About Ruth's encaustic process:
The encaustic process involves wax, pigment and heat. Encaustic is an ancient medium dating back to 800 B.C. and later used by the Egyptians for mummy tomb portraits. Some encaustic paintings have survived 2000 years.
Ruth began working in encaustic in 2009 and developed her encaustic process during a 3-year intensive studio practice and study of the medium. She uses the best materials available; recent innovations in these materials have allowed her to experiment to paint larger, thinner and on canvas while still maintaining the primary properties of translucency and opulance that make encaustic such a rich medium for Ruth’s sea and nature themes.
Ruth’s process involves heating pigment-embedded wax on a hot palette. As soon as her paint-laden brush leaves the palette, it begins to harden. Each paint mark made on canvas has to be reheated to fuse to the canvas and to previous marks and layers. In a medium-sized canvas, Ruth has laid more than a hundred layers and has fused each with either a high-heat air gun or a small iron. This is a labor intensive, messy, hot, uncomfortable process that relies on Ruth’s ability to “go with the flow” and manipulate the materials to her end. She works on a flat easel, standing, and uses gravity as well as brushes and palate knives to help move the paint.
Traditionally, encaustic paintings are made with beeswax paints on small, hard surfaces. Ruth uses a combination of waxes and oil paint pigments, including a small amount of beeswax. Ruth mixes almost all of her paints herself, stretchs all her own canvases, and does the framing as well. Ruth’s encaustic paintings are easily cared for by dusting with a clean, dry, cotton cloth.