A New Year and a New Encaustic Direction

As many many of us do at the beginning of a new year, I have reviewed my feelings about my art and teaching.

It has been over 20 years that I have been working in encaustic and experimenting with techniques and I have had countless wonderful students in my workshops; and have formed lasting friendships with some of them.

 I realize at this point in my long life even though I do love to share everything I know about working in encaustic with other serious artists, I am more interested in working with private students. I can work shoulder to shoulder with artists, giving the entire focus of my experience on whatever they want to learn and create.

So, if you want an intensive experience in advanced encaustic techniques and using encaustic in mixed media, let's arrange 2 or 3 days working together in my studio, where I have all the tools at my finger tips.

This does not mean that I will not happily give introductory classes, but I will not post scheduled dates; instead,  offer you the opportunity to arrange your own group of friends at the dates that are convenient for you.

Contact me to set up your private time with me.

Check out the new works:http://www.ezshwan.com

encaustic and oil

encaustic, ink wash, transfer

watercolor, ink, transfers, rice paper

it delights me to share everything I know about painting in encaustic

May workshop

We had a lot of fun and many laughs in this workshop!

The link below is a flip book of previous workshopsL

https://www.flipsnack.com/7CAFB586AED/ezshwans-encasutic-workshops-san-miguel-de-allende.html?b=1&p=16

Workshops and online classes

Please go to my website; http://www.ezshwan.com/classes-and-workshops.html  to get the latest information on the workshops and online classes.

I have not yet been able to clean up this blog and I hate to lose all the years of photos of students.

But here is some information about the in-studio workshops.:


Join me in the studio for an in-depth exploration into the art of painting with encaustic. I will demystify the process of working with this seductive medium and share many of my trade secrets for creating unique painting effects  This workshop will help push your artwork to the next level and many students have gone on to exhibit and sell their own work. Each class is held in my own art studio, so class size is small that allows for a very personalized experience. Students of all skill levels gain from the intimate learning environment.

All skill levels are welcome here! This workshop is two 5 hours days, packed with  the information you need to start creating your own beautiful works in encaustic.

Once we cover all the basics,  we'll focus on unique painting techniques.

We'll have fun experimenting with mixed media and I'll guide you through any technical issues so you can take your encaustic work to the next level. All workshops take place in my professional studio located in beautiful San Miguel de Allende: https://tinyurl.com/yb4pzn8u

     •    Resources on materials, safe studio practices and so much more.
     •    Mastering a smooth surface.

    •    Creating a flawless image transfer.

    •    Embedding elements into wax.

    •    Incorporating mixed media such as oil paint, pastels and papers.

    •    Tips for unusual mark making techniques.

    •    How to make your own medium 

    •    Resources on materials, safe studio practices and so much more.  


Oh No!

As I was trying to edit my workshop posts, somehow posts from my other blog appeared and I can't get rid of them. Years of workshop posts are still available if you scroll down to the very bottom to the lists of postings. If anyone can tell me how to get rid of the other blog posts, please help me.

Video of an older advanced workshop

This very unprofessional video was taken about 6 years ago. I no longer take as many students in one workshop and have a completely different studio with ventilation on 3 sides, but we did have fun. click on the link to view.

 https://youtu.be/EBPzAX_EWmQ

Another encaustic experience

It is a wonderful privilege to introduce artists to the encaustic technique. Paul, an accomplished artist with Disney wanted to add encaustic to his field of art techniques. We covered a lot of techniques in the one day he was working with me in the studio.
His main interest was creating textured layers, so one of the first things I showed him was spraying water into the molten wax.

A Three Day Workshop

I enjoy working with artists who have some experience with encaustic, we can go right into advanced techniques.

Michelle from North Carolina, visited San Miguel for the first time and spent 3 days with me covering everything she wanted to try. Michelle has been working with encaustic for 5 years and wanted to expand the options in this wonderful medium. She was not interested in making finished paintings, she just wanted to experiment, take notes and learn as much as she possible could.

