R&F Handmade Paints

Our 2010 Workshop Schedule is now available.  We are excited to add new workshop locations, including the new Encaustic Art Institute in New Mexico, Penninsula Art School in Fish Creek, Wisconsin, and Seattle.  Our Visting Artist Series was such a hit this past year that we had to do it again - it is so much fun to have these wonderful artists come and spend time with us. The workshops are custom designed by each visiting artist, according to their own unique talents. This years’ line-up of artists includes figure painting with Francisco Benitez, oil stick painting with Charles Forsberg, and encaustic exploration with Cari Hernandez.  We have also added new one-day intensives that will focus on specific techniques.
Click here to view the full schedule.

Give the gift of a fabulous encaustic workshop and save!  R&F is offering a special 10% tuition discount for early registrants. To take advantage of this offer, just give us a call at (845) 331-3112, and say “I want the Early Registration Discount”. Please note that this offer is only good for workshops administered by R&F.  We have extended this discount from now until January 8th, 2010, so you don’t have to worry about signing up before the holiday rush.

Judy Sigunick, African Wild Dog, monotype

A wonderful exhibit took place this November at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center in Spencertown, NY. The exhibit was a fundraiser for Art for Animals and included works by professional artists and students from the Taconic Hills Middle School. (more…)

Michelle Marcuse, Unaware of Daylight, encaustic on masonite, 16"x16"

Dick Blick in Philadelphia, PA will be hosting an encaustic and pigment stick demonstration on Thursday November 12th, 2009 from 4 - 6 pm. (more…)

Last week the joint was jumpin’ as Russell Thurston came to town from Santa Fe to lead his advanced workshop, ‘Breaking the Rules’.  Russell shared a wealth of non-traditional techniques with participants from around the country, including working with dry pigments, painting on a variety of alternative surfaces, mixing media, and experimenting with different ways of heating the surface using irons and implements.

Russell’s solo show, Deus ex Machina, opened right on the heels of the workshop.  The show features an overview of recent works, some that are mandala-like patterns, others that have a more narrative thread.

Russell brought such excitement, generosity and good cheer to R&F - we miss him already!

Check out this great video showing some of Laura’s encaustic process:

You can see more of her work at lauramoriarty.com

Michel Nedjar. Darius 97. Mixed media on cardboard 30x40

Last Saturday I went down to New York to see the annual Outsider Art Fair. ”Outsider” has been used to refer to untutored artists, folk artists, visionary artists, artists with mental illnesses, and artists with disabilities, such as autism and Downs Syndrome, which have marginalized them from other forms of communication.

I find the fair an exhilarating hodgepodge, running from the kitchy to the powerfully raw. It is a collection of both styles and intents. There are untutored artists with a canny eye on a niche market that prizes their individual quirks. There are artists who work for no other audience than themselves. And there are artists, like Henry Darger, whose work was not discovered until after they died and their possessions were lost in an attic or about to be hauled off to the dump.

Many works were created with common, inexpensive materials — colored pencils, ball point pens, found objects, oil, acrylic, and poster paints. In other cases, there were paints invented out of poverty, such as colored clays mixed with sugar to bind them.

And then there’s wax, used either as encaustic or, in Michel Nedjar’s work, rubbed over an acrylic painting. Encaustic is not an immediate or, until recently, a readily available medium. So I would not be surprised if the use of encaustic by Outsider Artists has been spurred by its growing popularity in the art world in general. Here are some interesting examples of encaustic works by artists who were represented at the fair.

– Richard

Anne Marie Grgich. Salmon Stories. 1999. Mixed media on open book page. 9x11

Terry Turrell. Wind Machine. 2006. Encaustic/linen/wood panel. 15x20

Lori Field. Double Happiness. 2008. Colored pencil drawing on rice paper, collage, thread, encaustic & beeswax. 20x20