INCISING

So, I’ve had a couple of requests to learn more about how to icorporate or incise lines into encaustic paintings and I wanted to share with you what I just learned two week-ends ago. I will also include a photo or two (not the greatest quality photo!) of an example of this technique.

The encaustic paintings below have been carved into with a book binding tool called a “Heavy Duty Bookbinding Awl “or a book binding “pokey ” tool, as I like to call it!

I painted several layers of wax on the 8″x8″ boards and heated them with a heat gun. After that had dried I just started carving based on some drawings that I have been working on for a while now in my sketchbook. After I was done carving I went back with a soft acrylic/watercolor paintbrush and some darker oil paint and carfully got the paint down into the deep lines. Its pretty messy to do this but its SO worth it! )

After the paint dried a little I went back with an old cloth with linseed oil on it to wipe away any excess paint. What was left after several wipes of the cloth were the lines made with the darker color left behind. Its kind of like staining wood.

I hope this was a useful tip for you! Feel free to e-mail me your images of this technique and I will post as many images as I can. You can e-mail them to: info@kariyoung.com

Please feel free to let me know how this technique works for you so we can all see the different interpretations of works and styles.