After the third day she said that her head was full of information and she would be able to incorporate these new techniques when she gets back to her own studio.
We covered; creating a glass smooth surface with no air bubbles, incising and filling with encaustic, using stencils , shellac glue burn, transfers, oil glazes, cold wax and oil, drawing on very thin rice paper and applying as an overlay.

Here are some of her experiments:

Michelle's first time working with cold wax and oil

Her first successful transfer

incising through several layers of clear encaustic

more scraping

cold wax and olf

Another successful transfer

lots of techniques in this one

rice paper drawing, India ink, stylus, blue incising,and drawing with a wax pencil

stencil, dry brush layering

transfer, oil glaze, shellac burn

Another private class

Look what can be done in a private class. This student had taken a 2 day introductory workshop with me a few years ago and wanted to create her favorite landscape in encasutic. She said, "This is hard", but she did it. I introduced oil glazes and scraping to her. What do you think?

Encaustic Beginners

Yesterday I spent a day with two beautiful sisters,  from Texas. They are visiting San Miguel de Allende with their parents.

They had never tried encaustic and they only had one day to experience painting with hot wax and torches.

Perhaps, because they came with no expectation, and are young and open, they picked up the technique fast.

Here's what they produced by the end of the day.

Sydney

Katelyn

Positive Private Classes

At last count, I have taught about 90 encaustic workshops over the last 10 years, and have met wonderful artists, would-be artists and just great people who wanted to experiment with creating art with hot wax and resin. Several of my artist friends here in San Miguel de Allende , who learned the tecnique from me, have continued to work in this medium and make it their own.

I still get requests for workshops, but at this point in my life, (I am 81 years old), I find it far more satisfying to give private classes to people who have specific goals and questions about advanced techniques in encaustic. I can work side by side with them and much can be accomplished in a one or two day class. Both myself and the student have a great time and often develop lasting friendships.

I have stopped posting workshop dates and if at least 3 people are interested in a workshop, I will schedule one; however with the private students, I can arrange a date that works for both of us.

translucent layers and hot pen

oil, encaustic and transfers

photos, collage and encasutic

Working in her own direction

advanced techniques encasutic workshop

layering encaustic glazes over transfers and collage

the success of experimenting

The simple paintings were something different for Larry

First layers for Judith before she added the heavy textures

The canine guest didn't need anything, but to be part of the group

Judith experimenting with the hot pen

finished painting

Advanced and private classes

Bob, an architect, trying his hand at creating in hot wax and resin

Janice is an accomplished artist with recent show in the museum in Florence Italy

 

Lori had a private class and used almost every technique possible in encaustic

Lori's first creation: photo printed on rice paper, transfers, India ink, incised lines, raised lines with the hot pen, charcoal, wax pencil, oil glazes, burnt shellac. No wonder she was full of ideas how add new techniques to her work when she gets back to her own studio.

Online advanced encaustic classes

 Here is the link for my videos. Take a look at all that is available. I have been getting wonderful responses. Let me know what you think.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/4167

A delightful 2 day workshop

Life's circumstances changed last week's advanced workshop into a small introductory class. Since there were only 3 people, each person took their own path, with my help and created unique work. Since I had everything ready for the advanced workshop, even some of the transfers I had prepared could be used.

Flora

Fiona

We all had a wonderful time.

Gary

I am flattered

Colleen from Minnesota has been visiting San Miguel for almost 3 weeks. We had a lovely day together for her private encaustic class. We covered many techniques including, incising, oil glazes, transfers, burnt shellac, scraping, oil pencil and most importantly Colleen used the torch for the first time. The torch seemed natural to her even though she had previously only used the heat gun.

In a private class we can really focus and also get to know one another. I asked Coleen what had brought her to San Miguel, and she said, "You." She had read my memoir, bought my online classes and wanted to experience a class with me as will as well as spend some time in this beautiful, unique town of San Miguel de Allende.

I don't think this will be her only trip here.