Experiments in Encaustic- Dry Wall Compound and Ink

It took me about three months to talk myself into posting this video.  I had heard about people working with things like Venetian plaster in their encaustic paintings, but I’ve never tried to do anything like it before.  I’d been fixing a wall in my home, and decided some experiments in encaustic with the dry wall compound I had left over would be super fun.  I also decided to film the experiment, because I love when I can see artists try new things, even if they fail, and I managed to convince myself that others might find it helpful, as well.

Textured Plaster with Alcohol Ink

We’ll start with experiment No. 1.  I love adding texture to my work.  It was so fun to just glob some plaster onto my wood base, creating peaks and ridges by simply slapping my palette knife up and down and then letting the plaster settle a little bit.

Once the plaster was completely dry, it was time to add some color.  This where things went wrong, quite spectacularly as you’ll see if you watch the video.  I decided I’d try using alcohol ink for this piece.  I assumed I’d be able to move the ink around at least a little after I added it to the plaster, but I was wrong.  It sank right in and didn’t move AT ALL.  At first, as I was adding blue to the ridges, it wasn’t an issue, but I made a huge mess trying to make the valleys darker.  Nothing I did was helping at all, so what did I do?  I just kept adding and adding ink.  I always overwork things, especially when they aren’t working well.  That’s definitely something I need to work on.

This was an experiment, though, so I knew that, even if this piece was a total mess, I still needed to try and finishing working it so that I could keep learning.

So, I added some wax.  I started with black, hoping it would hide my mess, and to my relief, it did!  Fusing the wax and watching it pool in the valleys of plaster was really satisfying.  The second layer was clear, and really contributed to the look I was going for- that of dark water that is a little more transparent at the surface.  The clear added a depth to the wax, as it always does, but in this one the result was particularly striking.

And just like that, my experiment wasn’t so terrible anymore! I wiped some of the sweat off my forehead, and decided as a last touch I would add some dots of white.  Once fused, these spots make it look like foaming water crashing on rocks.  Adding movement to a painting is one of the hardest things, and I believe I was able to achieve it with this piece, despite my awful beginning.

India Ink on Smooth Plaster

After my first experiment went so awry at first, I was convinced that this one would be my favorite of the two.  That was not the case, but this one was interesting because of the things I learned.

I decided to use india ink with the plaster this time rather than alcohol ink.  I was expecting it to simply sink into the plaster like the alcohol ink did, but it didn’t.  There’s something in the india ink that keeps it up on the surface for a bit, and I was able to use my spray bottle to move the ink around a little, creating drips and splatters like I love to do in other pieces.  Even using the white worked much better than I thought it would as I blended it with the other colors.

Of course, india ink is wonderful to use on the surface of encaustic as well, because it dries quickly and won’t come off once it has dried.  If you brush the next layer of wax onto the ink too hard, you can come away with a little, but it is pretty easy to add between layers in your paintings.

I hope this experiment was helpful and gave you some good ideas for new creative endeavors!!  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions for new experiments.

Thanks, and happy creating!

Experiments in Encaustic- Recap

• Make sure the plaster is completely dry before you begin working.
• Alcohol ink soaks in and dries immediately on the plaster surface- you won’t be able to move it or dilute it in any way.
• India Ink will stay wet long enough that you can move it around a bit with some water.
• Adding some texture to the plaster is a lot of fun- give it a shot!
• Let me know if you have any questions!