Step Four: Bringing it All Together

My next step is to add some subtle detail to the sky and then transfer the image to the panels. Here are some images of the work in progress:

Sky detail added

Image transferred to panels

I then begin painting the panels with encaustic medium mixed with pigments and oil paints. I’ll spend several days on this process, slowly building up thin layers of paint and encaustic and fusing each layer with a torch to the layer beneath it. Here are some images of the progression. I started from the left and worked to the right.

Left panel completed

Center panel completed

Right panel completed

And here you have the completed piece. Before I display it, I will need to cut a board to size, paint the board black and mount the panels to the board. Then I will frame the piece to help protect the edges in transport.

And that’s all there is to it. I hope you’ve enjoyed the series. It was fun, and a little harrowing, to do. Now, back to the studio to work on a new series I hope to share with you soon. (This never gets boring.)

See you out there.

Raquel

Step Three: Prepare the Panel and Make Encaustic Medium

Once I get the panels, I spend  a lot of time over the next four or five days applying various coats and waiting for things to dry. I spend the first two days applying three coats of stain to the sides, then I wait twenty-four hours for the stain to dry.

Staining the panel sides

Next, I tape the sides of the panels to keep them clean during the painting process. Then I make a rabbit skin glue in a double boiler and seal the front and back of the panel from moisture by applying two coats of the glue.

Making rabbit skin glue and gesso

Sealing the panels with rabbit skin glue

I let the panel dry overnight, and then I make a mixture called gesso in a double boiler. My gesso is made from chalk, pigment and rabbit skin glue. I apply the gesso to the panel in three coats. The panel is allowed to dry for twenty-four hours and then sanded to give it a smooth surface. This is the traditional, time-tested method for preparing a surface for encaustic painting and has been used by artists for centuries.

While I’m waiting for the gesso to dry, I make encaustic medium by melting beeswax and resin together. The wax and resin are melted on a low heat setting and stirred periodically to prevent it from burning and yellowing. After about twelve hours, everything is melted, and I pour the encaustic medium into molds.

I now have my image shot and edited, my panels prepped and my encaustic medium ready to go.

Next up: Bringing it all Together.

Once the film is processed, I evaluate the images and determine which negatives I want to take further. The first pass usually happens in the parking lot of the place I have the film processed, but later I’ll spend some time evaluating the film on a light table.

For this particular image, I shot a total of twelve frames. Two sets of two frames were shot with the idea of combining them to create a panorama. After reviewing the film, I decide to go with one of these sets of panorama images. Next, I scan the two negatives, stitch them together, crop and clean the image, and make color balance and contrast adjustments. For this image, I spent about four hours scanning and prepping the image and an additional hour proofing and fine-tuning the adjustments.

During the image editing period, I decide to create the piece as a triptych, with one large panel flanked by two smaller panels. Like this:

I next make a decision on the size of the piece, and then I call and order the panels from my panel guy, Steven Birnbaum, at PanelVision. If he’s not too busy, it usually takes him about seven to ten days to make the panels. In the meantime I’ll begin work on another piece and do some experiments with making a water-soluble wax emulsion.

Next up: Prepare the Panel and Make Encaustic Medium

In an attempt to answer this question, I thought it would be fun to walk through the various steps that go into creating one of my encaustic pieces. Over the next couple of months, we will explore the various stages that a new image goes through to wind up a finished piece of art.

Step One: Capture the Image on Film

October, 2011 – Photographing wetlands in Galveston, Texas

While I enjoy just about all of the steps that go into creating a new piece, photographing is quite possibly my favorite. There are times when I’m in the right place at the right moment, and I can just pull out my camera and start shooting. More often, however, it’s a bit like a treasure hunt. It requires a lot of driving and looking for locations. Fortunately I have two wonderful companions, my husband Art and our dog Georgia Belle, who don’t (usually) mind tagging along.

Once we’ve uncovered a location, I study the direction and quality of the light. I do this to determine what time of day will be best to capture the scene I’m photographing. Then I return when it seems like I have good conditions. This is when it helps to be on Mother Nature’s good side. A lot can go wrong: the wind can be blowing too hard, it can be foggy, the light can be too harsh, the sky can be too cloudy or not cloudy enough. Sometimes, however, everything falls into place, and it’s like being handed a wonderful gift.

