R&F Handmade Paints

Less plastic. More savings.

We recently repackaged our 38ml Pigment Sticks in earth-friendly, sustainably sourced cardboard and now we have redesigned our popular sets to match.

Did you know buying sets saves 15 to 25% off when buying those same colors individually? It's true!

Plus, many of them feature a FREE cradled panel from Ampersand.

Find them at your local art materials retailer. Use our Store Finder to locate the one closest to you. https://www.rfpaints.com/store-finder

Keep painting.

Der Flyer für meinen nächsten Enkaustik Workshop bei boesner wurde gerade fertig 🔥🔥🔥Es wird eine umfassende, dreitägige Einführung in diese grossartige Wachsmaltechnik sein, in der Du die Technik umfassend von der Pike auf kennen lernen kannst. Auch geeignet für Teilnehmerinnen, die bereits Erfahrungen mit der Technik gesammelt haben. Jetzt schon herzlichen Dank an R&F Handmade Paints, die den Workshop grosszügig wie immer unterstützen werden😍

Explore creating in encaustic with Instructor Joan Ffolliott. Joan will be teaching "Introduction to Encaustic" on Saturday & Sunday, August 31 and September 1 from
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

For contemporary artists, this “Introduction to Encaustic” workshop provides a rich, hands-on overview of the exciting encaustic process. Students will explore the possibilities of working with encaustic paint and medium in a fun workshop that touches on basic techniques and tools, several ways of image and mark-making, and health + safety.

This workshop is made possible with support from R&F Handmade Paints!

To register visit: https://woodstockschoolofart.org/course/introduction-to-encaustic-2/

Your top 5 Pigment Stick® questions answered!!

This week's blog post highlights our top five questions about R&F Pigment Sticks®.

1. How long does it take for Pigment Sticks® to dry?

2. Can Pigment Sticks® be used with tube oil paint?

3. What is R&F Blending Medium with Drier? How is that different from R&F’s regular Blending Medium?

4. How do I store Pigment Sticks®?

5. Does the rule of “fat over lean” apply when working with Pigment Sticks®?

You can find the answers on our blog Unique Color.

Pigment Sticks: Your Top 5 Questions — R&F Handmade Paints Each week we receive dozens of questions about working with our paint lines - from how to store your paint, to drying times and varnishing. Below you will find info and links to help answer your top 5 burning questions on R&F Pigment Sticks® . What are Pigment Sticks®, you ask? Pigmen

We hope you like the new packaging as much as we do. Take a picture of yourself holding one of our Pigment Sticks in its new paper carton packaging and we will share it to our stories.

Photo credit: .art

Images from R&F's recent Pigment Stick® demo at ARCH Art Supplies in San Francisco with artist Andrea Wedell. Andrea will be three more upcoming demos for us in the bay area. Check out the line up below!

New demos are being added all the time. To learn more, visit rfpaints.com/store-demos.

7/27/24: Pigment Stick® demo at FLAX Art and Design, San Francisco, CA

8/3/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

10/12/24: Pigment Stick® demo at FLAX Art and Design, Oakland, CA

11/13/24: Encaustic demo at Arlenes Artist Materials, Albany, NY

A little Scarlet Extra Pale for your Monday morning…

Stacks of 40ml encaustic waiting to be wrapped, packed, and shipped to a retailer near you.

FLASH SALE! Stay at Brown Pink four nights, get your fifth night free! https://www.brownpinkstudio.com

Located in the arts-rich Hudson Valley, R&F's Brown Pink Studio is the ideal place to stay when taking a class at Woodstock School of Art. And now through July 15th, book a four night stay anytime before December 31st and the fifth night is on us.

Take advantage of our beautifully stocked studio complete with 16" R&F heated palettes, a heat gun, and access to our full color lines. Work late into the evening after your workshop ends for the day. Create your own immersive retreat.

Woodstock School of Art is offering a range of encaustic workshops this year - from introductory classes to courses geared towards 3D art and photography. Check out the line up below.

7/27 - 7/28: A Sense of Place: Abstract Encaustic Landscapes with Regina Quinn

7/30 - 8/1: Art Object: Encaustic 3D with Susan Stover

8/17 - 8/18: Introduction to Encaustic Painting with Regina Quinn

8/27 - 8/29: Creating Color Effects with Encaustic with Leslie Giuliani and Richard Frumess

8/31 - 9/1: Introduction to Encaustic with Joan Ffolliott

9/17 - 9/19: Art Object: Encaustic 3D with Susan Stover

10/26 - 10/27: Encaustic Unleashed: Collage, Assemblage, Sculpture with Joan Ffolliott

11/9 - 11/10: Next Level: Scaling Up with Dietlind Vander Schaaf

11/23 - 11/24: Introduction to Encaustic and Collage with Leslie Giuliani

12/7 - 12/8: Photo Encaustic and Mixed Media with Wayne Montecalvo

Hello, Hello!

For those of you who missed our big news yesterday 🎉 💐🎉💐this one’s for you!

