Days 2 & 3 of the conference were no less hectic than the first but just as much fun! I am a vendor here and also presenting two demonstrations, so I’m always late for something. I don’t know what I was thinking. My husband Bill helped me out on the first day but after that I’m on my own. That was out deal, he needs a vacation too! BTW, he’s taking full advantage of his time alone and went exploring yesterday only to find himself in Maine around lunchtime. Must be time for lobster rolls!

These two days were filled with hands on demos, slide lectures, panel discussions, show openings and more stuff to buy! (Pictured here are Piper and Hylla Evans of Evans Encaustic.)

When we registered we were able to choose 3 events a day to attend in small groups, then there were larger gatherings where everyone was in the same room. Here are some highlights:

Mary Hart – Text Into Wax

As you might imagine Mary’s demo was all about incorporating text into your work. She went over a variety of collage methods and how to scribe directly into the wax both freehand and using stencils. I was already familiar with these techniques but it’s always nice to see how another artists does the same things I do because I often learn some thing new. Mary uses oil paint directly through a stencil onto the wax, adding Liquin to her oil paints so they will dry faster. She also likes printing to Mulberrry paper using her inkjet printer and says if you sut it to size for your machine you won’t need to attach it to a backing paper to run it through the rollers. I’ll have to try that one soon.

Paula Roland

I’ve seen encaustic monotypes demonstrated before, but never by the master, Paula Roland. She has been responsible some really exciting work in this area. I’ve known Paula for a while but we are often teaching at the same time at these events so it was a pleasure to finally see her teaching this in person. Paula works on a “hot box” set to 160 degrees and paints directly onto the surface of the palette, then presses down art paper to make the print. Sometimes she prints multiple times on the same piece of paper, layering her wax into it. They are quite beautiful! I’ve tried this and it’s much harder than it looks.

My Masks and Stencils Demo

Aside from attending demos and begin a vendor, I was also a teacher at this conference, offering my Working with Stencils and Masks demo twice during the conference. Both sessions sold out within weeks of registration so there were a lot of people who couldn’t get in. Hopefully I’ll be doing a similar demo again next year!

Joanne Mattera

We have seen some wonderful art shows already this conference, but we were treated to two more on Sunday night. We were treated to a show of original work by the author of The Art of Encaustic Painting and Conference Director, Joanne Mattera. In my opinion her breathtaking Silk Road series can only be truly appreciated in person. I did my best with these photographs, but if you ever get a chance to see the real thing don’t miss it.

The Diptych Project

I was also able to see the second half of The Diptych Project: A Collaboration in Wax, which matched 36 artists into pairs to work collaboratively on 2 encaustic paintings. The objective was for each pair of artists to make two diptychs (a diptych is work made up of two panels). I had previously seen only the work that showed in Oregon, but this was the rest of the show. There were many fine pieces to see, but if you missed either show you are still in luck. Nancy Natale has complied a book in either softcover or hardcover.

View all of my posts about the National Encaustic Conference here