Dramatic Break-up by instructor Wayne Montecalvo, 2011, Pigment Stick on paper-backed glass, 3 x 4 inches. See more of Wayne's work at www.waynemontecalvo.com
Our new Pigment Stick Mixed Media Lab allows artists to explore the many possible applications of R&F Pigment Sticks, encompassing traditional and alternative approaches and materials. In addition to pigment sticks, we will also demonstrate encaustic for those students who are interested in combining these two highly compatible media. We call this a lab rather than a workshop because we want to encourage artists to come back again and again to use our wonderful space (completely stocked with paint!) as their studio. Benefit from our instructors’ guidance and feedback on your projects, and enjoy the camaraderie of other participants. This lab is a great opportunity to work with a luscious, loose and free painting medium.
Like our encaustic mini workshops, the class will consist of a one-hour demonstration followed by independent work time, with the option of one-on-one consultation with the instructor. Demonstrated techniques and topics of discussion will vary each month according to the interests of the attending artists. Not interested in the demo? Then just get right to work.
The Pigment Stick Mixed Media Lab is held at R&F in Kingston, NY the forth Saturday of every month from 11am to 4pm. Come join us for our kick-off on Saturday, March 23rd!
Last Saturday, January 15th, was the 23rd anniversary of R&F’s founding in the now proverbial basement in Brooklyn. But what’s so special about a 23rd anniversary? It’s not a marker like a 20th or a 25th anniversary. I have to admit even we didn’t pay much attention to it here.
But then I got to thinking how much this year really does represent something very special in R&F’s history. This was the year that we collaborated with Ampersand Art Supply to create EncausticbordTM, and that led to the introduction of the Encaustic Center, a fully integrated selection of encaustic paints, tools, and supports now available in art supply stores around the country.
Our 1st anniversary represented our continuation of commercial encaustic paint begun by Torch Art Supply in the late 1940s, which was for many years the only commercial encaustic paint in the world. But it was, particularly back then, a specialty paint relegated to the back corners of most art stores.
Original Torch Art Supply encaustics
R&F’s original hand cut encaustic cakes
Our 23rd anniversary represents the establishment of encaustic paint as a mainstream art material. While the symbol of a 20th anniversary is china and the symbol of a 25th is silver for R&F the Encaustic Center signifies this milestone in our history.
R&F's encaustic paint is available in three sizes (40 ml., 101 ml. and 333 ml.)
Charles frequently returns to drawing, forcefully striking marks into the heavily manipulated buttery paint, then tearing it apart, alternating in a push-pull sequence of drawing and smearing, scraping back, revealing previous drawing marks, and piling what he has scraped up into thick sculptural mounds.
It is an amazing and unceasing gestural exercise over many hours, as Forsberg turns the formless ooze he started with into a powerful structure of shapes and sharply accented marks.
One Day Intensive Workshop at R&F Handmade Paints / January 23, 2010
What a great way to spend a cold, winter Saturday; making monotypes with luscious R&F Pigment Sticks. This innovative workshop will focus on using R&F’s Pigment Sticks to create Trace Monotypes, a direct-drawing printmaking technique that is also known as ‘trace drawing’. Participants will learn how to prepare a solid area of paint, and then place paper face down on top of the wet surface. Using a variety of mark-making tools, the image is drawn on the back of the paper, while the pressure of the drawing tool picks up a feathery, drypoint-like line of paint on the face of the paper. When the paper is lifted off, the lines appear on the paper, but also create a white line image in the solid ground which can also be ‘printed’.
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.
Ultramarine Blue has a fabled history. It is naturally derived from the semiprecious gemstone lapis lazuli. It gets its name from the Latin, meaning beyond the sea, since the best source of lapis was in the northeastern corner what is now Afghanistan. (more…)
The staff at R&F Handmade Paints would like to send a big THANK YOU to all of our friends who came out Saturday night for the opening of DAYDREAMERS, the R&F staff show. (more…)
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…)
