Encaustic
Encaustic is an ancient painting medium. The Egyptians and the ancient Romans used beeswax based paints and the work has lasted for centuries. The encaustic technique involves suspending pigments in a hot wax medium and applying to a rigid support. I enjoy exploring all of the creative possibilities of this technique and I'm having a lot of fun with it! As with my mixed media/collage work, I find that this medium is very receptive to layering. I enjoy embedding thin papers, and layer with both opaque and translucent hot wax. I make my own medium (a combination of beeswax and damar resin) and I mix my own colors, using raw and manufactured pure pigments suspended in the melted medium. A favorite find: at a yard sale I found a very old can of 'bronzing powder.' After looking it up I find that it is actually powdered mica. It adds a wonderful shimmer to some of the wax layers.
Below are a few examples of my encaustic work.
SkyBirds VII
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Falling Apart II, October Colors. Collection of the Museum of Encaustic Art
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"Chasing the Sun I" 12 x 36 Encaustic/Mixed Media
Beached I, 6x6
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Beached 2, 6x6
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Beached 3, 6x6
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Beached 4, 6x6
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"Broken Hallelujah" 30 x 40 Encaustic/Mixed Media
"Chasing the Sun" 30 x 30, Encaustic/Mixed Media
"If Monet Kept Bees" 30" x 40" Encaustic (private collection)
"Red Geranium" 11 x 14, Encaustic, Sold
"Rimrock" 30 x 40, Encaustic, Sold
The Dunes, Great Sand Dunes National Park, 20 x 24, Encaustic WIP
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Willows, 11 x 14 each, Encaustic with gravestone rubbings
"Searching for Hope II" 30 x 30 Encaustic
Daybreak in Cook Forest, 30 x 40, Encaustic
"Early Spring at Bent Run, 30" x 40" Encaustic
"Bright Orange Maples Under a Grey Sky"
11x14 Encaustic 
"No Diving" from the Searching for Hope series, 20 x 24, Encaustic
Heron in the Snowstorm
11 x 14, Encaustic (private collection) |
Cathedral 1
14 x 11 Encaustic, Sold 
Along the Clarion
36" x 12" Encaustic |
"Chickadees in Snowstorm" 16x20, Encaustic
(private collection) 
"Searching for Hope" 16x20, Encaustic
(private collection) 
Taos Pueblo 1
11 x 14 Encaustic (private collection) 
"Morgan Stund"
11x14 Encaustic private collection |
"Afton Stund Har Silver i Haret" 12 x 36, Encaustic (private collection)
