Join WSW in collaboration with R&F Handmade Paints as we work with two of the most sensual two-dimensional art mediums. The first two days of this class will be held at WSW, where we will cover basic painterly monoprinting, stencil, and transfer methods, emphasizing a quick and free pace of working, and experimentation with a wide variety of printing papers. We will consider these printed elements as “potentials”—items that we may combine, layer and compose to create images using hot wax at R&F Handmade Paints, during the last two days.

At R&F Handmade Paints we will learn various ways to work with hot wax beginning with the basics of traditional encaustic painting, including an introduction to equipment and materials, with a thorough discussion of health and safety issues. Then we will move on to emphasize experimentation with a focus on using our printed elements. Participants will play with heat, discovering how it affects surface and texture through collage and layering with wax, using its inherent translucency to create works with incredible richness and depth.

Join WSW in collaboration with R&F Handmade Paints as we create contemporary waxed handmade paper works. The first two days of this class will be held at WSW in the papermaking studio, where students will work with cotton, abaca and flax fibers. Once the basics are mastered, we’ll investigate the potential of hand papermaking. We will create collages utilizing techniques of layering, imbedding, translucency and opacity, stenciling, pulp painting, and embossing.

Using these handmade paper elements as starting points, we will spend the last two days at R&F Handmade Paints in nearby Kingston for a wax-travaganza. This session will begin with an introduction to basic encaustic techniques. Then students will create deeply layered collages by working directly on the handmade papers or mounting the handmade sheets on panels. We will be saturating, bending, burnishing, dipping, dripping, staining, transferring, drawing, and carving into this natural wonder

WSW is working in collaboration with R&F Handmade Paints in this workshop experimenting with two contemporary mediums. The first two days of this class will be held at WSW, where we will create printed elements using a combination of trace monoprinting and photocopy gum transfers. The first day will be spent learning the very direct trace monoprint process, which offers the spontaneity of a drawn line with the richness and unpredictability of the printmaking process. This is a very low tech process that does not require a press. The various inks and papers suitable for this process will be will be discussed. The second day will be devoted to paper lithography, a non-toxic transfer process from either photographic or drawn imagery. Quick and free pace of image development will be emphasized. We will consider these elements as "potentials" – images that we may combine, layer and compose to create narratives.

The last two days of the workshop will be held at R&F Handmade Paints. This segment presents the basics of traditional encaustic painting, including an introduction to equiptment and materials, and a thorough discussion of health and safety issues. Then we will move on to emphasize experimentation with a focus on using the printed elements. We will construct images to be further developed with hot wax. Participants will learn to work with heat, discovering how it affects surface and texture, and learn how to collage and layer with wax, using its inherent translucency to create works with incredible richness and depth. Minimal approaches to wax, such as simple dipping, will also be explored.