Reader...

Hi creative friend!

There’s a silicone mat on my counter, the kind meant for keeping food warm, set to 176 degrees. A piece of rice paper sits on top, warm to the touch. I scribble a #tracibautistaCOLOR PIGMENT BAR onto the surface and flip it over onto the melted wax, roll a brayer across, and lift a multicolor line of wax at once.

This process is an artful, meditative dance of making marks, pulling a print, and adding layers of mixed media.

Telling a story in movement, color and memory.

WAX monotypes. A printmaking PLAY studio session.

That’s the whole video. You get a peek inside my studio as I play with the silicone warming mat and layers of mixed media.

Me, the mat, and a table full of wax paint, working through monotypes and layers.

I filmed a full studio session as I talk through the process, experiment with papers and substrates, and play in real time. You’ll watch the prints build with colorful layers that work, the ones that flop, and the small decisions in between.

I show the finished pieces first, then the creative toolbox of supplies, then I settle in and PLAY.

Inside this studio session, here’s some of what I play with:

• Pull wax monotypes on a heated silicone mat
• Layering vibrant multicolor lines from a single duotone PIGMENT BAR
• Draw right on warm paper so the bars melt and blend
• Turn leftover paint into cleanup sheets for collage
• Layer crayon and oil pastel as resist, then glaze over with wax
• Test which mixed media actually transfer, and which are better for mark-making

​Watch the VIDEO here →

Most artists who use this technique reach for encaustic paint and an anodized aluminum plate. I make my wax paint to be heated on something as simple as the silicone warming mat. In the past I’ve used an electric griddle for printmaking but I’m loving the silicone mat. It’s portable and easy to clean. PLUS it has a built in temperature setting that keeps the mat heat perfect for painting with my wax bars.

Here’s what makes that possible. Traditional encaustic is mixed with damar resin, and every layer has to be fused with heat so it bonds to the one beneath it. My bars skip all of that. No resin, no fusing. Set one on the warm mat and the wax melts straight into the paper and stays.

My PIGMENT BARS are soft, creamy, and highly pigmented, and the multicolor confetti duotone bars carry two main colors plus confetti in a single stroke.

The Wax Monoprint Bars are firmer, made to hold an edge, and combine two natural waxes, perfect for monotype.

Both can be used as a drawing medium and paint. Both are highly pigmented. Both melt. Both resist.

They are truly a mixed media product. They work will oils, acrylics, watercolors, inks, and your fave mark making tools.

If you want to make marks and explore paint with wax, a set of Wax Medley Bars is the place to start. I made a handful of extra sets that are available in the shop.

​SHOP WAX Bars →​

And if you’d rather PLAY together, I’m opening the WAX.PAINT.PLAY classroom next week. It also includes access to a technique video library that showcases tutorials of #tracibautistaCOLOR WAX products and a variety of mixed media, so you can work at your own seasonal rhythm.

We’ll melt, layer, and pull prints, work with texture and wax paste, and you’ll leave with your own stack of technique cards and sketchbook experiments.

​join WAX.PAINT.PLAY​

WATCH studio PLAY video + GRAB your PIGMENT BARS...

P.S. That warming mat traditionally is used for keeping your food heated. . Sometimes the best studio tool is the one nobody’s thought to print on yet. WATCH me play in the studio!

With creativity and color...

Artfully, xo Traci Bautista 💞 Founder, #tracibautistaCOLOR

If you have any questions reach out to customer care using the chat box at tracibautistacolor.com

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