Christmas Arrives!

I am such an immature little kid when it comes to trying new things. I woke up at 4:30 am this morning, thinking with excitement out the day ahead. Finally! I get to play with wax that is not in teensy tiny tins and trial sized! I couldn't wait to get errands out of the way and get into the studio.

As much as I love the refined, rich colors of manufacturers such as Enkausticos (shown below) and
R & F, my budget and my plan of painting are not in sync. These small amounts are fine if you're doing the European style method of encaustic painting, but the way I plan to paint is to use much larger amounts of paint in a much more freehand style.

Once in the studio, I quickly cleaned up my studio and made my encaustic work area ready for making medium. I gathered all the players together for a little family portrait. Shown clockwise, starting at the top is: a heat source. In this case, an electric griddle; pharmaceutical grade white filtered beeswax from Swans Candle Supplies in Washington; Damar Resin Crystals from the same source; aluminum tins from the store to hold mixed medium, oil paints from Gran Morrison in Panama City, a weight watcher's scale I brought with me from the states and a large pot. The pot will go one the griddle, 8 oz of wax will get melted followed by the addition of 1.5 ozs of damar resin. All will be mixed together until all is melted. Then it will be poured in the metal cups.

Or, better than that, just watch this video. Remember, I'm a painter, not Steven Spielberg! Enjoy: