakes” don’t bother me a bit. I’ve had several instances where I take a “bad” cyanotype and after adding beeswax and pigments it becomes a favorite Suncaustic piece. I scan most of my cyanotypes too, so that I can digitally alter them and use in other composite or mixed-media works. I’ve built up quite an interesting collection of digital images on my laptop over the years. You might even notice some of my favorite images show up time and again in different pieces.
Several of my recent cyanotypes began as digital negatives I made from Midjourney Ai images. I recently learned the technical term for creating these synthetic pictures using Ai: synthography aka synthetic photographs. My turning them into negatives and letting sunlight develop them gives them new life as cyanotypes. I like to think of it as a reincarnation of the Ai generated art when I take those images and put them through the age old cyanotype development process.
Here’s a sample piece I’m currently working on. It’s a self-portrait, inspired by how I felt as a young girl. Here’s the original photo I directed Midjourney Ai to generate:
Here’s the image after I digitally altered it on my computer. I flipped the image horizontally, cropped out some branches, added more cattails and the blue heron, and changed the whole color scheme.
This is the negative image I printed on a special translucent film:
And finally, the cyanotype image developed by the sun in 5 minutes just the other day.
The setting is similar to a pond we had on our property when I was young. It was always a big deal when we saw blue herons or cranes flying over the house on the way to the pond. I can still recall the stillness experienced whilst gazing up at the long, quiet flight of a crane over the meadow toward the welcoming water.
I’m interested in finding a detailed answer to this question myself, actually. I’ve worked with encaustic medium for over 6 years now, and thought it’d be a well-deserved homage to my favorite art supply to delve into its history and how the medium is made and used.
Brief History of Encaustic
Beeswax is a preservative and has been used as such for thousands of years. We know the Greeks used it to protect and decorate their ships’ hulls as early as 500 BC. Going forward to the 1st-2nd centuries A.D., the Romans in Egypt used pigmented wax to paint portraits of the deceased, covering the faces and bodies of their affluent mummies. The 900 or so famous Fayum mummy portraits (one pictured below) are said to be very well preserved, retaining much of their brilliant color. Eventually, the use of encaustic in portraits gave way to a less expensive and easier alternative, tempera paint.
A resurgence of the wax painting came about in the 18th century, after archeological discoveries sparked interest in encaustic techniques. What ignited the use of the medium by artists even more in the 19th century was simply the invention of portable electric heat sources. Famous artists such as Jasper Johns, Diego Rivera, and Robert Rauschenberg are just a few who incorporated the medium into their work in modern times.
Encaustic Combinations
Since the 1990s, encaustic medium in art has become more attractive and popular as artists have discovered the myriad of ways to incorporate it into mixed-media processes and even into pottery and sculpture. This is what I personally find most fascinating about encaustic. It can be used with various other media to give an artist several paths he or she can take when attempting to master it.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen different combinations to use encaustic in art:
1. Over a dried watercolor painting 2. Over a dried ink illustration 3. Over an inkjet print on matte paper (including photos) 4. Combined with cold wax 5. Combined with oil pastel 6. Combined with oil paint 7. As a ground for alcohol ink 8. Over fabric such as linen or silk 9. Over a collage 10. Over pottery 11. Over sculpture 12. Over a cyanotype (what I call “Suncaustic”)
The most important guideline I find when working with encaustic is the need to avoid pairing it with acrylics. But even that rule can be broken since I successfully use acrylic chalk paint as a ground at times.
Grounds for encaustic art vary widely according to artist preference. I usually use parchment or watercolor papers pasted to the wood canvas. Aside from that, I’ll occasionally paint encaustic gesso or acrylic based chalk paint over the wood surface before laying down the molten medium.
I am pretty sure at most every art sales event, a beekeeper has kindly asked if I have need of beeswax. While I’m in awe of the beekeepers’ work and grateful for their care and service to the bees, I solely buy refined encaustic medium made by R&F Paints. It comes in tiny pellets which are easy to store and melt in small batches. The “refining” process filters out the organic matter left by the bees so the medium is quite clear.
