Taking Encaustics Outside the Box

Nancy Natale

This painting is a collage of papers that have been dipped and painted with encaustic paint. Nancy works with old book spines, found and painted papers, and collage.

Lorraine Glessner
One of the things that draw me to this artists work is her delicate use of line. She uses long strands of human hair collaged under the encaustic medium to achieve this technique.

Brenda Mallory Capsules, 2006-2011,
 Waxed cloth, nuts, bolts, 11 units, each 10" x 10" x 17"

Beautiful three dimensional cloth objects can be encased in wax to give strength to an encaustic piece

Exciting texture can be added by imbedding paper and cloth into the surface. The wax also acts as an adhesive if heavier objects are to be imbedded, and they need not be completely submerged in the wax.

Perfect Specimens, Encaustic Collage
Lynn Corsi Bland

Exquisite detail can be achieved by transfering a photo copied image directly to the surface of the wax. The lines were drawn on the wax with a sharp needle and then filled in with black oil pastel.

Lynn Corsi Bland
encaustic and oil pastel


Another method to add drawing and line work like this piece, is to start with a drawing on paper. Watercolor paper is collaged to the surface of the board and the sketching is done on the paper before the wax is added with oil pastel. The painting can be completed using pigmented encaustic paint. 

The artists for these beeswax pieces are anonymous, but they show us the grace and beauty that nature gives us everyday. We, as artists, try, but the perfection evidenced here cannot be duplicated.

Entry for the National Collage Juried Exhibit 2012

        Judson's Art Award                              

                                                                    

"Flight"
21.5" x  17.5" x 1.5"

For the assemblage that was selected for the show I combined found objects, paper, encaustic paint and milk paint.

The center piece is part of a sewing machine carrying case that I mounted on linen mat board. It is attached with antique brass brads. The rolled scroll is an antique book that had lost it's cover.
I wrapped it with silk and wired it to the surface. It is dipped in beeswax.

On top of this I mounted a piece of black paper that I treated with bleach. The bleach left a nice organic shape (see detail below)

The collage is on hardboard, with clear encaustic paint and an image transfer from an antique
 botanical print.

This image shows a detail of the handmade envelope with a feather inside and a piece of
vintage silk cloth. It is  hand sewn to the mat board with natural thread.

The # three is a copper number distressed, painted and wrapped with wire. An air force uniform
 button in brass is sewn on. I attached the vintage watch face to a piece of found wood I painted
with encaustic paint.

Watermedia Class 2012

I had the pleasure of teaching nine talented, budding artists at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Since I am a huge fan of this creative place, the opportunity was both exciting and so much fun. Arrowmont is a well equipped school with state of the art classrooms and a friendly environment. Unfortunately, on the day I photographed, Debbie, was not present so I am missing her work. She paints lovely whimsical collages and combines paint with stamping. We are having a reunion soon to see what new exciting work is being created and I'll have more examples to post then.

Robert busy at work researching for this piece

Chuck showing off his self portrait

Robert's Acrylic on board
The brushstrokes add so much to the surface of this work, I especially love the burnt sienna,
it reads as a worn patina on rusted metal.

A colorful landscape by Chuck
Acrylic on board, he is a master at layering color, and the palette he has chosen is bold and clear.
This is the very first painting he has ever done! All these fabulous colors were mixed by the artist.

Anne and Beth sharing like good friends should, and Carolyn
in the background standing at her table in the back

Victoria ventured out of her comfort zone and tried some of the acrylic techniques I taught.
Her talents are many and she showed us her recent work... beautifully rendered portraits in colored pencil.

Victoria's vibrant trees
The quality of the foliage is so loose and textured and the little touches of color in the grass contribute the
success of this painting  

Linda working on placement for collage

Linda's Landscape
This girl is not afraid of anything and was willing to go for it. Great composition and such exciting lively color.
Acrylic and collage

Beth's cute little bunny
This is a perfect example how simplicity can make a painting sing.
She was able to resist the temptation to paint a background. Good job!

