Encaustics - Studio practice day

Studio day experimenting with encaustics.

Supports: circular conservation card. The circular support is not usual for me so challenges composition choices. To help the encaustic medium adhere to the surface I stretched linen over the surface and secured with rabbit skin glue.

Mixing damar varnish pellets with natural beeswax pellets. Heating and cooling mixing with oils and using a blow torch to keep it fluid when necessary.

- I found it quite difficult to control the wax which becomes solid very quickly. The mixing of wax and paint becomes muddy very easily.

+ It was good to try a new material. This challenges my ideas and forces me to work in new ways. The wax when dry has a sculptural quality which can be scratched and carved into to add marks to the surface. There is a contrast of shiny and matt areas due to the nature of the medium when cool. There is scope to add found materials into the wax and encase between the layers.