Some artists create their own medium by mixing melted beeswax with melted damar (or dammar) crystals, then filtering out the organic matter manually. Damar resin (or gum) is a natural tree sap from lowland tropical trees in India and Southeast Asia. Adding more or less of the damar resin is known to result in a respectively harder or softer wax surface. I’ve never used a brand other than R&F, but will eventually to see if my surfaces end up more luminous with a different brand. I have seen some artists use only beeswax over a photo, and that works too, but the cooled surface won’t be as hard and resilient as when it contains damar resin.
While I use the clear encaustic medium in my art, I also use pigmented encaustic paints made by R&F and Enkaustikos. Very little of these go a long way since they can be diluted with clear medium. Combining pigmented wax with clear medium is also a great way to tone down bright colors or add translucency.
Care of Encaustic Art
Most of my art work made with encaustic comes with a label giving care instructions. Typically any fine art that has pigment will eventually fade in sunlight, so keeping all your art out of the sun’s rays will help them look their best for the longest period of time. Unfortunately, it seems encaustic has been avoided by some who fear it’s too fragile for them. I find it quite resilient once the wax cools and hardens. Sure if you take a sharp object and puncture or carve the surface, it won’t be the same. That would most likely be the case with an acrylic or oil painting too.
The worst thing in my opinion you could do with encaustic is leave it in a hot car. (Well, THE worst is to take a blow torch to it, but most people won’t accidentally do that.) Unfiltered sunlight can quickly cause the surface to glisten and perhaps even liquify, which is a good sign you should move it to the shade.
The melting temperature of beeswax is around 140F degrees, so I recommend avoiding storage in any area with such high temperatures. Encaustic medium (with the addition of the damar) melts closer to 200F degrees, so it’s a bit more resilient. Keep in mind some attics get very hot in the summer.
Avoiding storage in temperatures below freezing should be avoided too, some say. I’m not sure what will happen though. Right now I’ll stick an encaustic mini in the freezer overnight to see the results … I’ll share my findings with you at the end of this blog.
I’ve been asked if it’s ok to hang encaustic art in the bathroom – the short answer is yes since the beeswax acts as a protective barrier to whatever it covers. But that’s not the case with ALL encaustic art. For example, if you have a watercolor painting that’s only partially covered in encaustic, the humidity could do some damage to the unprotected watercolor. Rest assured, if I ever do make something that can be damaged by high humidity, I will note that on the label.
I believe wrapping encaustic art in tissue paper or wax paper and then bubble wrap is the best storage option, taking care that all the edges and corners are protected. I have seen a few encaustic artists on social media repairing chipped edges and corners for clients. Life happens, and maybe you end up accidentally damaging an encaustic piece. Chances are if you contact the artist or any experienced encaustic artist they can take a look and let you know if it can be repaired.
Cleaning encaustic art will really depend on the piece. As long as any art you bought from me was not covered with metal leaf, you can wipe it with a silky soft cloth (old nylons work great). Doing this can also bring back the shine on the surface should the piece lose its shine over time.
The results of the freeze test are in:
My encaustic mini looked the same as when it went in the freezer 8 hours before. I did a little more Google research on freezing encaustic art while I was waiting. I found that freezing them is a good test to see if the ground is compatible with the medium. If the surface easily chips or flakes off when frozen, an incompatible ground was most likely used. I think I can safely say that keeping them in a unheated area wouldn’t affect my pieces, but that can’t be said for encaustic art from all artists.
Sources:
Thanks to Wikipedia and R&F Paints web sites for many of the facts I shared above. Here are the linked sources I used, in case you want to read more. In fact, you can find many encaustic art teachers have very in-depth, interesting information about encaustic on their web sites. Wikipedia: Fayum Mummy Portraits Wikipedia: Dammar Gum R&F Paints History of Encaustic
Over the past few months I have made several 1-1/2 inch encaustic magnets. I like to present them as gifts or a small items to sell at events, and a lot of people like them! I began with bee images created in Midjourney, then I added butterflies. I thought I’d share how I make these little pieces.
