Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Canyon Color


Oil and encaustic on board, 16" x 27"
$1750 plus $16 shipping in U.S.
Email me for purchase info
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The Grande Ronde River cuts through some rugged country before meandering out into our broad valley. In the canyon, stately cottonwoods glow against shadowed evergreens.

This is a larger cold wax encaustic just completed. One of the things I'm enjoying about working with this wax is how it stiffens the paint, providing some resistance to the brush. Compared to the smooth, slippery quality of oil, the paint "pushes back" a little. It's great for dragging one color over another.


6 comments:

Susan Roux said...

Who would think after all these years of painting you'd find a different medium you prefer? I love what you're doing with it. Drag on the brush... I have to admit I love the creamy property of oils.

Thanks for the compliment on my female paintings.

Anonymous said...

I am loving the amount of texture and color you can get with encaustics here. I have never tried this method, although I do study oils under Todd Bonita. Love your work! PN

shirley fachilla said...

You did a great job of not getting lost with all that color. It's something I tried recently but certainly not as successfully.
When you have the time and inclination, maybe you could tell us a bit more about "cold wax."

Don Gray said...

Thanks, Susan. You exploit that creamy character of oils to great effect. I always love exploring new (to me) mediums, and like the fresh challenge of moving back and forth between them.

Don Gray said...

Thanks, PN. I enjoy Todd's work, and have exchanged some emails with him. He seems like a really nice guy.

Don Gray said...

Thanks for that, Shirley.

Cold wax technique is pretty simple. Just get a jar of Gamblin's Cold Wax Medium (Dorland also makes a version) and mix up to about 1/3 with paint, then paint away! I sometimes add some Galkyd gel or Liquin by the brush to modify handling. When some of the paint on the palette got too stiff after several days, I added very small amounts of Gamblin's Neo Megilp medium to re-soften. Seemed to work pretty good.