On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Our artist being featured today is Regine Touchon! Let’s give her a warm welcome.
(As always, we are using the On the Road form for convenience, but this has nothing to do with On the Road.)
If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series, sent me an email message.
⭐️
Art by Regine Touchon
Around 3 years ago I began dabbling in a new medium, encaustic painting, which was first practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C. It involves using melted encaustic medium (resin and bees wax) to which colored pigments can be added. The medium is then applied to a surface, in my case gessoed wood. I incorporate my photography in many of my works.
WaterGirl asked me to flesh out the encautstic process and also how I came to practice this medium. Five years ago, I went to an art show in Pensacola, FL where I met an encaustic artist and became enthralled by her wonderful work. When I got back home, I immediately watched countless encaustic workshops on the web to grasp the basics. I bought the encaustic materials I needed to get started: encaustic medium (beeswax and damar resin), colored wax pigments, a hotplate, heat gun, and natural bristle brushes. I mainly use wood cradles that have been primed for my substrate. The first step is to heat the medium to 200 degrees and with a brush paint a coat of wax on the substrate. You use the heat gun to fuse the wax to the substrate and then repeat the first step. With each layer of wax, you need to fuse it with the heat gun.
At this point you can start incorporating your design onto the substrate. My work mostly consists of collaging photos, paper, print along with painting with the colored pigments that are melted in the medium. There are so many different techniques that I’m still discovering and beginning to use. To get the gist of the process, I recommend watching videos that are readily available on the web.
I belong to an amazing woman’s art group called Art Pi. We get together once a month to critique our works and try to have art shows/sales at least once a year. I’ve been a Balloon Juice lurker for many years. Thanks to all you jackals for keeping me sane.
I did a series called the Persisterhood which includes women who I have admired for a show in the Spring of 2017. Here’s Rosa Parks.
The Persisterhood: Maya
Momento Mori: Mexico I
I traveled to Merida, Mexico in 2016 and became fascinated by the large cemetery on the outskirts of the city.
Momento Mori: Mexico II
Abandoned: Hwy 14 II
I started a series of abandoned houses and buildings in my neck of the woods which I am continuing to make new pieces for.
Abandoned: Hwy 14 I
laura
They are beautiful! Thank you for sharing your work.
Lifeinthebonusround
I’m awestruck by both medium and matter!
sab
Wow. Thank you, and thank Watergirl for bringing your work here.
Yutsano
Jaw on floor. These are all amazing! And what a wonderful way to keep an ancient method alive.
WaterGirl
@Lifeinthebonusround: I added a bit at the top of the post to make it more clear that we are featuring artists on Balloon Juice.
So much talent here!
Betty
Those pieces are all fascinating. It sounds like a cool way to use your creativity. Congratulations on finding your medium. As usual, WaterGirl is making our lives more interesting.
prostratedragon
Beautiful — and fascinating! Thank you for sharing these.
WaterGirl
Regine, are you here?
Aimai
Beautiful! Really luminous!
pat
The only thought that comes to mind is How Do You DO That?
Amazing, and beautiful.
Sure Lurkalot
I love your work, Regine. The 2 pieces in your abandoned houses series are so interesting and I hope you continue this theme as you have planned.
I have an encaustic painting on wood by Karen Eide that I bought at an art festival many years ago. It hangs on a window wall in my bedroom to avoid the light and heat and I love its texture and the spookiness the medium seems suited for. Does your Art Pi group do online sales? I’d love to shop your work.
JPL
Your work is amazing, and thank you for sharing them with us. I love the abandoned houses.
Regine Touchon
@WaterGirl: I’m here! I appreciate all your comments. During the plague I thought I would dive into my work, but alas my hubby and I did jigsaw puzzles.
I’m in a better place now and will start creating again. My artist group has been invited to sell at a juried show this December in Auburn.
SFBayAreaGal
I love your work and learning about a new/old medium.
Thank you for sharing.
MomSense
Amazing. I have to ask you about the birds in your pieces.
WaterGirl
@Regine Touchon: if you have a link to a website, I would be glad to add it to the thread up top.
Also, you may know this, but if you do have a site and enter it into the URL field, folks could click that to see your work, also.
Regine Touchon
@Sure Lurkalot: Thanks so much. I have yet to sell anything on line since I work sporadically and what I do make usually sells at our shows. Individual artists in Art Pi do have websites and have had some success selling their work. If I get cracking and increase my inventory, I might do so.
zhena gogolia
Lovely work. So thought-provoking. I bet it’s stunning in person.