First the round images are digitally honed using Midjourney AI and Photopea (basically Photoshop). I like to change the backgrounds to showcase some of my other work, including landscapes, florals, and botanicals.
After printing them on plain white paper, the next step is to cut them out and adhere them to the round wood pieces.
Once dry, I carefully paint the edges and backs – usually black, but in this case I’m using gray chalk paint.
After the paint dries completely, it’s time to adhere the little magnets. I have tried a couple different brands and finally found some with good strength – weak magnets are no fun. One thing I didn’t think about when I did my first batch was that it was necessary to place them far enough apart, otherwise the magnets will travel a bit to get closer to one another until the glue dries.
The next day, the pieces are ready for the encaustic medium. It’s brushed on lightly twice, then fused with my heat gun.
Since I can put any image on them, you can see just how versatile these are. Contact me for pricing if you want me to make a custom set with a photo of your choice, or even a logo. Wouldn’t these make the most unique wedding and party favors? I think so!
You’ve probably learned one of my favorite combinations in the studio is cyanotype plus encaustic. I refer to them as my “suncaustics” since cyanotypes are images developed with sunlight. I dedicated one of my first blog posts (linked here) to the topic of cyanotypes. Over the last couple years I have successfully used a few different techniques I’d like to share. As with other encaustic mixed-media art, the variations of these two media put together can really be mind blowing!
This piece began as a photo I had taken looking up at some trees in the spring while on a Girl Scout hike with my daughter’s troop several years ago. I made a digital negative of it and printed it on a clear plastic sheet, then made a cyanotype. After covering it with encaustic medium, I applied some orange and yellow alcohol inks to the surface, then fused it with heat.
The next piece was created with another negative photo I had taken of some of the plastic net bags used to hold onions, of all things. After I rinsed the cyanotype I knew it had to be an aquatic image since it looked to be underwater. I added an image of a koi on top, layered with encaustic and here’s the result. The man who purchased it reacted with so much admiration for it, I’ll never forget that!
This little bluebird began as a watercolor painting I did, then scanned it to make a digital negative. I added some metallic copper PanPastels then fused with heat. I love the simplicity and contrast of the copper, white, and dark blue. It sold at the 2021 Holiday Market at Reithoffer’s Gallery in Auburn Twp., Ohio.
This next piece was sold at a former local gallery MC Studio in 2021. They put out a call for art with the theme of the moon, and I got to work drawing seed pods of a lunaria plant aka money plant. I printed a negative of my drawing to create the cyanotype. After the encaustic medium was applied, I carved some lines and added metallic pastel to give it a pretty moonglow to go with the plant’s name.
The next suncaustic had a very humble beginning. Every spring I like to take a day and create a whole batch of cyanotypes from botanicals I find walking around my yard. Here’s what the sun print looked like as I rinsed off the developing chemicals.
I really didn’t like the print, so I covered most of it with powder and oil pastel. The resulting blue undertones of the green background and vibrant flowers were a wonderful surprise to me when I was done. It sold at the last Nature & Arts Fest at West Woods in Novelty, Ohio.
And this one was pushed a bit farther. I painted over the wax with some pink, green, and gold set in carved lines, then mounted it on another cyanotype image to give it a unique backdrop in the frame. The acid wash blue effect in this piece also keeps it really interesting!
My latest suncaustic was made from one of my backyard prints. I covered the white leaves and some of the background with oil pastel – I love the blue and green combo. Then to put more life in it, I painted some yellow leaf stems on the surface. The final framed piece is listed for sale on my Etsy site linked here.
I can’t wait to see what my mixed-media experiments in the studio will bring in the future – stay tuned!
Encaustic medium is made from beeswax and damar resin. When working with the medium, I’m reminded of the connection to nature just by the sweet scent of it. I don’t keep bees, but looking at a photo similar to this one inspired me to pay some homage to the work of the bees.
