2012 Encaustic Paintings
I make my own encaustic paint—a mixture of raw pigments and beeswax, together with small proportions of damar resin, carnauba, and microcrystalline waxes that impart a degree of flexibility and resilience to the surface. The greatest advantage of making the paint is that I control the pigment load, and thus can adjust the relative opacity or transparency of the medium. Once the wax is heated to a molten state, I brush the paint onto a panel and alternate between building layers, fusing with heat, scraping and carving with various tools, and refining the surface with solvents. Surfaces are often achieved by veiling strong color structures with translucent layers of wax.
