nicole fournier

NICOLE FOURNIER

Encaustic Trees, from the "grounds" series

medium: Digital Photography + Encaustic Wax Painting

My new series of photographs bridges a digital and an analog process. I decided to explore the combination of giclée canvas photographs with an ancient wax painting technique called "encaustics". I have always enjoyed the poetic feel of encaustic wax paintings, and I wanted to explore the use of the medium in my own work. Using digital technology, I shoot most of my images with a digital camera, then manipulate the images in Photoshop. Giclée prints are then made on canvas. The French word giclée is derived from a French noun "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or "gicler" meaning "to spray". I then take the canvas prints and mount them onto stretcher bars. After stretching, I cover the surface with layers of bees wax and use oil paint for pigment, mixed into the wax. I use a heat gun to add texture.

I like my images to evoke a sense of mysticism. Dream-like environments are revealed, yet portray real life issues. With the use of trees, one gets a sense of their fragility, yet at the same time I feel they convey a sense of strength and caution. This encaustic work reflects my interest in things we should, as a society, pay attention to, with issues such as deforestation and pollution. I like to add a human touch to the surface of the photograph, to capture a sense of a creative moment, beauty and awareness.

Technical Details:
These photographs are a combination of digital photography and encaustics, an ancient wax painting technique. These digital photographs are manipulated in Photoshop, then printed using fade-resistant "archival" inks onto canvas, called giclée prints. They are then mounted onto stretcher bars. I paint on layers of bees wax to the surface, along with layers of pigmented wax, created myself with the use of oil paint. I combine damar resin into the bees wax for added strength.