Photo by pagala on Pixabay
I was not only struck by the beautiful pattern, but by the tones and contrast created with the empty and full cells. It got me thinking how the honeycomb itself embodies so much work and history of the bees that is so beautifully preserved by the structure and the beeswax.
In my studio, I keep boxes of antique books and periodicals which were left in our attic in our house in Windsor, Ohio. My dad’s family were descendants of the original settlers (Griswolds) that came from Connecticut to the Western Reserve in Ohio after the Revolutionary War. My late great great Aunt Sarah (Sade) Griswold was an active member of Windsor’s Historical Society and collected and donated many artifacts to the museum there. She also collected newspaper clippings which look as though they were gathered when she was quite young. She was born in 1886, became a nurse who never married, and lived to be 100! When I was a kid I used to poke around the attic and remember seeing many dusty letters, postcards, books, and photos but never really studied them. Now I take the time to really look at what Aunt Sade and my grandparents collected and think about why they thought them valuable enough to keep. Perhaps they were just hoarders? Perhaps they wanted their descendants like me to find and study them? I’ll never know.
So this piece began with some of the antique clippings from our attic. I scanned them to create digital copies which were then printed. As I cut the images from the copies, I was immediately placed in Aunt Sade’s shoes, looking closely at each clipping, literally reenacting her process. Once they were cut out, I decided to randomly paste them onto my wood canvas with no organization or reason – I suppose that represents the mystery that exists between her life and mine since I never knew her. I did not take a photo of this part – I really wish I had – but alas my composition will always remain a mystery as well since my next step was to cover the clippings in encaustic medium.
Once covered in the milky, slightly pigmented beeswax, I dusted areas of the surface with oil powdered pastels called PanPastels. I liked how they added to the mystery of what was hidden beneath the wax.
To apply the honeycomb pattern, I had first printed it onto paper then poked hundreds of holes with my needle tool into the surface, as shown in this process video.
The final step in the process was to choose some cells to carve out and reveal parts of the clippings underneath. Even though revealed, the images are still highly unrecognizable, strengthening the veil of mystery.
I called it “Preservation” since the beeswax will help to further preserve the history my Aunt Sade so fervently valued. I’m very happy this piece was awarded by the Geauga Arts Council, placing 3rd place in the Other Media category. It’s currently being shown at the West Woods Nature Center in Novelty, Ohio until October 3, 2023.
I painted a piece inspired by one neighbor who happens to be a horse. It’s interesting to me that “neigh” is part of the word “neighbor,” and I have a horse as a neighbor. I’d like to know the connection between the two words if there is one. But that’s not very important to this story.
When I was a kid, I used to walk along route 534 and other roads in Windsor, Ohio, quite a lot. One of my earliest memories is when I ended up one early morning at our Amish neighbor’s farm up on a hill, west of our place. I was probably 4 or 5. The kids must have taken me on a tour of the farm because I remember coming very close to a massive bull behind a fence – I can still picture his huge head and the shiny bull ring in his wet, fleshy nose. I also remember being in their dawn lit kitchen and seeing a few of the young Amish girls. They were standing in a row at the sink in gauzy white gowns with their long hair draping their backs. They must have been washing the breakfast dishes. It was like seeing a row of angels in real life to me, and I’ll never forget it.
We had another neighbor down the south side of the road who was a retired history teacher, Mr. Loomis. He and his wife lived in a beautiful brick century home. On days I roamed, I would end up at their house more often than they probably liked. I sat next to Mr. Loomis in their front room while his wife made dinner. I even stayed once and ate with them, although it could have been more than once since I barely recall. He would mostly talk to me about history of course, especially local history since he was a descendant of a pioneer family in Windsor; my family were original settlers there too. Across the road was a barn where they kept a horse – a white pony actually – named Starfire. It was a real treat if he took me to the barn to see Starfire, and I would often stop to see her when I was older riding my bike past their place to Mespo.
