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Hi creative friend!

There’s a stack of WAX painted papers on my studio table right now and I keep walking past it just to look. Deep Midnight Blue. Vibrant bright fuchsia. Pickled Plum. Abstract mark making and freestyle URBAN FLORALS. A mix of colorful layered wax paintings and monotypes pulled from a heated mat over the last couple of weeks. 🎨

Some of it’s headed for collage. Some is going to become book pages. And some I’m keeping as surface pattern inspiration.

It’s been a busy few weeks: strategy, projects, and brainstorming collections for Q3 & Q4, plus finishing up making my handmade artisanal wax paints for the URBAN PETALS wax capsule and a lot of packaging and shipping.

But I’ve been spending a little time a few days a week experimenting and playing in the studio, and it’s been so much fun. You can see some of the process in my Instagram WAX.PAINT.PLAY highlights.

Here are some of the results…

STUDIO PLAY: The Process

Early morning, play experiments…

I scribbled a Wax Monoprint Bar onto the heated silicone mat and the deep bright fuchsia mark melted into the surface. A piece of thin rice paper flipped over the top to pull a print. The whole monotype process is abstract, experimental, and full of fun layers.

Made more marks with a couple of different PIGMENT BARS. Scribbled into the surface with a silicone color shaper to remove some of the heated wax paint. Pulled a print, then pulled a ghost off the same plate.

You can get lost in color, but the experiments continue with layers of mixed media over the top:

• Painting over the heated surface with a brush
• Scribbling with colored pencils and bits of crayons
• Making marks and dots with oil pastels

I turned the camera on and filmed the whole thing. My studio sessions play from start to finish, with lots of experiments and lots of random thoughts. You get to see the entire process unfold as I experiment with different papers, different tools, and a whole lot of handmade color in my new YouTube video.

Plus… I filmed the LIVE sessions for WAX.PAINT.PLAY workshops this week and they’ll be available in the classroom soon, PLUS I’m adding a technique video library. More on that below. Keep reading.

Inside this issue:

• The heated plate printmaking video, coming to YouTube
• WAX.PAINT.PLAY replays and the new technique video library
• Wax Monoprint Bars, back in stock
• Summer Creative Retreat, August 1 to 6 (free, my session is Day 3)
• Collage Unleashed turns 20!!

Heated plate printmaking and painting with wax, coming to YouTube 🎨

I’ve been editing in between finishing up the paints and packaging. I filmed so much that I’m splitting it over a couple of videos, and the first one posts tomorrow.

What’s in it: wax on a silicone warming mat, drawing straight onto the surface with the bars, melting and moving color, pulling monoprints onto rice paper. Ghost prints. Transfers. Building layers over randomness.

Sometimes the beginning layers look like a hot mess, but trust the process, and it transforms into colorful abstract urban floral paintings.

Lots of PLAY and experimentation. Just heat, WAX, vibrant color, and a lot of layers.

​Subscribe on YouTube so it lands in your feed →​

WAX.PAINT.PLAY: replays and a technique video library ✨

If you registered for WAX.PAINT.PLAY, your replays are on the way. I filmed all the LIVE sessions this week and I’m loading them into the classroom next week. Watch for an email when they’re live.

If you missed it, hang tight.

The classroom opens up to everyone at the end of July.

And I’m adding a technique video library. Studio PLAY sessions, ideas, focused videos you can come back to when you need some guidance and inspiration on how to use my handcrafted wax products with a variety of mixed media.

• Creative Toolbox supplies
• Heated plate basics
• Ghost prints
• Layering mixed media over wax
• WAX Transfers
• Mixing and experimenting with Oils
• Resist techniques using Watercolors
• Acrylic collage resist

More details coming soon…join WAX.PAINT.PLAY​

PIGMENT BARS and Wax Monoprint sets are back in stock 🌸

ONLY a handful of extra boxes available!

Everything you watch me drag across that heated plate are my popular wax PIGMENT BARS and Wax Monoprint Bars. These are made of natural and plant based waxes, no damar resin, hand poured in layers in limited edition small batches.

These bars are so all they work with a variety of mixed media products. You can see some of my new work using these wax paints and bars unfold in my Instagram highlights.

We are continuing to pack wax orders through early next week and I’ve got a few extra boxes sitting here. So if you missed the first URBAN PETALS drop, there are a limited quantity available in the shop

​SHOP WAX Bars →​

SHOP the URBAN PETALS PIGMENT + WAX BARS collection…

PIGMENT BARS + WAX MONOPRINTS BARS

Summer Creative Retreat: come mix a color story with me ☀️

Peggy from The Pigeon Letters is hosting Summer Creative Retreat, August 1 to 6. Six days, a full roster of teachers, all online, and it’s free to register.

My session is Day 3, Monday August 3, noon to 1 Pacific. Palette PLAY: Mix Your Color Story. We go from an inspiration photo to a set of swatch cards where you’ll experiment with your favorite mixed media materials to tell your story in color!

We’ll pull a palette recipe from a photo, then mix a few colors by hand using my watercolors and PIGMENT BARS to create technique swatch cards. Playful experiments—no color theory, just exploration.

This is for you if you love color but freeze when it’s time to commit to a palette, or if you want a low-pressure way to PLAY with color without all the rules. Join me for a colorful LIVE workshop!

​Save your FREE spot at Summer Creative Retreat →​

REGISTER FOR SCR 2026

A little Collage Unleashed news 📚

​My first book, Collage Unleashed, turned 20 at the end of May. Twenty years! As I mentioned in a previous email, my first book, the one that helped launch my career, is having a birthday. I’m building something for August to celebrate it, still finalizing all the details. More soon.

In the meantime, if you made something inspired by Collage Unleashed and would love to share it, reply with a photo and a short blurb of what you created or how my book inspired you.

I’d love to see what you created!

WATCH videos + GRAB your PIGMENT BARS...

SHOP #tracibautistaCOLOR URBAN PETALS

P.S. Summer Creative Retreat runs August 1 to 6, and my PALETTE PLAY: Mix Your Color Story session is Day 3! Grab your FREE spot here →​

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