Greg Patch

Allow me to introduce you to Greg Patch, encaustic artist extraordinare. Encaustic can be a rather toxic medium, but Greg uses wax crayons and blocks imported from Germany that contain "food container safe pigments."

Greg's technique is an interesting combination of drawing and painting. "I apply it with hard wax crayon and block. An action of drawing and a wonderfilled childlike satisfaction! Though once I've drawn in a basic image I spend the majority of time in creating each piece mixing, blending, burnishing, adding more, the plastic substance on the surface into the final image."

He has also worked with encaustic in the more traditional method of heating the beeswax and applying it hot. "When I first started working with beeswax I was using 'encaustic,' with oils and varnishes. I've made my own, collecting earth pigments from the earth/ground and mixing with beeswax. I 'finished' a few paintings this way but interestingly the next day when I looked at them they had bloomed and the 'painting' was no longer there, just a cloudy white. The alkalines and acids in the soil had recreated. They were beautiful, in a way, but beyond my intent! I'm sure if I continued working with cloudiness intentfully I would have come up with some interesting things, there is a certain instability to it, becoming living surfaces, changing with the weather, and the heat and humidity of the day."

These pieces are all beeswax and pigment on watercolor paper.

Into Wave 1:




Spring Hillside:




Blue Orange Copse:




Red Violet Waves:




You can see more of Greg's work on his Green Art Studio website.