I had some other neighbors who caught my curiosity as well. A teenage girl invited me to play with my Barbies while she smoked and played records in her room. To this day when I hear “Tiny Dancer” I think of her. Another Amish neighbor gave me ripe strawberries from her garden when I walked by as she was weeding. I barely ever see my neighbors now. I need to get out more.
When I lived in Hudson a decade ago, I craved living in the country again. We lived in what I call a fish bowl since all the back yards faced each other. One neighbor seemed friendly, but became less liked when he reported us for having an uncontained pile of yard debris. A teenage girl behind our house spent some time with my daughter, which gave her some fond memories. I would often drive by areas with pastures and farms longing to live among the peace and beauty, raising my daughter in a more laid back community. We finally found the perfect place in Auburn Township in 2014. And to make it even better, our neighbors happen to have two horses. For years I’ve been able to look out my window and see horses grazing behind the white fence – it’s quite picturesque.
Earlier this year, I noticed our neighbor across the road was putting up a fence. I figured they might be adding livestock or maybe even goats or llamas. But, I was so happy to see a few weeks ago a new horse was there behind the fence. This horse seems very friendly though. Every time we are outside with the dog he stops eating and comes to the fence to watch us, like he is saying hello. One early morning I saw a man walking down the road stop to interact with the new horse, most likely feeding him too. Even though he’s a tall chestnut colored horse, he reminds me of Starfire in his demeanor.
This new neighbor has been my obsession the last couple weeks in the studio. I set out to make an image that is simplistic with the calm, country feeling you have when you’re in the most beautiful parts of northeast Ohio. The piece began with encaustic medium over an encaustic gesso base. I then did most of the image in oil pastels and a bit of walnut ink.
As you can see, it has taken me a lot of time and trials but I’m happy with the result. The encaustic painting “Country Neighbor” represents my gratitude for all the farmers, horse and other livestock owners that are in our community. They make our surroundings so much more enjoyable, tranquil, and serene. I hope by painting this it will bring that same feeling into someone’s home. Follow this link to my Etsy Shop.
I’m excited to paint more horses. I drew them a lot when I was a kid. When I sit at my computer in my studio, I have a great view of my new neighbor – I can see him right now grazing between the trees. One of these days I’ll have to go introduce myself.
If you have followed me at all lately, you can tell I am having a lot of fun working with the AI system called Midjourney. I’ve “conjured” well over 200 images using it. I’ve had it create patterns, botanicals, landscapes, round images, abstract art, portraits, and the list goes on. Quantity over quality is definitely where I’m at in the process. I have experimented enough to find a niche of a certain style that feels right, for now.
Painting with words is how I can best describe the process. You type in descriptive words on your own or copy those of the art pieces you like – they are constantly being produced by other subscribers out of the general system. Most of what I see on Midjourney when I scroll through other artists’ work has a futuristic/science fiction look similar to the first one below, but I do my best to avoid those results because my goal is to be unique of course. Overall, Midjourney is to an artist a brilliant way to quickly draft an image of a piece one is thinking of, but can be frustrating when the words aren’t interpreted the same way by AI.
Midjourney Images
Midjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-Plata
What makes AI fun, but like a roller coaster, is the rapid pace at which I can create images. But, to make art that truly represents my purpose and aesthetic has taken me a very long time and quite a few errors. I’m excited to continue to share what I’ve conjured using AI. The work I’ve done lately has a strong visual presence. I don’t like these enough to use them in my encaustic, but they’re quite appealing and show yet another avenue of my individual creativity.
A few months ago I forayed into using an AI art generator called Midjourney. I tread very lightly into it, using basic image prompts and then referencing the output for three encaustic art pieces.
In this post I highlight the first which came from an AI image that is a watercolor of a pond in a field. When I was a kid, we had the most beautiful, tranquil pond in the acreage behind our home. This is the best I could get from AI to render an image of my memory.
