02 May Intro to Encaustic Painting: April 20, 2013
Posted at 11:25h
in Demos In Review
Introduction to Encaustic Painting
with Francisco Benitez!
Demo in Review
Francisco demonstrated Encaustics with his typical flair. Here are some tips from the master. Thanks, Francisco!!
Here are some Demo highlights:
- When working with encaustics, it is important to use a primer that is not acrylic-based, such as most commercial grade gesso. It is better to use rabbit skin glue, a true gesso (made with rabbit skin glue and calcium carbonate), or some of the new gessos being developed by R&F Paints and others. It is also important to always work on a rigid surface such as wood panel or masonite. If you use rabbit skin glue to prepare your surface, you can throw in some pigment to tint it.
- For encaustic flesh painting, you can rely on the ancient Greek tetrachromy, or four-color palette, which can yield amazing flesh tones with some practice. The colors are white, yellow ochre, red earth, and black. If you want to get R&F’s paints, purchase their Titanium and Neutral White (which can be equally mixed for a good white), Mars Yellow, Mars Red, and Mars Black.
- For flesh painting, I prefer working on a darker toned ground, called a “proplasmos” in Greek, which consists of making a mixture of yellow and black pigments into rabbit skin glue. This combination of colors creates a subtle green umber color which is great as a base for flesh work. You can also see if encaustic companies are coming out with colored encaustic gesso.
- For encaustic figurative work, I recommend purchasing the R&F heated handle, the temperature regulator, and the various nibs, especially the one called the “horn”. A good heat gun is always recommended, that has variable temperature settings and at least two fan settings. For the palette I would recommend a heated pancake griddle that has a temperature gauge.
- It is crucial to have good ventilation in your studio, and keep your waxes at the lowest possible temperature. Your waxes should not exceed 220° as the fumes will become very harmful. The waxes should be liquid and workable at 190°. Even when kept under 220°, it is important to either keep a cross current with two open windows, have a good air purifier, or install a relatively inexpensive venting system such as this one http://www.ventafume.com/.
Happy painting!
Francisco Benitez