Carolyn's autumn leaves
The play of light is so great in this painting
Her shading gives the scene so much depth it looks 3 dimensional.
I love how the darks and lights are dispersed

Anne working on one of her paintings
She was very productive and came away with lots of finished works

Anne's tissue paper collage
This beautiful background was made by crumbling white tissue and attaching to the surface with medium. A fun and unpredictable technique that was really embraced by this student. You cannot tell by the photo but that is an actual  piece of driftwood attached with gorilla glue. She embraced this glue as well.

February's Work

This is acrylic on crescent board with lots of texture. I did a grid composition so I could experiment with texture in the different boxes. I used Golden Crackle Paste, Light Modeling Paste, Gesso and Matte Gel.
They each give a very unique surface, and take the paint so differently. I especially love the way the crackle came out when the paint was thinned before applying. The designs are hand carved stamps I made, and the text is from old book pages collaged on the surface.

Also acrylic with a textured surface of Matte Gel and Gesso. This is definitely in process and I may cover the whole painting with an opaque mask.

This one is acrylic with collage and ink on canvas. I added some marks and line drawings with pencil.

This one is on Crescent Illustration Board that I covered with collage, stamping, and lots of drawing.  I used stencils for the numbers. Then I negative painted around the shapes to create the composition. I am
happy with this one and it is finished.

January's Projects

Off to a slow start , but have a few works to share. These are all in process, soon to be complete.

I like the composition, I want to add more shading to the background

This one may be very close to complete

Really like the shape of this, but where to go with it? And the framing will be quite a challenge.

What I'm working on this month

I would like to share some of my work in progress, something I haven't done in the past but feel it might be a good way for me to document what I've done. I hope it will help me grow and develop and show me when a painting is completed. 

These are acrylics combined with collage, since it's gotten cold here and my wax area is not heated, I'm inside where it is warm. I would love to be able to use some beeswax with these mixed media pieces, but acrylic and wax to not mix and cannot be combined. Oil paint is the only paint that works, but for me it takes too long to dry. I am an impatient and spontaneous artist!

Ink and paint underdrawing

I have covered most of my drawings with paint

These paintings are in process and not really ready to say they are finished.  

National Collage Society 2011 Exhibit

PRESS RELEASE FOR 2011 SIGNATURE MEMBERS

Lynn Bland, Gatlinburg, TN, has been granted Signature Membership in the National Collage Society.  This is the highest distinction awarded to collage artists who have been selected by juries for the Annual Juried Exhibit.

The National Collage Society, Inc. (NCS, Inc) is a non-profit art education foundation with headquarters in Hudson, Ohio.  The purpose of this organization is to educate the public about the only new fine art medium of the 20^th Century, collage.  Collage is defined as a work of art with another layer glued on the surface.  It was found in many craft forms until 1912 when George Braque glued a piece of wallpaper on the surface of one of his paintings and created fine art.  He was sharing a studio with Pablo Picasso in southern France and they both pursued this new medium extensively.  Their collages can now be found in museums around the world.

NCS, Inc was founded by Gretchen Bierbaum in 1982, then incorporated in Ohio and obtained the IRS classification 501 C 3.  Membership has spread around the world with web presence www.nationalcollage.com.

Each year a new three-person jury selects the Annual Exhibit from hundreds of entries.  A museum curator, art history professor and professional collage artist provide a balance of opinions to maintain a high standard of collage and assemblage.

Assemblage is 3-dimensional collage.

Literacy Series: Book I

This assemblage is a combination of collage and pen and ink drawing with encaustic. I have used the beeswax to coat the altered book and the background surface. The twigs and mica are adhered with the wax and found objects such as an old key, a small carved wooden cross, stones and an acorn are added for dimension. Check out this link to view the exhibit:
http://www.nationalcollage.com/2011_exhibit/2011.html

Photograph by Jill Greene