Midjourney Art
Midjourney Art by Rachel Rivas-Plata
So I went to work covering a wood canvas with white pigmented encaustic medium. Then as you can see I carefully added powdered oil pastels called PanPastels. I also added some more white medium to bring texture and movement to the clouds. I wasn’t happy with the cattail-like weeds in the foreground, so I dropped in a great blue heron. In an attempt to render a more peaceful, quiet feeling I opted to remove the bird and went back to the blurred, blowing weeds.
Encaustic Process Photos
The last photo above shows how easily you can rework the wax once it cools. Scraping it off and then applying new layers has saved many pieces in my studio, and that’s another reason to love working with this medium. On one had one has to work very quickly while it’s melted, but after it cools it can be changed.
Encaustic Art
The final product is called “Adrift.” It’s on an 11×14 inch wood panel and if you don’t find it listed on my Etsy shop linked here, that means it has sold.
I do live in somewhat of a vacuum, or bubble as some call it. I work at home, do my encaustic art at home, and most of my social interactions nowadays consist of texting friends and hanging out on Instagram. I get quite a lot of social stimulation through observation. I suppose the reason I bring up my limited social interactions is to let you know how seeing one post by an artist on Instagram has led to a vast opening up of art that never would have imagined. Literally.
I was looking on Instagram one day in January and came across a beautiful image uploaded by an artist I follow. Her name is Annemarie Ridderhof and you can see her art on Instagram: @annemarie33. It had a futuristic, surreal quality that was very intriguing. Her post mentioned that she created it using AI (artificial intelligence), particularly a program called Midjourney. Well, I have just enough spontaneity and curiosity in me that led to my downloading and playing with that program within a few hours. Within days I had created a reference photo using AI, and over the last few weeks have finished an encaustic work based off that interaction.
The first few images I prompted Midjourney to create were some memories from my childhood I wanted to solidify in 2D. I put brief descriptions of the scenes I wanted portrayed and in less than a minute, four mockups show on the screen. At that point, I had the option of creating different versions of the four, or creating higher resolution versions of them which are suitable to download.
Midjourney ArtMidjourney Art
After spending a day or two on those types of images, I ran out of my freebies. By then I was hooked, so I bought a limited subscription.
My next experiment was having Midjourney take elements of images I had created to see what AI would come up with. Here are side by side comparisons of my art vs. Midjourney.
“Yesterday on Auburn Road,” by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art“Two Cranes” by Rachel Rivas-PlataMidjourney Art
Next I uploaded some 19th century images that I scanned several years ago.
19th Century IllustrationMidjourney Art
19th Century IllustrationMidjourney Art
As I became more comfortable with the program, I decided to upload a few of my own images to see if I could make something more of my own from them. I wanted AI to make new or stylized versions of them. This didn’t quite pass my gut test though, since uploading the photos pretty much gives the copyright away to Midjourney. I made a few images by combining some, which turned out very interesting, I think. See below.
Midjourney ArtMidjourney ArtMidjourney Art
Then things began to get a little weird. I was using the terms like “realistic photo” and some creepy images were born. If you peruse many of the images AI creates, they have a darker mood than I prefer. I know my images aren’t all that “happy” but I noticed AI seems to default to the macabre on its own.
Midjourney ArtMidjourney ArtMidjourney ArtMidjourney ArtMidjourney Art
To incorporate AI into my art, I decided to use Midjourney to create a reference photo which I would then use to create an original encaustic work. You’ll have to read my next blog post to see what transpired.
I have read more about AI art recently and found there is quite a lot of controversy surrounding the whole idea of AI in art. If people are using it and not sharing the fact an artwork is mostly made by AI, that is simply fraudulent. I might have a stronger opinion if I made a living as a professional artist, but I really don’t see it as a threat but a dynamic new tool to help with visualization. I look forward to seeing how it moves contemporary art in a new direction.
In spring of 2020, when society contracted and we eliminated in-person gatherings, I started a habit of walking each morning at dawn before work. My job in data analysis was sitting at a computer for eight hours or more, so the walks really helped me mentally and physically feel energized each day. In every direction from my house there is beautiful scenery, since I’m lucky to live in a rural community. My route quickly became ingrained down a side gravel road with overhanging tree limbs that provided some pretty canopies as I approached.
