Something old is new again…Encaustic Art

now offering handmade Encaustic Art Pieces from your wedding photographs

 We’re happy to announce (after a year of trial and error)  that in addition to reprints and canvas prints, we are excited to now offer one-of-a-kind handmade Encaustic Art Pieces. Encaustic painting was practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C., and has made quite a fine art comeback in recent years. There is even an Encaustic Art Institute in New Mexico!

Last year when I attended the wonderful Rebirth Workshop in Mississippi, one thing I was most excited about was  getting to try the encaustic process first hand. It was something that fascinated me for quite some time, and I felt it gave me a chance to get back to my ‘art school roots’ and do something hands on, messy and unpredictable. There are many, many approaches to this as well. Some artists actually paint with the heated wax, while some do it more as a collage with objects embedded in the wax. For wedding imagery, I have found that a simpler process yields the most appealing results. The multi-step process involves mounting your ink-jet image on a sturdy wood panel. Melted beeswax with hardening additives is added in multiple layers with heat high heat applied after each layer is added. The final step is buffing the wax. Sometimes (as you’ll see in these examples) RF oil paint sticks are used to add tone, color and special effects to the piece.

 Once I returned home from the Rebirth retreat, I immediately started researching supplies and started practicing the process. Needles to say, there were a number of disasters!! But after a year of playing around and experimenting, we’re thrilled to offer this custom fine art service.

 

Like traditional painting, often times it’s the image itself that guides you to what wax and color you add. This piece has metallic silver wax added to it.

The result is a uniquely individual wedding fine art piece which cannot be exactly duplicated or reproduced. The final character and look of each piece reveals itself throughout the process and truly cannot be planned out in advance.

Also for other photographers – you can consider offering these as well – created by us and sold through your studio

Care simply involves keeping out of strong sun/heat and occasionally buffing or dusting with a microfiber cloth.

NONE of your friends will have one of these hanging up!

while I generally prefer a 12×16 panel size, we’ve done some as squares too, which can also be cool

In this image below, the print was masked off allowing the wax to build up around the photo, keeping the wood panel wood bare

There are a lot of great online sources that really explain the process in-depth, here are a few:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaustic_painting

http://encausticpaints.com/Resources/HistoryofEncaustic/tabid/407/Default.aspx

http://www.encaustic.com/features/history/history.html

We’re offering this not only from new event/wedding photos, but from ANY past wedding or image you may have! Drop us a line with any question you may have!

robert@robertnormanphotography.com