Lapassionara
@Regine Touchon: Wonderul! Thanks for sharing.
Regine Touchon
@MomSense: Ask away…. of course there’s Jim Crow. I can’t remember what bird is singing with Maya, vireo??? Vultures are my town’s bird. They’re always soaring around. And the raven thanks to Edgar Allen Poe.
raven
@Regine Touchon: you are welcome
stinger
I too love your use of birds, also the skies/clouds and other backgrounds. Wonderful art!
Barbara
They are all wonderful but the last one is so evocative. Thanks for posting these.
Sure Lurkalot
@Regine Touchon: It’s fabulous that your work sells out at the shows. I’ll still keep my eyes open for a web exhibit and sale!
As for doing jigsaw puzzles, so did we! And some color by number called Querkles! I had lunch with a good friend, a watercolor artist, and she told me she didn’t really produce during COVID. Like you, she was planning to dive back in after gardening season is over. She is a bit worried that her skills have gone stale but it is my hope the hiatus brings renewed enthusiasm and inspiration.
Laura Too
@Regine Touchon: Lovely, thanks for sharing your knowledge and talent.
Albatrossity
Beautiful! And, as others have commented, I like that you incorporate birds into lots of these works.
Thanks!
MazeDancer
Wonderful work!
MomSense
@Regine Touchon:
The images are so evocative and somehow the birds bring in so much. Yes, Jim Crow. The bird in the Maya painting is almost like the universe saying you are supposed to do this. And the ravens/crows on the abandoned works are so haunting.
debbie
Impressive, considering the difficulty of the medium!
dexwood
Man, oh, man! Beautiful, time consuming work. How do you react when you decide a piece has failed? If something goes wrong and you need to scrap the whole thing?
FelonyGovt
Lovely work in what has always seemed to me to be a difficult and challenging medium.
Regine Touchon
@dexwood: Ah that’s what is so great about this medium. I can take a straight edge razor blade and scrape off the layers and start over again. In fact that is a technique used in encaustic. You can add layer upon layer of medium on top of another and then scrape it to reveal the bottom layers. The abandoned building’s foreground is done this way.
WaterGirl
@Regine Touchon: So interesting!
dexwood
@Regine Touchon: Thanks. Process always interests me. Using mistakes to an advantage , I think, shows comfort with the medium.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
I’ve been fascinated by encaustic since I bought a pair of pieces at a Baltimore show many years ago. At the time I couldn’t find much online, but “online” was still in its infancy, and I didn’t have the time to do much research at the library. Thank you for sharing more about this technique. Your work is so effective!
arrieve
This is so wonderful! I’ve been fascinated by encaustic for a while, but seeing the way you use your photographs has really inspired me — I love that dreamlike quality. Beautiful work.
Quiltingfool
I have learned something new – forgive my ignorance, but I didn’t know about this type of art! And I want to know more! And I love the pieces featured here, especially the buildings! Thank you for sharing this!
Kattails
@Regine Touchon: now I was about to comment that the medium must be very unforgiving! It always has a soft, slightly other-worldly look which is well suited to your imagery. Thanks for sharing with us. And as one artist to another, get cracking girl! Shit don’t paint itself. Also the more work you do the easier it is to rationalize buying those fun supplies.
Kattails
@dexwood: A very well known Canadian painter, Robert Genn, was asked in his blog how many paintings were failures. His reply was about one in five. He worked in acrylics. This guy got five figures for his work and painted for many many years. Still had a 20% personal rejection rate.
Miss Bianca
Wow
Regine Touchon
@Kattails: Yes I do love the way the wax makes images soft but luminous depending on the subject matter. And yet you can get very bold with your pallet. What art do you do? Has it been posted here? And I do have to get crackin. I made a commitment. Thanks. I love hearing from all of you.
Regine Touchon
One more thing before I bow out. You have made my day. Inspiration is warranted at times, and for that I want to thank this beloved (most of the time) community.
On top of that my daughter was just engaged to a gentle kind man. A two dog, dog rescuer. The latest is a tripod, Malcolm.
Stay safe you jackals during these perilous times. ❤️
WaterGirl
If you are interested in sharing your art/work/talent with us, please send me an email message!
All of these have been wonderful, and I think we only have a couple more in the queue. I would hate to end the series when we are just getting started!
sab
@Regine Touchon: How do we buy your work? You haven’t left us that info or a link.
WaterGirl
@sab: Regine mentioned this in one of the comments.