color variation in wax medium

Left: new bag of RF Encaustic Medium     Right: original batch of same medium

I'm in the beginning of frenzy mode for my next solo show, so even the smallest of disruptions to my work plan can be irritating.

The current culprit for my diminished comfort is a new batch of R&F pellet medium that I recently received from the Dick Blick online store.

This is the first time I've noticed a significant shift in color quality. The bag on the left is the new batch. It may be difficult to see in the photo, but the pellets are remarkably yellower than the original bag on the right.

I called R&F to see if they changed their mix, or wax, or methods. They had not, and the nice customer service person I spoke with said that since the wax is an organic substance, there will be variation in pigmentation of the medium. She suggested that placing the wax pellets in sunlight will bleach them to my desired level.

This is surprising news to me, because I always thought that wax was impervious to UV. In the spirit of experimentation, I've proceeded with the test. After 5-days, still no perceptible change. I'll keep trying until I run out of wax and need to use the pellets to finish the show.

The yellow wax is especially confounding because I believe that the clearer the medium, the less it effects the color of my base image. My newest work has a lot of cool white background areas. The yellowing of the background caused by the medium will require more layering of transparent white to bring it up to a level I like.

It's simply a matter of more hours in the studio. Good thing I like my job.

Atlanta

If you happen to find yourself in Atlanta within the next few weeks, be sure to stop by Pryor Fine Art. This Friday is opening night for what looks to be a gorgeous show with new work from Atlanta artist, Dusty Griffith paired with one of my favorite Seattle artists, Michael Schultheis.

And, while you're at it, check out my six new paintings delivered to Pryor Fine Art this week. I've been fortunate to have great success with my work here in Seattle at the stellar Patricia Rovzar Gallery, so it has taken me over a year to get new art to Atlanta. I am pleased to have the great fortune of representation by the patient and professional people at Pryor Fine Art.

"mon ange", 36x42

"village beat", 36 x 34

"let go", 32 x 42.5

"honey pie", 36 x 34

"du jour", 36 x 34

"a delirious dance", 32 x 42.5

simple pleasures

Most of the time, studio organization takes a back burner. Until the burner starts really burning.

This is one of those projects that I should have completed years ago. When brushes are left to float in the molten wax they will slip to the bottom of the pan. When the bristles touch the metal of the pan, they burn, causing the entire tray of wax to alter color. I purchase pre-mixed medium in bulk from R&F Paints. Not cheap. So every time I discard a pan of tainted medium, a little bit of profit slips away.

I made this simple brush rack out of scraps from my studio and the workshop. The base is a piece of flat plywood. Attached are two metal brackets from one of my industrial shelving systems. I've screwed some scrap filler wood into the brackets, and attached long screws to hang over the tray of wax.

It's not very pretty, and it's incredibly basic. But I'm oddly proud of my modest handiwork.

Special thanks to Larry Calkins for reminding me how easily influenced wax is to foreign material.

A Back Breaking Labor of Love

I'm currently working on a large (50in x 66in) commission for the lobby of a hospital here in Washington State. I love commissions. And although challenging, I love working large.

The panel was expertly constructed by Matthew Olds of Hold Studios. And this time I also outsourced my large format printing from The Color Group. All of the pieces were beautifully produced, and everything is coming together just as planned. On schedule.

And then today. Instead of waiting to ask someone in the building to help me glue the large sheet onto its substrate, I decided I could handle it myself. I slopped the glue onto the panel and quickly squeegeed it across the board to a smooth, level finish.

I carefully picked up the large sheet, and was immediately engulfed by the mass. To avoid the sheet falling onto the sticky surface, I flopped the thing over my head and blindly lined up the edges into the correct position on the panel.

Stick. Remove. Kink. Crease. Tear.

Then finally, it rolled into place and I began frantically burnishing the surface. Dabs of glue spotted everywhere. This will require sanding and covering with some R+F Encaustic gesso in areas.

Whew. It will all work out in the end, but next big project, I'll be enlisting a helping hand. For now, I need a back rub and a martini.

The Light of Morning Curls Forth

Left: 'forest spirit'. Right: ' the light of morning curls forth'. Total size: 43.5 x 72

Two paintings recently completed from the series of birch trees enveloped in fog. Rather than a direct representation of what the camera sees, this series is an impression of my memories of the colors and atmosphere on my late summer barge trip through the canals of France. None of the actual photos captured the spirit of the experience. Through photo manipulation, wax and paint, I more accurately portray the view that I saw in my minds eye.

Although this was created as two individual paintings, I liked the way the two work together as a single diptych. I really love the blue tones, and I'm hoping Seattle has a heat wave during my show to encourage collectors to purchase more cooling images.

Detail from ''ight of morning curls forth'

Repairing a Scar

It seems that some lessons I'm destined to learn over and over and over. In my excitement to begin work, I was not careful with blending the seams. The photo below shows a detail of an area where the seam is most apparent.

Because the painting consists primarily of transparent yellow, it is almost impossible to completely cover the offending scar with paint and clear wax alone. I painted a semi-opaque white wax, mixed with a tiny bit of yellow, over the seam. But I also had to add the wax over other areas of the painting, so that the resulting texture would be more unified.

I call this the ugly stage. It takes me a few days to actually build up the courage to attack the painting in this way. After applying the patch, I scraped it to a smoother consistency, and then started re-building the painting.

This detail of the area now has four or more layers of oil paint rubbed, painted and burned into the surface. You can see where the underlying wax was added, because the area is more textural, but I think it is richer and more complex than the original. It's a time-consuming approach which requires a lot of patience and trust. Check back later to see how the patch integrates with the rest of the painting.

Prep, Process and Problem Solving

our garage workshop with all three cut panels glued, sanded and ready to go.

The doors arrived to my supplier the day before thanksgiving. A huge sigh of relief. Next step was to cut them down to size, and fill and sand the exposed ends (picture below).

this is what the doors look like when cut open.

the wood filler needed to be stripped to the correct thickness, and cut to size.

Now in the studio, my images are adhered to the panels. Although my canon printer can print up to 50 yards long, it maxes out at 17 inches wide, so I've had to splice the paper sheets together. I'm not sure if it's a result of the cold weather we're having here in Seattle, but the paper seems to be moving as the glue drys on the wood, leaving a small gap along the length of the splice. I've filled the gaps with R&F Encaustic gesso, and then tinted the gesso with guoache to get closer to the correct color.

detail showing the gap in the spliced image

It takes a bit more work to make the line disappear once I start painting, but with enough paint and wax and texture, it all comes together in the end.

The first board is on the waxing table. In this photo, I still need to trim the paper flush to the edges of the panel. And I'd better clean up the work area before I make an even larger mess of things. In the upper right corner of the photo, you can see a smaller scale photoencaustic painting I did as practice for getting the colors right before embarking on the finals.

Check back next week for the next progress report.