The Encaustic Studio- A Blog Tour

Art is a lifelong journey with many detours along the way, but we can learn from the guideposts of others' experiences. -Daniella Woolf

I am thrilled to have been asked to participate in this blog hop to share Daniella Woolf's new book The Encaustic Studio because a) I've admired her work for several years now and b) I am a sucker for books. Be sure to visit her website as her work is intriguing, intelligent, and well, just beautiful to look at.



The book is well organized and the directions are very easy to follow. And it comes with a DVD- so not only can you read about the techniques you can see her do it too, which is great for people who actually need to see it in action as opposed to reading about it. I am definitely one of those people.

For those of you who are beginners or just starting to get interested in painting in encaustic, you are fortunate as there are so many resources out there now to gather information. When I first began experimenting with encaustic there was only one book out there and I don't even think YouTube existed back then with all the tutorials! Should I put on my grandpa cap now and start talking about how tough things were back in the day?! The funny thing is that my encaustic journey is young compared to so many others, but the magic of the internet speeds everything up nowadays. So much I learned through my own journey of mistakes and discoveries. Reading through Daniella's book there were a couple of times she would give a tip and I thought to myself "Yep, I remember making that mistake." Or "that would have been good to know back then."

Even if you're not a beginner, Daniella covers many mixed media techniques that are great to add to your repertoire. For example, I had never worked with India ink with encaustic before. I saw Shawna Moore's beautiful gestural lines created with india ink atop her wax surface, but I've never done it myself. Well, in the book there is a section all about bringing India ink into an encaustic studio and I decided that I needed to dive in and try it.



the inside cover and first page of a handbound book


...mmmm, I'm definitely hooked on the India ink + encaustic combo....

Recently in my studio time, I've been working on filling in a handbound book that has encaustic covers and decided to take the opportunity to experiment a bit within the pages. I actually followed Daniella's instructions with using a rubber stamp + India ink to make a pattern....but I just loved the way that the ink would smear into the wax surface... that I just kind of went with it and covered the pattern I had made. And then, of couse, you can scratch through the ink surface. I did some line work, but I also scratched in these words:

There is a wilderness inside of me that echoes.




the second spread

On the right hand side I also experimented with her technique of overlapping strips of paper. I used two images of tall, wild grass- one in black and white, the other color. Then I painted over them. Did a transfer, scratched in the words: "Do you hear the empty?" and it could have been done....but I couldn't help myself and I added some India ink.



third spread, encaustic, inkjet print, pigment stick, India ink


Anyway, I had fun with India ink as well as reading Daniella's book and watching her DVD. What I really, really loved though was the third chapter of her book called "Studio Practice + Creativity"- such wise words. She writes about her journal practice which is essential to her studio practice as well as giving yourself parameters. I feel the same way. This chapter is a gem, don't skip over it.

Cloth Paper Scissors is hosting this weekend long blog hop. Below are the other participants in this celebration of Encaustic Studio.
(1) Be sure to visit everyone. I am looking forward to hearing what other people thought of the book.
(2) Then go visit the Cloth Paper Scissors blog and
(3) Leave a comment for a chance to win some great prizes.


Daniella Woolf

Bianca Mandity

Dea Fischer

Jane Davies

Jodi Ohl

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Suze Weinberg