The Whale and the Elephant

I think I'm getting somewhere. These two paintings, the Killer Whale and the African Elephant have opened my eyes of what I think I can do with this medium. I'm taken aback, at times, after I look at the finished product and wonder who did this?
The Killer Whale is 18"x24" and is already sold. The African Elephant, was only up on the blog for a short time, but it too, has been sold. The elephant also has a mate, painted from the other side of the elephant's face, which went to the same buyer.

Wainwright Arts Fest and painting...

I'm heading into Monday with one week left until the beginning of the Wainwright Arts Festival. I think that organizationally, it's gone pretty well, with only some minor hiccups so far. We still have some work to do, but I think it's going be pretty great. I've been working really hard to produce more and more work so that I'll have a good body of stuff to go into the art show part of the festival.

I'm not sure if the wax work, the "Clemmer technique" will actually go over well or not. People seem to like it, but you never know if they're willing on spending their hard-earned money on it, and take it home with them. It's also a small town and all that, so I'm not sure what the response may be for my work, as different as it is.

I'm used to the regular art shows here, for the past three years the majority of paintings that sold were of flowers and landscapes, and I just don't do that. My watercolours of women were pretty good, but not something that the average person would put up in their homes. That's okay, I wasn't expecting those to sell, I painted them merely for myself. I see something that inspires me to paint, or draw, I do it.

The wax stuff is a little different, I'm still learning its limitations, and I ran into one of those limitations the other day after I had basically finished with the wax part of the process, but before I glued it all into place and the canvas slipped off my lap and crashed to the linoleum floor. The wax shattered into a million little unrecognizable jig saw puzzle. After swearing a good amount, I started nearly from scratch, being more careful and then glued the crap out of it when I was done. I actually put two layers of glue on it to make sure, and now it's more solid than I thought possible. It's not going anywhere now.

I just finished photographing my two newest pieces, a killer whale and an African elephant, both again, in wax. I'm impressed with the finished results so much that I sometimes wonder how I managed to do it, and that it turned out. It's sounds a little cheesy, but once in a while, I'm really surprised on how good a piece looks. I'm pretty confident about it anyway, and I'm a pretty harsh critic of my own work, but I love the adrenaline rush I get after I see the finished piece and it looks better than I could have hoped for.

I guess that's why I do it. Cuz, it sure hasn't been for the money...

The Clemmer Technique and encaustic art

Developing the wax painting technique is something that I'm very excited about, although I'm not sure where it may take me. Maybe that's a good thing, I'm not sure. It's like starting a new relationship, exciting and yet dubious, because you may end up with the Blair Witch instead of Blair from the Facts of Life. Maybe the witch would be better, I'm not sure.

I think I need to come up with a new name for what I'm doing... waxation, The Clemmer Technique (I like that one), Kellywax, the list goes on.


One of the most exciting things that I've realized is that I cannot find anyone else doing this type of work. They are most likely out there, but I couldn't tell you if they are. If anyone runs across anything similar, please post the URL for me.

The closest thing I could find was the encaustic art form. It's really interesting, it uses coloured wax to paint with, melted and pushed on to canvas, paper, wood, whatever. It's an ancient technique that's been around for thousands of years, with a new modern thrust. Encaustic art seems very cool. I think because of its ties to the historical use of the technique make it that much more. Check out Thea Haubrich's web site for all the encaustic stuff she's doing in British Columbia.

The technique was lost for hundreds of years, but rediscovered in the 18th century. Nowadays the specially developed encaustic wax is applied to surfaces like paper, wood, glass etc. with a painting iron or the Encaustic Pen. You can use hotplates, heat-resistant sponges, palette knives etc. Almost anything is possible.

I'm looking forward to trying out some of these techniques that I may or may not incorporate what I'm doing on canvas...

Wax painting part three

Here's another few paintings using the same wax technique that I've been using over the past few months. I've learned that almost anything is possible, as long as you can imagine what it would look like in wax first. Whether it's just a random abstract that turns out, or not, or if you have a specific image in mind, it just has to be translated from real life to wax. Sounds weird.


It's not really that weird, it's just like trying to translate colour into black and white for a drawing or an ink rendering. You have to find the light and shade, dimension and texture in the real or imagined image and translate it with a big freaking candle that's most likely going to drip on your fingers in the process.

This waxing has to be pushed further to see what its limitations are, so far, it's going well and under control, in a completely out-of-control way. It doesn't just sound weird, it is weird.


Medicine Wheel 16"x20" - $350


Medicine Wheel detail


untitled purple abstract 12"x 14" - $200


untitled white abstract 16"x 20" - $300

More painting with wax, acrylic

Blue and White 24"x36" - sold
wax and acrylic paint on canvas



Blue and White detail




Green tree 12" x 16" - sold
wax and acrylic paint on canvas



Wax Angel with copper leaf $395
wax and acrylic paint on canvas, copper leaf



I prepare the canvas, use the melted wax as the texture, but I've learned to control the melted wax and draw with it, for fairly interesting results. The copper leafing has been an interesting experiment too.



I'm still working on making the wax more and more detailed, without losing the looseness of the medium. I want it to look like something, if it's not an abstract, without it becoming exactly something. It's like having a sculpture on canvas.
The process is fairly involved, making sure that the wax doesn't chip off and preparing the wax so it can be painted, because without doing so, the paint rolls right off or dries and flakes off. It works so far, and I'm having a lot of fun doing it.
It's almost like getting into a new relationship, it's all fun and pretty. When it becomes work, I may take a break from it and go back to watercolour or ink drawings. But for now, it's free and full of passion.

Painting, waxing, painting

Blond Horse 14"x18" - $295
Dragonfly 14"x18" - $295
Buffalo in Wax 16"x20" - sold
Boneyard 16"x20" - sold

I've been working my tail off trying to get material together for the Wainwright Arts Festival, of which I'm the chair. I'm looking forward to seeing if the local market is interested in my work or not. I hope so, but I'm not too sure

I've been working on this new technique where I've been drawing with candle wax and then painting on top. I'm not sure who else, if anyone, is doing this type of thing, but I'm having fun with it and I think I'm creating an interesting technique. I've searched the web for anyone else who's doing paintings that are similar, but I've come up empty. Lots of people are doing an ancient Eygptian technique using beeswax and pigment, but I'm drawing with molten candle wax and I think as I go I'm developing the technique into something that maybe, dare I say it, original...
Hope you like it.