Studio

Master Studies (sort of)

Education, Gallery, Inspiration, Motivation, Process, Studio, Uncategorized / By

(posted 08/19/2026)

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).

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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.

Connect the Dots

Inspiration, Portfolio, Process, Studio / By

(posted 08/17/2025)

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.

Some Tools of My Trade

Education, Process, Studio / By

(posted 06/21/2025)

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.