What I loved most was catching glimpses of creatures I don’t usually see or hear. An occasional car would drive by, but often times it was just me on the road with busy birds, camouflaged rabbits, and the occasional running deer. One day I found this young orange newt crossing the road and so I helped him to the other side.
I vaguely remember watching for a solar eclipse over the tops of the trees once. I sometimes would see a cat crouched by the side of the meadow on his early morning hunt.
Early last year, I was devastated when tree cutting services swept down the road and cut many of the beautiful trees lining each side. On one walk, a little bird became very aggressive with me, swooping over my head several times. I can’t help but wonder if it thought I was what took down those trees. This year, some homes were built on the meadows of Moreland Road where I often stopped to snap photos of wildflowers, sunrises, morning mist, and dewy spider webs. Now the gravel road is paved, and I stopped the walks.
I am fairly certain the lot where my current home is was once a meadow or forest. I am not guilt-free of this encroachment on nature, but it has been very sad to experience the loss. What I do still have though are many photos I took on my strolls in 2020. Here are a few.
I made several encaustic art pieces from them and have sold a few. The ones in frames are my favorites, and I don’t plan to sell them. As I look at these and enjoy the beauty of the photos and the memories they hold, I can’t help but be grateful for this silver lining to the cloud that came over us in 2020.
I thought I’d share some of my history just to let you know where I’ve been. I think it also helps me close the chapters for good and continue forward into my next art phase. In my last blog I told the story of how I spent a lot of time in the art room in high school and why. The art teacher had suggested I could get a scholarship to Cleveland Institute of Art but I looked at him like he was crazy thinking my grades were too good to “waste” on art school. So, I was not intending on being an art major when I applied to Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. I wanted to be an art therapist. Looking back I clearly see I didn’t pick the right college, but at the time I had no clue how to pick the best school for my intended major. It was a good “liberal arts” college so I was assured no matter what I majored in I’d be guaranteed a career in whatever I wanted to do after I earned a Bachelor’s. I’m not sure if I was misled or had no common sense at the time, but that’s how I perceived my options. The campus was pretty, the tour guide seemed friendly, and they gave me hefty grants based on my grades. I was wait listed at Oberlin and Dickinson, so I accepted my fate and matriculated at Allegheny in the fall of 1988.
College was difficult for me to say the least. They expected me to show up early in the morning, do lots of reading, participate in class and spend hours studying. I will let you in on a secret, I didn’t do much of that in high school at all. I would study the night before tests since the teachers usually told us what would be on them. I did like to read a lot, but was more interested in Anne Rice and Stephen King novels than Immanuel Kant or Thomas Merton books. Then there was my new social life. I went from talking to literally two people in high school to having a nice group of friends in college based on our mutual love of loud keg parties and drinking any form of schnapps we could get our hands on.
At Allegheny I felt some support of my new friends, but did not have any connection with my advisor or my professors. I avoided them as much as possible, certainly because of the shame I felt in not attending classes and not doing well on tests. I had never struggled in school so I didn’t realize I should have reached out to them for help. I didn’t even know a tutor was an option. It did not improve either when I spoke with my advisor in the middle of my Freshman year and she said “Maybe Allegheny isn’t the place for you.” I’m still angry about that after all these years, but writing this does help get it off my chest. She was probably right, but she never offered me help or ways to improve my situation. I think that’s when I first developed my tendencies of imposter syndrome.
I spent the next three years feeling like I wasn’t good enough to be there. I went through some very tough emotional and financial struggles my junior year and considered dropping out after I failed an 8 am class I rarely attended – Geology. Quite honestly college was boring me too. It just seemed like work, and I was having too much fun with my new friends for that. With encouragement from my good friend and roommate, I decided to bite the bullet and take an extra course my senior year to finish my degree. By that time I had a few art courses under my belt including a multimedia class where I hand built this clay piece modeled after a glass bottle with candle wax dripping off the sides. It was about 18 inches tall.
