About Andrea Bird

Andrea Bird graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. She has been teaching and showing collage and encaustic for over 20 years. She is madly in love with the process of painting with beewax, and spent a year teaching herself ways to use the iron. Having just opened an encaustic school "the hive" just north of Toronto, she is fulfilling a long-held dream.

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Author Archives: Andrea Bird

Andrea Bird

About Andrea Bird

Andrea Bird graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. She has been teaching and showing collage and encaustic for over 20 years. She is madly in love with the process of painting with beewax, and spent a year teaching herself ways to use the iron. Having just opened an encaustic school "the hive" just north of Toronto, she is fulfilling a long-held dream.
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The Encaustic Iron & Edges

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Andrea Bird in Hot Tools
Andrea with Encaustic iron

The edges of encaustic paintings/panels can be treated in a variety of ways. Some artists mask the edges, and then remove the tape and paint them in acrylic. It is also possible to cover the edges with encaustic medium. The … Continue reading →

Playing with Encaustic – Give it a Whirl!

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Andrea Bird in Events
with wings outstretched - encaustic

Play is such an important, yet not often talked about aspect of creativity. It became apparent to me at a crucial point in my artistic career that if there is not an aspect of play during the time that I’m involved in a piece, then it isn’t going anywhere. Play allows for letting go, and loosening the grip on the brush. This is what I aim to do in my encaustic workshops, by creating a place where letting go is encouraged. Continue reading → Continue reading →

Painting in a grid: drawing the line!

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Andrea Bird in featured, Techniques
Encaustic Art Andrea Bird

For years, before encaustic, I painted in a grid, and my pieces often reminded people of quilts. Then along came the wax and my grid was gone! The wax didn’t want to flow into squares and rectangles, and so I … Continue reading →

Choosing the right encaustic fusing tools

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Andrea Bird in featured, Hot Tools
Encaustic Fusing Tools

When painting with encaustic, one needs to fuse the first layer of wax to the substrate and then each subsequent layer needs to be fused to the layer below. The artist will fuse the layers of wax with either a … Continue reading →

Waxing On: My favorite iron technique

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Andrea Bird in Hot Tools
encaustic iron

This versatile fusing tool is often overlooked, and yet it can give us so many wonderful effects! Andrea Bird will be demonstrating Fusing with the Iron at the Encaustic Conference. Here she gives us a taste of what’s to come. Continue reading → Continue reading →