Encaustic Painting

Skill Name:

Encaustic Painting (Hot Wax Painting)

Short Description:

Encaustic painting is the process of applying melted layers of coloured wax to various surfaces using fire or heat. The simplest encaustic mixture are made by adding pigments to melted bees wax, but there are several other mixtures that can be used. Some use different types of waxes, resin, linseed oil and other ingredients. Powdered pigments can be purchased or collected, though some people use oil paints or other forms of pigments like ink. Since the binder is wax, encaustic paintings can also be sculpted more so than oils, and objects like a rock or feather or something else that ties in with the painting can be embedded, collaged or layered into the piece.

Once applied to a surface, an encaustic painting doesn't have to sit to dry, instead it merely has to cool. Because wax is quick to cool, new coats can be added almost immediately. Once its surface has cooled, encaustic paint presents a permanent finish, and yet the painting can be revised and reworked at any time — whether seconds later or years later. It is a particularly durable paint, because wax is waterproof and over time can retain all the freshness of a newly finished work.

Encaustic can be laid on in delicately thin glazes or super thick encrusted impastos. It can produce satisfying results whether applied with painstaking precision or with flamboyant spontaneity. It can be carved, shaped and molded— built to high or low relief.

Generally, encaustic paintings are of limited subject matter. Most of the high quality works, the moving ones, or the ones that encase sounds are portraits of high ranking officials in government, church positions or nobles, religious subject matter, like the Ascension of Diana to Aetheria. Generally this is because the church, imperials and nobbles have the money to commission a high quality piece of work from the best artists in the empire, where as the commoners would have to settle for a low quality students work. Some masters, for a change of pace, do things for their own amusement, or for their own galleries, landscapes, still lifes. Some prefer to live in their own paintings, instead of in the real world of Telath, though this is a rare occurrence. Depending on the subject matter of the painting, this life can be as dangerous, if not more than in the Empire.

Availability:

Not a widely used technique anymore, rare to find outside of havens for the art but teachers can be found in places like Jaedaxia and other cities that have respect for the arts around the empire and a few odd, older, retired artists here and there.

Background:

One of the oldest painting techniques in the empire, believed to have originated from the Ancient Aelyrians themselves. The largest amount of these types of paintings can be found in Aelyria Prime itself, evidence that supports that this was an Aelyrian technique, however a few have also been found in Jaedaxia, Midpoint, Archadoon, thought most in Archadoon were lost when the city suffered from several battles that left it burned to the ground, as well as the rest of the older cities of the Empire.

Subject matter and size vary widely from place to place, from old portraits of different people placed upon their crypts or burial places (usually the upper class could only afford such luxury and many had precious and semi precious stones added into theirs, though not many of these survive in tact today thanks to grave robbers), religious events, to battles, to still lives, to more fantastical paintings of dragons and mermaids and other creatures. Paintings have been found that range in size from five by five tiles to whole wall murals.

The encaustic technique seems to have left the empire when the Aelyrians did however and is not a widely used medium today. However some artists favour this medium over others, simply for the ease of use and the quickness, as opposed to slower mediums like oils which can take a full era to fully dry out. Now the practise is taught almost exclusively in Jaedaxia and by a few lone masters of the art spread across the empire.

Tools of the Trade:

Equipment

• Bristle brushes- stiff bristles and soft bristles can be used
• Palette knives
• Burning-In Tool - A heat lamp mounted in a bowl reflector
• Encaustic Palette - In order to keep the wax colors fluid, the encaustic painter uses a metal palette somewhat like a griddle, which is kept evenly warm . In the past charcoal stoves were used to heat the palette, making the apparatus bulky and inconvenient. These are still used today, though a more convenient, table top method has become available. A hollow steel box with feet, about twenty by thirty by ten inches (fifty-one by seventy six by twenty five and a half centimeters) is set on a near by work table or bench. The box has a door, and some come with a pull out ash trap, though these cost more. The top surface of the steel box, which can easily be constructed by a metal worker, should be of quarter inch stock, while the remaining sides may be a lighter gauge steel or iron. The box should leave an air space between the fire and the top of the box so that the heavy metal can be heated evenly without hot spots. It requires a careful eye and time to know just how much tinder is needed for the fire. The tinder, wood or coal can be used, should be allowed to burn freely for a fifteen minutes or so before the door is closed briefly to kill the flame and leaving a nice even bed of coals. Killing the coals will result in having to start the fire all over again.