I thought my choice of majors was between English and Studio Art based on the classes I had done well in and felt encouragement from the professors when I did show up and do the work. I learned to mix the clay and glazes and how to fire pieces in an enormous gas kiln. I can’t say I felt like an expert after those classes, but I knew I loved it and enjoyed the process more than anything else. Here is a piece I did in beginning ceramics course when we had to depict the fortune after opening a fortune cookie in class.
I never felt connected with the other art majors. They seemed weird to me ha ha. Now I realize I would have fit in perfectly with my own weirdness if I had just accepted my differences rather than try to hide them. I did not spend a lot of time at art events, but I do vividly recall when the art gallery receptionist bought a raku fired cup and saucer I had made. I was in shock since I had always given my pieces away for free to family and friends.
Here are a couple of the pieces that were part of my senior year project. Some lost soul broke off the points of the yellow triangles in the top piece, so I had to just go with it when I discovered the damage in the studio the next day. The platters are about 20 inches wide and I still have some of them.
That senior project was another experience that added to my imposter syndrome. We were supposed to find an artist that inspired our work and I had settled on Wassily Kandinsky. I read a little about his work and was inspired by the bold shapes, colors, and lines. His use of the abstract to transcend the physical world resonated with me. I was not able to convey this to the art history professor though – he quickly shot me down and said my work was no comparison to Kandinsky. True, but I don’t know where these professors come off being so mean to young people.
Fast forward to early 2000s when I enrolled in pottery courses at Lakeland Community College. Once again I was in my element spending hours in the studio each week. Throwing pottery was very fun and was something I was ok at, but never mastered it. I lacked a lot of the strength needed in my hands and it is very hard on your skin. Hand building came much easier to me. Here are some of the pieces I made at Lakeland. The teacher was very good, and I loved the classes. He showed us the technical nuances but let us run free with our own ideas and projects.
I have not done ceramics or pottery for roughly twenty years now. I don’t really miss it since I found encaustic to be very satisfying, inspiring, and full of possibilities. If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for your interest. I don’t spend too much of my time looking back, but I needed to chronicle and appreciate the learning experiences that brought me to where I am right now.
I’m very pleased to announce that my encaustic piece “Heavy” has been accepted in to the 12th May Show at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. The show runs from May 19 through July 15. Here’s a link to the Lakeland CC web site where you can see gallery hours along with the option to purchase the pieces in the show that are for sale.
Once in a while a piece will take on a life of its own, and that was really the case here! It began as a playful portrait sketch I did after watching Eschwan Winding create one of her beautiful figure drawings. I did the sketch with white pencil on a black background just to try something different. I liked it, but was not nearly satisfied – I continued to add some oil paint, then encaustic medium. I mounted it to a larger wood canvas, then covered it more encaustic medium, a crazy amount of texture, and then some panpastel matte and metallic pigments. Once the wax was slightly heated again, the oil based paint and pigments set in and became part of the medium.
“Heavy” by Rachel Rivas-Plata. Encaustic on Wood, 11″x14″ (2022)
The results incessantly interest me – the mysterious expression, various textures, bright orange hair against the dark, weathered background. There is also a subtle contrast between smooth and rough wax, and matte and metallic finishes seen as you move left or right of the piece. I deliberately compounded the 2 pieces of wood with the medium to seem as though they were one. She’s a bold and bright figure, and forever bound to some darkness and wounds, both physically and in her neutral gaze.
I paid close attention to how the piece made me feel rather than how it looked as it progressed, which I find very interesting and gratifying. That signals to me that the art work transcended its physical state.
Here are some process photos and videos.
The initial sketch
The painting in process
After mounting to second wood canvas
Covering with encaustic medium
Texture in the cooled medium from brush strokes
“Heavy” by Rachel Rivas-Plata. Encaustic on Wood, 11″x14″ (2022)
The show at Lakeland’s Gallery in Kirtland, Ohio, runs through July 15, 2022.
