I of course am a poor starving artist who found out early that beeswax is pretty freaking pricey! So one day I decided to just be a kid and play with crayons instead of beeswax. Even if it didn't work, it would teach me something about the technique.
So I did it and found a new passion. I started off small and slowly but it dawned on me quickly that this was a pretty cool technique. I began just experimenting on vellum paper. Within a month I was attempting the technique on canvas. It was more difficult, but I developed methods and techniques to place the wax and spread it. It also meant many burns. Its not an art form for the timid. Now after several years of working with wax and many huge canvases, I am proud to say I've mastered the technique.
I discovered early on in my art career that I had a love of metallic acrylics. So I was happy to find that crayola made a little known metallic crayon also. While I did many works in primary colors, I really loved working with the metallics the best. And I could do finish work with just a little metallic acrylic for touch-up work.
The final achievement was that using a gloss glaze over the wax I could bring out all the myriad colors and make them shine. This worked particularly well on metallics and brought the silver glimmer right out in the pieces I was working on.
So that brings us to tonight. I've been training one of my interns in creating wax work paintings. For the past few weeks we've been slowly putting together a piece. Because of the length of time it takes to spread the wax and because the intern sessions are only a few hours long at a time. I'm attempting to finish the wax work tonight so that during our next session he can see how the detail work is done to complete the piece.
If you'd like to take a look at the complete work in progress photos so far for the piece, click here:
So the night has been devoted to waxing. But my brain is brainstorming two new art techniques that I would like to experiment with soon. I will not share the details yet as I have not worked them out totally in my mind. But when I begin to actually experiment I will most definitely share them here in that little box on the right that says "Studio Works in Progress". This was newly added tonight but since I photograph all my experimental projects as they develop, you can be sure that that box will fill up quickly.
I think thats all for now. The following photos are some examples of past wax work pieces.
Creatively
~Grey~
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