After two plus years in development, we are thrilled to share our new, recyclable, paper carton packaging.
Our new look will begin shipping to retail partners on July 1 🎨 keep a lookout! Less plastic is a good thing😊

This is our Sepia Pigment Stick in process as captured by R&F’s, R+D Manager, Maddison Ginter (thanks Maddison!)

Sepia is a complex formulation containing five, (yes 5!) pigments, they are; Brown Pink, Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, Titanium White and Zinc Oxide White.

Richard introduced Sepia into the R&F color line in 1996 to match the color of the ink from cuttlefish, the traditional source of sepia.

R&F regularly hosts product demos at retailers who carry our products. Check out the lineup below.

You can find info about our upcoming demos, including links to register, on our website. (Link in profile.)

Also - we will be hosting some virtual encaustic and Pigment Stick demos this summer. Join our mailing list if you’d like to be notified.

5/25/24: Encaustic demo at Artist & Craftsman, Madison, WI

5/25/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Lavrut, Paris, France

5/30/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Artisan Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

6/22/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

7/13/24: Pigment Stick® demo at ARCH Art Supplies San Francisco, CA

8/3/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

***

Laissez libre cours à votre créativité avec les Pigment Sticks R&F ! ✨
Les Pigment Sticks R&F, fabriqués aux États-Unis, sont composés à 100% de cire d'abeille, de résine de dammar et de pigments, pour créer des mélanges merveilleusement adaptables et différents effets. 🐝
Il en résulte une consistance plus souple et une plus grande force de film de peinture. 🖼️
Ce sont les nouveaux incontournables pour les artistes, permettant de se débarrasser du pinceau et de tenir la peinture directement dans votre main. 🧑🏻‍🎨

&F

We've got more store demos coming up - including our first encaustic demo at Evan's Art Supply in Dublin, Ireland and our first Pigment Stick demo at Lavrut in Paris, France!

Check out the line up below. Visit our website to find more information about upcoming demos and how to register.
https://www.rfpaints.com/store-demos

***

5/22/24: Encaustic demo at Evans Art Supplies, Dublin, Ireland

5/25/24: Encaustic demo at Artist & Craftsman, Madison, WI

5/25/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Lavrut, Paris, France

5/30/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Artisan Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

6/22/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

7/13/24: Pigment Stick® demo at ARCH Art Supplies San Francisco, CA

8/3/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

(photo credit: Megan MacDonald)

Hello! Happy Friday!

Just a reminder to local folks and those passing through the Hudson Valley…
the R&F Factory Store in Kingston, NY is open to visitors Monday - Friday, 9-5, no appointment necessary.

The Factory store stocks the complete color line, all sizes, in both Pigment Sticks® and encaustic as well as all mediums, sets, kits, color charts and aprons.
*Please note, our store is for in person shopping only, we do not ship any orders.

In addition, we have a few demo stations for artists interested in taking a closer look at color and we also give tours!

Have a great weekend!

😊🎨

We've got a bunch of new demos coming up, including one this Saturday in San Rafael, CA with artist Andrea Wedell for our West Coast followers. https://www.andreawedell.com/

See the list below. You'll find links for more information and registration at https://www.rfpaints.com/store-demos.

4/20/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Rileystreet, San Rafael, CA

5/25/24: Encaustic demo at Artist & Craftsman, Madison, WI

5/30/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Artisan Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

6/22/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

6/22/24: Encaustic demo at Hyatt’s All Things Creative, Buffalo, NY

8/3/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Rileystreet, Santa Rosa, CA

***

Photocredit:

Our 2024 encaustic and Pigment Stick® Color Chart is now available on our website as a downloadable PDF (download button in footer). You can also find a version here on IG in our profile.

The 2024 Color Chart includes some notable changes:

1. A new Pigment Stick® Drying Chart containing helpful guidance on relative drying times of all Pigment Stick® colors.

2. Complete Color Index and Number classifications for all colors. In addition, all colors with California / Prop 65 designations are now noted.

Thanks so much, keep painting!

🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨

Happy Friday!!! 🌞💐🎨

Sean Sullivan .pimlico.pearl here…
For those of you who are familiar with my work, I don’t use encaustic paint all that much in my own studio practice. There are a variety of reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to my preference for drawing and oil painting and how those two interests intersect perfectly in the Pigment Stick. I am forever hooked.

Well, I’m hoping to change this some and started exploring encaustic paint this week and thought I’d share some photos and thoughts on the process.

I often hear artists talk about the many ways in which encaustic paint can be used, the myriad techniques the heating and cooling of wax opens up to the artist. This is all completely true, but what I find most captivating as a painter, is the ability to freeze in time the brushstroke. It is an amazing, useful, truth telling and humbling experience. There’s no hiding in encaustic painting! It just sets so quickly. Even quicker than acrylic! Many of you already know this of course, just thought I’d share a newbie’s perspective.

Until next time, thanks for listening, hope you get some studio time this weekend!

Best,
Sean

Last winter we shared that R&F partnered with Woodstock School of Art to build their encaustic program. We have been consulting on their new space and we are pleased to announce that Woodstock is now offering encaustic workshops with R&F affiliated instructors.

Workshops are filling up quickly! Check out the line up below to see what is currently being offered.

