Françoise B. Harper Fine Art: Oil and Other Media

I am also interested in other media of expression such as watercolor, photography, encaustic or oil painting. It is always a pleasure to work on different surfaces and in various ways : in watercolor, the lighter values come first on an absorbing paper, in pastel, the darkest value comes first on a rough paper. With photography, you can add a third dimension to your work.

Early Snow in Yosemite - watercolour

Expressions of Life - photo montage

Pious Lights - photo montage

City Lives - After Work - oil and collage on canvas

City Lives - 9/11 Memorial - oil and collage on canvas

In the Mood / Father - oil and pastel on canvas

William and Uncle Fernand - pastel and oil on canvas

Little Virgin in Moussy, Burgundy - oil on canvas

Misty Jungfrau - oil on panel

Omen 1 - oil on canvas

Omen 2 - oil on canvas

Cities 1 - oil on canvas - 25x100

I had the pleasure to meet the encaustic painting artist Helen De Ramus during a workshop that she organized at her studio in Marietta.

The technique of encaustic painting has been dated to as early as the fourth century BC. Although wax may appear to be a fragile material, some encaustic paintings in the form of head and shoulder portraits from the Greco-Roman Egypt still survive today.

When I am ready to paint, I melt the colored wax mixture from the tins which stand on a heated squillet. With a brush, I paint the encaustic medium onto a panel which lies horizontally so that the melted wax does not run. The wax cools very quickly so I have to paint swiftly. After applying a layer or two onto the panel, I use a propane torch or a heat gun to reheat the wax, smoothing the surface, building up layers of pigmented wax and sometimes adding other materials betwen the layers. I can also carve into the luke-warm wax to give some relief to the painting.