About the Pictures
The Basics
All the backgrounds to the Prints on this site were painted using
a technique called encaustic painting, ie they where painted with
wax using an iron.
Figures where added either from photographs, using a computer
( the coloured ones) or drawn in using ink or wax (the black silhouette
ones) or stuck on (using black vinyl).
The Originals, one way or
another were all painted with wax.
All of them were produced by me, Chris Carrick.
Where
And When It All Began
The Ancient Greeks and Egyptians
developed encaustic painting, using coloured pigments mixed with
beeswax.
This mixture was heated, usually in a metal bowl and then either
poured onto a design or used as a paint.
To use it as a paint, their tools had to be kept hot, so that
the wax would stay in it's liquid form, long enough for the artist
to use it.
The
Modern Way
The principals I use are the same but I use slightly more modern
tools.
My main tool is a domestic travel iron, it sounds clumsy but you
can get some amazingly detailed work with it. The other things
I regularly use are a soldering iron and a hot air paint stripper,
(try explaining to Black and Decker what you do with their paint
removing equipment).
I have used other things like a hot plate, a gas blow torch, curling
tongs and a hair dryer. In fact you can use any tool, as long
as you can control it's heat. Some are easier and more controllable
to use than others.
Who
Started It This Time Round
Anyway, credit where it is due, I wasn't the first person to have
the bright idea of using an iron as a paintbrush. That was the
brain wave of a French Canadian by the name of Jean Marie Giraud.
I did meet him once, and bought some of his paintings, but I have
no idea where he is now.
Thanks Jean Marie, I owe you.
Why
You Can Do It Too
The basic idea is that you melt the wax on the base of an iron
and then literally use the iron as a paintbrush. I know it sounds
bizarre, but it does work.
It isn't as controllable as a conventional paintbrush or pencil.
You have to guide it rather than trying to tell it exactly what
to do.
This makes each painting both unique and a pleasure to paint.
The other thing it means is that you don't have to know how to
paint or draw to be able to do it. It is the perfect medium for
frustrated artists ie people like me who always wanted to draw
or paint, but just couldn't!
I can't draw, but I can do this. An eye for colour and the will
to do it, is all you need, apart from an iron and the wax that
is, (and before you try it, wax crayons and candle wax don't work).
How
To Do It
Different ways of moving an iron will give you different patterns.
This means there are two ways of doing encaustic painting.
One: you work out exactly what you are doing with the iron in
order to produce a particular pattern. That way you can repeat
it. Once you have learnt a few patterns, all you do to produce
a picture is put different patterns and colours together.
There are only so many basic movements with the iron, but there
are endless ways of putting them together.
The second way of encaustic painting
is to put a couple of colours on your iron and just play with
it.
Move the iron over the card you are painting on and see what happens.
When something turns up that you like, STOP.
This gives much freer designs, usually with a lot of movement
in them. Strange images turn up, things you have little or no
control over.
It is often referred to as 'spiritual painting' and is certainly
very therapeutic.
I actually find the second way more relaxing but also more frustrating
than the first, because I never know when to stop. Each time you
touch the iron to the card, you alter what is there, and it is
very easy to change something you wish you hadn't. Unfortunately
it is a lesson you can only learn the hard way.
The wax I use is called Dehan Wax
and you'll find details about it and why I use it on it's own
page.
Encaustic (wax) Painting - How to paint with an iron
Encaustic Paintings by Chris Carrick
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