After teaching art for 25 years, Andover resident Edibeth Farrington retired last year and now has time to devote full time to her own art. After attending an Encaustic Monotype workshop in Santa Fe last fall, she spent the winter experimenting with this new and challenging technique.

After showing her experimental pieces in two galleries, Edibeth turned her focus to larger, more controlled encaustic monotypes, using heavier paper. Without lots of storage space in her studio, good friend Stacey Viandier suggested that her daughter Sophie’s new house would be a great place to “store” them. Newly painted walls always beg for art!

Wanting to help Sophie with her Pay It Forward Farm (PIFF) endeavors, Edibeth decided to hang 10 framed, one-of-a kind encaustic monotypes in Sophie’s house and offer them for sale, with 20% of all sales going to Sophie’s PIFF Fund.

Pay it Forward Farm invites the local community to attend the opening of the gallery on Saturday, July 12, from 5 to 7 PM. Refreshments will be served, including baked goods from local French pastry chef Corinne Cline’s new business, Tarte!

Encaustic is a combination of beeswax, resin, and pigment that has been in existence since the first century BC. The melted wax is either painted or, as Edibeth discovered in Santa Fe, printed onto paper, using an anodized aluminum plate heated to between 160 and 175 degrees. The hotter the temperature, the less control of the wax; a cooler temperature allows for a bit more control.

The wax is melted on the plate, then a piece of paper is placed on the plate, absorbing the wax. Several layers of different colors can printed and, depending in the paper, more color can be added on the back of the paper, creating more depth. There are endless possibilities!

To learn more about Encaustic Monotypes and about private lessons, contact Edibeth at EEF1950@nullgmail.com. To learn more about Sophie Viandier’s Pay It Forward Farm, check out her Facebook page at Facebook.com/PayItForwardNH/info.