The image I will be chronicling for the purpose of this blog is from my recent trip to Galveston, Texas. This image took three visits to capture. The first visit was a scouting trip. We made a second trip later that day to study the light and capture a couple of shots. I wasn’t thrilled with the way the light was falling on the scene in the evening, so we decided to return a third time the following morning. It was on this third trip that I captured the shot that will become the art piece.

Next up:  Step Two: Evaluate, Select and Edit Image

Despite Everything

“Rise out of dirt, she remains pure and noble”-Anonymous

I’ve just completed the final piece for my Regional Arts & Culture Council Project Grant. “Despite Everything” depicts seven lotus pods on four separate birch panels. Like all of the images included in the project, this piece touches on the themes of transformation, growth and new beginnings.

With “Despite Everything,” I’ve featured the lotus plant because of its association with spiritual growth. While it represents different things in different cultures, much of its symbolic significance can be attributed to the difficult circumstances in which it grows. Despite the dark, cold and muddy conditions of the lake bottom, the lotus plant takes root and then reaches its long powerful stem through the murky waters to raise an unsoiled blossom into the air. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most beautiful things come from the most difficult situations, and in this way, it’s the perfect symbol to finalize a project that began with the theft of an entire body of work in 2009. (You can read more about the genesis this here).

The journey of this project has certainly been rocky at times, but I’d like to think it’s not only resulted in something beautiful, but planted the seeds for a new journey about to come.

Many heartfelt thanks to RACC and Clackamas County. Their support of this project enabled me to better weather a crucial time of personal and creative transition, and for that I am deeply grateful. The resulting works will be on display all month at Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery in Portland. I hope you will join me on November 3rd, 6-9 pm, for the opening reception.

Raquel

I’m happy to be back in the studio with my trusty assistant and frisbee dog extraordinaire, Georgia Bell. We met some wonderful people in Kansas City, Dallas and Houston, and had a blast photographing in Galveston and Utah.

Now it’s time to get back down to business. Next up is my show at Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery in November.

Here are the details:

Exhibit: New Beginnings: A Celebration of Possibility
Gallery: Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery, 120 NW 9th Ave, Suite 102, Portland, OR 97209
Opening Reception: First Thursday, November 3, 2011 6-9pm
Dates of Exhibition: November 3 – November 30, 2011
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11-6 pm

Hope to see you there!
Raquel

Last week I had the privilege of being interviewed by the CBS news in Denver. This being my first television appearance, I was pretty nervous. The reporter and cameraman were very gracious, however, and soon put me at ease. Here’s a link the the clip.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/top-video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6028163

Last December I was awarded a Project Grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council for my work in encaustic photography. The grant will help fund the creation of approximately eight new works, and each will be shown at Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery in November.

These works are the product of my transition from working in a chemically harmful darkroom to working with all natural materials in a non-polluting way. They celebrate themes of rebirth, metamorphosis and new beginnings.

“Out on a Limb” is the first piece created for the grant. It suggests the risks and difficulties that accompany new ventures, but its also about perseverance, tenacity and hope for a better future.

Work In Progress

While my home and yard are relatively clean and orgainzed, my studio often looks like it’s been hit by a cyclone. The ideas come faster than I can work, and this means I often forget to put lids on things, rarely take notes, and I don’t clean my worktables enough. I’m usually on to the next two ideas before the one I’m working on is finished.

The problem with this way of working is it can be dangerous. I sometimes forget to use my dust mask, or turn on my ventilation, or wear gloves, or wash my hands. And these are mistakes that, in time, can cause health problems.

Knowing this about myself, I try to use non-toxic materials whenever possible. The greatest thing about making this choice is that the materials that are less toxic to me are also less toxic to the environment. Why support companies that pollute our waters and fill our planet with poisons? There is often a non-toxic substitute that can get the job done.

Still, we’re human. In the heat of the moment, I know I will forget to be as cautious as I should, and sometimes it’s just easier to go with materials that aren’t the best for ourselves or our planet. Being mindful is the key. As long as we know there’s no correlation between the toxicity of our artistic process and the quality of our art, we can make decisions that can ensure our studios, and our world, are safe, beautiful places.