Irina Ashcraft: Encaustic for Beginners

FAEA Conference, October 10, 2013Daytona Beach, FL

Contact: Irina AshcraftUpper School Art TeacherTrinity Preparatory School5700 Trinity Prep LaneWinter Park, FL 32708

Ashcrafti@trinityprep.org

Encausticpaint made from pigment mixed with melted beeswax and resin and after application fixed by heat; also : the method involving the use of encaustic or a work produced by this method

encaustic, adjective, from Latin encausticus, from Greek enkaustikos, from enkaiein to burn in, from en- + kaiein to burn

History: Painted ships

In Ancient Greece, ship builders used beeswax to caulk the joint and waterproof the hulls of their vessels.

History: The Fayum Portraits

• In Greko-Roman Egypt, from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200

History: Jasper Johns

• Put pigmented wax on canvas in 1954

Today: used with many media

• Collage• Painting & drawing (representational,

abstract)• Printmaking• Sculpture• Ceramics• Textiles• Mixed

My first few encaustic pieces done at the workshop with Patricia Seggerbruch

February 2012

Encaustic Project: “Ode to a Song” (gr. 9-12; various levels)

Make a piece that is inspired by a song of your choice; use lyrics as well as the beat and tonality (fast, slow, loud, soft etc) as your idea source for imagery, colors, textures and other elements.

Project steps (this is a suggested order; you may repeat some steps multiple times as desired):Write some song lyrics with either graphite pencil or charcoal pencil directly on the wood board; don’t worry

about your words being legible or distributed evenly on the surface; you can concentrate your writing in certain areas or make your letters smaller/larger as you please. You will end up covering most of this with future layers, so don’t spend more than just a minute or two on this step.

Warm your board slightly and add the initial layer of CLEAR wax and fuse with heat gun. Make an image transfer. Picking a spot that is smooth and fairly light in value works best for this. Fuse.Now that you’ve added an image, it will most likely become the focal point in your artwork. Use the following

steps to bring even more attention to your focal point by adding contrast, color, and texture. Build your surface by brushing on more wax layers (they do not have to cover the entire surface.) You

can add wax texture in certain shapes/areas by using punchanella, other stencils or masking tape. Fuse layers as you add them.

Make scratches/incisions on the surface where you feel appropriate; you can also imprint textures with stamps and any tools of your choice; fill in the scratched areas with a contrasting oil color. Fuse.

Add collage material: you can cut, tear and otherwise shape found papers, dry leaves, screen, fabric, yarn, buttons, hardware, etc. Secure with a layer of wax and fuse.

Rub in some PAN PASTELS onto your surface; you may use stencils or free hand it. Fuse. For the final layers, you may use oil paints and/ or metallic powder. Fuse your last layer.

Encaustic Project Grading RubricComposition & Design (focal point is clear, balancedarrangement of art elements) 20 ptsContent (creative interpretation of the chosen song using visual

means of expression) 10 ptsTechniques (all the above listed encaustic techniques are

explored) 20 ptsEffort/Engagement/Attention 10 ptsTotal: 60 pts

Students must answer this question in writing upon completion of their encaustic piece:

Please explain, in a few sentences, how visual elements (color, line, shape/form, value, space, texture) and transferred/scratched in/painted images you used in your encaustic piece illustrate your chosen song (lyrics, beat, style, etc) or other theme. Please use at least 3 examples. Your answer will account for 10 Content points when I grade your encaustic piece.

Thank you!

Ian Taylor, gr. 10

Donald Phan, gr. 9

Emilia Todd, gr. 10

Annie Richardson, grade 9

Amelia Petree, graded 9

Hayley Canal, grade 9

Amy Lowndes, grade 9

Claire Mayocco, grade 9

Becca Kiriazes, gr. 11

I chose the song "Underwater" by MIKA. I used color, shape, line, value, space, texture, and my transferred image to make it seem like underwater. I used value by making some areas clear and others blue to be like water. I used a fish and cheese cloth to make it feel like water. I used a light kiss shimmer to be like a kiss and lip gloss like in "'Cause all I need. Is the love you breathe. Put your lips on me and. I can live under water" . I pressed in lines that are wavy and bubbly to seem like water.

Veronica Harris, gr. 9

My piece was inspired by the song Here I Am by the band SOJA.1) The transferred image of the eyes relates to the lyrics of the song and the mysterious girl the song is about. I loved the image of the eyes and really tried to portrait them as my focal point. 2) The bright colors represent the fun, uplifting beat the song has. This song makes me really happy and gets stuck in my head for hours. 3) The black wax on top of the colors represents that the song has both happiness and sadness in it. The layering of colors and mediums help relay the confusion of emotions in the song to the piece.

Cassie Veneziano, gr. 9

Song: Everybody Talks by Neon Trees1. The butterfly on my piece represents the slow, flowy kind of tune to the song.2. All of the colors and different textures represent the "everybody talks" kind of theme, showing all of the different people and how they react to things.3. The gold powder reflects the popping and exciting, fast tune of the song.

Maria Camasme, gr. 9

My lyric is "Chega de Saudade" which loosely translates into "I don't want to miss you/someone anymore" or "no more tears". The remains of my failed image transfer ended up showing up through where I hadn't covered it with wax. Those represent the fading nostalgia represented in the song. The image that I transferred onto the wax is not only the album cover of one of the most famous versions of the song, but it also shows a man gazing into the distance. I think that it projects a feeling of longing that I really like about this song. I loved this project because it means a lot to me. Not only because it is part of my childhood, growing up listening to classic Brazilian Bossa Nova, but also because there are always those moments in life when you care much more about someone than they care about you and you just have to be able to let them go. Lastly, the aging around the piece represents the old memories of people who you miss that you haven't seen an an incredibly long time, but you can't help but remember them.

Gracie Gigliotti, gr. 9

My artwork is inspired by the song Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson. On my board I wrote the lyrics "It is as simple as something that no body knows." My image transfer of a buddha is supposed to represent simplicity. The gold and the rust red I thought were fitting for the buddha because the buddha is often portrayed with those colors. The rest of random/abstract touches are supposed to resemble the other half of the song quote that says "no body knows".

Ian Taylor, gr. 11

“In my encaustic piece i drew inspiration from the song wolves by phosphorescence and the lyrics of the song talk about a lone wolf who is on a hill shining bright in the distance, i emulated these lyrics by 1) using a picture of a wolf howling for my image transfer 2) i accentuated the wolf with oil paints around it making it appear bright 3) i also imbedded a piece of metal as the moon and made clouds out of newspaper to make it look as if the wolf was alone howling at the moon like in the song.”

Web Resources

Patricia Baldwin Seggerbruch (encaustic artist, workshops, purchase her products and more):http://www.pbsartist.com/Encaustic supplies:Blick Art Materialshttp://www.dickblick.com/R&F Paintshttp://www.rfpaints.com/

Books:

Baldwin Seggerbruch, P. Encaustic Mixed Media.

Baldwin Seggerbruch, P. Encaustic Workshop.

Books:

Mattera, J. The Art of Encaustic Painting.

Rankin, L. Encaustic Art.

Books:

Woolf, D. The Encaustic Studio.