Materials:

• Pigments: All pigments in oil or water techniques may be safely used in encaustic, such as earth and ground minerals, berries/plants, animal waste, insects and shell fish or snails.
• Binder: Pure bleached white beeswax is best, Sun-thickened Linseed Oil, Linseed oil
• Thinner: Pure gum spirits of turpentine.

Elements and Principles of Design

The elements and principles of design are the building blocks used to create a work of art. The Elements of design can be thought of as the things that make up a painting, drawing, design etc. Good or bad - all paintings will contain most of if not all, the seven elements of design. The Principles of design can be thought of as what we do to the elements of design. How we apply the Principles of design determines how successful we are in creating a work of art. These are some of the first things any novice painter learns, to help him or her create their pieces.

Elements

• Line- Line can be considered in two ways. The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.
• Shape- A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.
• Direction- All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquillity. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action.
• Size- Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.
• Texture-Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc. Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual
• Colour- The colours used to create the mood, either from the primary colours, red blue and yellow, or the secondary colours, purple, green and orange.
• Value- Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour. Value is also called Tone.

Principles

• Balance- balance in art is similar to balance in physics, A large shape close to the center can be balanced by a small shape close to the edge. A large light toned shape will be balanced by a small dark toned shape (the darker the shape the heavier it appears to be)
• Gradation-Gradation of size and direction produce linear perspective. Gradation of of colour from warm to cool and tone from dark to light produce aerial perspective. Gradation can add interest and movement to a shape. A gradation from dark to light will cause the eye to move along a shape
• Repetition- Repetition with variation is interesting, without variation repetition can become monotonous
• Contrast- Contrast is the position of opposing elements eg. opposite colours on the colour wheel, red / green, blue / orange etc. Contrast in tone or value, light / dark. Contrast in direction - horizontal / vertical. The major contrast in a painting should be located at the center of interest. Too much contrast scattered throughout a painting can destroy unity and make a work difficult to look at. Unless a feeling of chaos and confusion are what you are seeking, it is a good idea to carefully consider where to place your areas of maximum contrast.
• Harmony-Harmony in painting is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related elements. eg. adjacent colours on the colour wheel, similar shapes etc.
• Dominance- Dominance gives a painting interest, counteracting confusion and monotony. Dominance can be applied to one or more of the elements to give emphasis
• Unity- Relating the design elements to the the idea being expressed in a painting reinforces the principal of unity. eg. a painting with an active aggressive subject would work better with a dominant oblique direction, course, rough texture, angular lines etc. whereas a quiet passive subject would benefit from horizontal lines, soft texture and less tonal contrast. Unity in a painting also refers to the visual linking of various elements of the work.

Skill Tree:

• NOVICE - Learns elements and principles of design, colour theory and a bit of the history. Learns about the tools required and how to care for them. Learns with the three primary colours (red blue and yellow) and one neutral colour, (brown). Learns basic applications, usually thick dabs of paint on a canvas and how to do a thin glaze. With experience, can learn to make semi realistic looking paintings, usually still lifes.
• APPRENTICE - Learns how to mix the secondary colours, as well as different shades of colour by adding white pigment to lighten a shade or black to darken a shade. Moves from making still life paintings to portraits and landscapes. Learns how to merge different objects into their painting. begins to learn how to sculpt the wax while it cools. Learns how the oven works.
• JOURNEYMAN - Learns recipes for how to make his own paint mixtures, to create unique shades, as well as how to gather pigments from the wild as well as his own signature tools that the artist favours. Learns how to prepare canvas and boards for use in painting. At this level, the paintings would look quite real, almost like looking through a window at the real thing and could be sold in a gallery for a high sum of money. Learns how to preserve paintings and a small amount of restoration work.
• MASTER - The sage can create things of breath taking realness, indistinguishable from the real thing. Learns how to fully restore an old picture. Can also learn how to make his works move about, like a living picture.
• GRAND MASTER - Learns to sculpt sound and scent into his work, so a sea scape would smell and sound like the ocean, a noble lady's portrait would emit her favourite perfume and give her laugh. Rumours abound that some authorities have even learned how to make their paintings act as doorways into the picture itself, leading them to whatever reality they have created.