Interview with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch!
I am so excited to share that I will be interviewing an absolutely amazing encaustic artist next month, Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch no less… and you have the opportunity to join in!
Patricia is an encaustic artist with over sixteen years experience working in dammar based encaustics. Founder of EncaustiCamps and EncaustiCastle, she has inspired thousands of people across the globe with her encaustic books and videos.
So, how has this interview come about?
Well, let me tell you a little story…
Back, when I very first started working with encaustic, way back in 2012… I was working with the lower heat wax range, on paper with the iron, and whilst I still loved it, I felt I’d taken it as far as I could.
I was in need of inspiration, and turned to YouTube.
The first video I came across was a four minute video of Patricia setting fire to a wax painting using shellac.
After watching that video… all I knew was… I NEEDED to find out how to do that!
(This is the one.. I found it straight away after all those years!!)
I immediately ordered Patricia’s first book, and got onto learning as much as I could.
I’d discovered enough to know this was something I wanted to pursue, and set out on a mission….
Most art shops I visited had never heard of encaustic. Luckily my local art shop did have one block of R&F Encaustic Medium, but they were the exception, and that was the only dammar based wax product I could find, anywhere!
The internet back then wasn’t nearly as full of information as it is today, and frustratingly, I struggled to find any legible encaustic information, or supplies on line.
I went to a couple of huge art supply fairs. I’d saved a load of money, and set about finding all the encaustic supplies I was desperately looking for.
I trawled every inch of those fairs. Every art material you could imagine were there on display… OTHER than my elusive encaustic wax.
I couldn’t even find a BOOK mentioning encaustic. I had 500 quid in my pocket, ready to buy all the equipment I was craving, and I couldn’t find a bean!
I was massively frustrated.
I came home, despondent and disappointed.
I’m not sure why, but I decided to send Patricia an e-mail, and ask her the question; was I totally barking up the wrong tree?! How was she finding the response to encaustic…? Should I pursue it as a medium, or don’t touch it with a barge pole considering the limitations I was experiencing…?
I forget the exact wording, and I’m not even sure why I sent it. A total impulse moment of desperation. Not something I would normally do!
The next morning, I awoke to the most upbeat, inspiring and encouraging e-mail from Patricia…!
She was travelling in Australia at the time, with limited access to the internet, but nevertheless, took the time to reply, and could not have been any more supportive in her encouragement.
We continued to stay in communication for a few days, maybe weeks, I don’t recall….
She told me about her EncaustiCamps, I found photographs where there were 60, 70, 80 people all there, together, learning solely about encaustic… a DREAM!
I was green with envy, yet totally inspired at the same time… I wanted THAT!!!!
Patricia helped me on my encaustic journey more than she will ever know.
Since then, I’ve gone through a complete career change, and become a full time encaustic artist. Never underestimate what a little encouragement (and pigheaded determination!) can do.
Not one to give up, I did get my hands on those elusive encaustic materials… I now supply encaustic materials (R&F and Arts Encaustic) from my studio, to help others in the UK who were in my predicament.
I started teaching encaustic to others, people were as curious and intrigued as I was, and I’m now bringing more and more of that online.
As Patricia is one of the people who really kicked started my encaustic journey onto a whole new level, I decided to ask her if she would be willing to be my first interviewee…
I was DELIGHTED when she agreed!
So, where can you find out more about this upcoming interview….?
In my new Encaustic Membership Group. Read about it here.
I will be interviewing Patricia / Trish, on Wednesday 11th March, at 6pm GMT, over a live Zoom video call… and you can get involved, join us live, AND have the opportunity to join in on the Q&A’s too!
I started some new monthly live ‘Encaustic Queries’ video calls in January and February. They received great feedback. If you can’t join live, you have the opportunity to ask questions ahead of time, and catch up on the replays.
Inspired by the positive feedback of the first two months, I’ve taken the plunge, and opened a new Encaustic Membership group.
I’ve always had an idea of what I wanted to create with this. I have an army of encaustic artists I want to interview, techniques I want to help people with, museum visits I want to share.
I want to help create an encouraging, engaged encaustic community, and have each and every one of these calls inspire and spark ideas….
This new membership will gives you access to a wealth of encaustic resources, which will continue to grow month by month.
If the membership calls aren’t for you, don’t worry, I will still be sharing some of the best snippets of Patricia’s interview on blogs and newsletters in the coming weeks!
Make sure you’re following in all the right places to catch them here:
Sign up to Patricia’s Newsletter: http://www.pbsartist.com/contact/
Follow Patricia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pbsartist/
Sign up to ‘All Updates’ on Julie’s Newsletter: https://artyheaven.com/
Follow Julie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julieannsgallery/
But to get the most out of this interview, and join in live, I really recommend you check out the monthly calls… Bursting with inspiration!
Patricia will be telling us all about her journey, and trajectory from discovering wax, through to present day. We will be talking about her recent ten year anniversary encaustic book…. and her future plans…
This year will apparently be her last ever EncaustiCamp!
Find out (with me), what her next steps are, as she evolves into the next phase of her journey…
Don’t worry, it still involves Encaustic… I checked!!!
After the interview, there will be an open Questions & Answer session, for you to ask Patricia your questions too!
After this interview with Patricia, we will also be answering two of the questions received this month, including ways to frame encaustic work, and different techniques for layering images into wax. It promises to be a good one… I can’t wait!
In a perfect world, we would all just jump on a plane and go and explore EncaustiCamp, or my Arty Heaven Studio, or a thousand other Encaustic havens… Immerse ourselves there immediately… but we all know, that’s not always possible, so I’m hoping these monthly video calls will provide the next best thing!
