One of the things that I enjoy most about encaustic painting is the variety of surfaces I can make with just one medium. Here I used an iron to create a smooth surface. My husband who hails from the East Coast says “It’s like butta!”
When the encaustic is smooth, almost like the surface of hot-press paper, I can draw on it with pigment powder. I can paint on it with a contrasting color, in this case black, like I would use sumi ink.
I can also paint on thick layers of encaustic building up a textured terrain.
Once enough layers of wax have been built up, I carve into the warm surface revealing the strata of my process.
I might leave the grooves open as contrast to other areas in the painting.
Or, I might fill in the grooves with a contrasting color and scrape away until smooth.
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Such beautiful surfaces! I love the texture especially in the 3rd and 4th photos.
It’s wonderful to see the process that goes into these works. So often I just see the end product without the story behind it. Thanks Rebecca!
I’m a texture addict, so this post was lovely. I hadn’t associated encaustic with butter, so thank your husband…now a new texture connection
Hmmmm . . . pigment powder, eh? At one of these IEA meetings, I’d love a tutorial/share on what different people use to “draw” on the wax . . . I’ve heard of Carbon paper, oil paint, litho printing ink, but that looked lovely! How does it hold up under fusing?