Trish Nuzzola's Artist's Page - Congregation Dorshei Tzedek

Trish Nuzzola

Encaustic medium consists of beeswax combined with a small amount of tree resin to add hardness, and pigments.

The wax is melted on a hot plate, and then applied quickly, as it begins to harden immediately.

It is then fused to the surface below with heat, using a heat gun or torch, one layer at a time.

While still liquid, the wax can be sculpted, or materials such as paper or other objects can be embedded into the surface.

When the wax cools, techniques such as scraping, carving, and inlaying can be used to create complexity and textural qualities.

Just as important as the addition of wax, is what emerges as layers are removed.

There is an immediacy and unpredictability in working with these materials, in some ways embodying qualities of being alive -

- uncertainty and joy, obscuration and exposure, mystery and revelation

I see it as both a practice in itself, and an invitation to pay attention as these experiences manifest in my life.

18 X 20 inches, 10+ layers of wax, scraped back so the final form has a smooth surface

detail image

18 X 20 inches, using more opaque colors and much more texture

detail image

10x10 with many iterations

with carving and inlay

6x6 with rectangular shape scraped out

with patterned deeper layers

texture in the lower portion was created by repeated layering of wax through a needlepoint grid

see the melting quality of the wax

made by drawing with melting wax directly onto the hotplate, and then absorbing it onto thin Japanese paper

with an additional few layers of clear and pigmented wax

layered multiple papers with India ink drawings and wax

with many additional layers of wax in selected areas

using a palette knife

As with the encaustics, I applied shapes of color, then scraped the paint back, eventually leaving multiple translucent layers of paint and texture.