They will continue to roll out additional workshops over the course of the year, including courses with Lisa Pressman and Wayne Montecalvo.

Upcoming classes include:

April 27 - 28: Introduction to Encaustic and Collage taught by Leslie Giuliani

May 25 - 26: Exploring Encaustic Mixed Media with Regina B. Quinn

June 8 - 9: Introduction to Encaustic taught by Joan Ffolliott

June 29 - 30: Encaustic: Layers & Translucency taught by Dietlind Vander Schaaf

July 31 - 8/1: Art Object: Encaustic 3-D taught by Susan Stover

Join their mailing list to hear about new course offerings. https://woodstockschoolofart.org/

***
image credit: Regina B. Quinn (L) and Susan Stover (R)

Our latest blog post on Unique Color is an Artist Spotlight featuring Jenny Nelson.

Jenny is a painter and arts educator. She attended Maine College of Art, Bard College, and the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. Jenny lives in the Hudson Valley and has taught workshops at Truro Center for the Arts, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Woodstock School of Art, and the Nantucket Artists Association, among others.

Jenny’s work has been shown numerous galleries and she has guided hundreds of students to expand their skills in abstract painting through her workshops and online courses.

We spoke with Jenny recently about finding shapes, the role intuition plays in her work, and how she navigates challenges in the studio.

Except below. To read the full interview, visit Unique Color. Link in profile.

—-

“My paintings begin in a chaotic way, then I begin to organize that chaos through a series of subtractions and additions. This conscious and unconscious decision-making process becomes more refined as the painting develops. Shapes come and go, make friends, and enemies, and form relationships.

I would define my intuition as an intimate knowledge about the behavior of my materials combined with the willingness to respond to the unexpected as the painting unfolds. A kind of deep listening, deep looking, that allows the painting to be an equal participant in its own making.”

- Jenny Nelson

Quinacridone Magenta Light is one of four new colors we released for 2024. Cool, bluish, and edgy, it was formulated in 2022 as part of our Unique Color collaboration with artist .

Available in both our Pigment Stick® and encaustic paint lines. Opaque with a fast Pigment Stick® drying rate.

R&F's own Dietlind Vander Schaaf will be at Mo's Art Supply in New Orleans this Saturday, March 23rd from 11:00am to 12:30pm demoing R&F Pigment Sticks.

This event is free and open to the public. Drop by to say hi and try out our premier oil stick.

Mark your calendars. We've got a few upcoming store demos.

You can find links to register and more info on our website. rfpaints.com/store-demos.

Can't attend one of these in person events? We've got loads of helpful info on our website, including how to and artist spotlight blog posts, downloadable PDFs, and videos.

3/23/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Mo’s Art Supply, New Orleans, LA

3/30/24: Pigment Stick® and encaustic monotype demo at Meininger, Denver, CO

4/6/24: Encaustic demo at Jerry’s Artarama, West Hartford, CT

5/4/24: Encaustic demo at Artist & Craftsman, Madison, WI

5/30/24: Pigment Stick® demo at Artisan Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Violet Deep, Stil de Grain, Azure Blue, Cadmium Green Pale, Phthalo Green...

What's your must have R&F color??

R&F is excited to introduce 4 new colors to our encaustic and Pigment Stick® lines: Quinacridone Magenta Light, Cadmium Coral, Alizarin Permanent, and Cerulean Blue (Chromium).

You might remember Quinacridone Magenta Light and Cadmium Coral from our 2022 collaboration with artist Matt Kleberg, which resulted in a Limited Edition Unique Color Pigment Stick® set. These colors were so popular, we decided they belonged in our permanent collection.

Alizarin Permanent is a lightfast alternative to our discontinued Alizarin Crimson and Cerulean Blue (Chromium) offers a higher tinting strength than our previous Cerulean Blue at a lower price point.

All four colors are available now at participating retailers.

Not sure where you can find R&F? Use our Store Finder. https://www.rfpaints.com/store-finder

Good morning 🎨’s, Sean Sullivan here .pimlico.pearl … 🌞 is shining in Kingston, NY and ❄️ is on the way!

This past weekend I had a chance to catch Brown Pink Residency Alumni solo show OH FORTUNA! in NYC. Unbelievably beautiful work that rewards long 👀
We were fortunate enough to spend some time with Henry while he was in Kingston last year and learn a bit about how he incorporates Pigment Stick into his practice. It’s thrilling to see how Henry uses and transcends the material to create this allegorical, otherworldly work. ❤️

If you find yourself in NYC I highly recommend stopping by… show runs: January 31, 2024 - March 9, 2024

The 17th International Encaustic Conference hosted by Truro Center for the Arts will take place May 31 - June 2nd in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The conference is the place to be for anyone interested in encaustic. Instructors from across the country and around the world will be there offering talks and demos.

There’s a hotel fair, a postcard sale, hands on workshops, giveaways, a juried show, and - best of all - R&F will be in the vendor room with a full array of paint and materials.

NOW THROUGH 2/15 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A 20% DISCOUNT ON REGISTRATION!

We've got all the details on our blog Unique Color.
https://www.rfpaints.com/unique-color/the-17th-international-encaustic-conference