Beeswax Medium

Mixing pigment and beeswax has been utilized by artists prehistorically. Through the essence of bee’s wax medium we observe and feel its clarity, richness and integrity. These colorfast “wax colors” are made in Germany where the carefully selected pigments are food container safe. This form of painting/drawing is free of turpentine, processed oils, petro chemicals/plastics, or, any of the toxic metals/chemicals like cadmium, chromium, lead, preservatives and fungicides that are routinely used in oil, acrylic, encaustic, watercolor, and guache paints. The use of these toxins is legally regulated under classification as non-toxic by ACMI (Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc.) which is funded and controlled by art paint manufacturers. New regulations with safer standards seem in order.

The respect in care of the paintings is not any different than with oils, watercolors and acrylics. Understanding the paintings’ susceptibility to damage is to acknowledge the harmony, fragility, order and pathos in its wave transcience, and of the harmony, poignancy, fragility, order and pathos of nature itself. The surface of these paintings is softer than oils, less brittle than watercolor, and more flexible than acrylic. Their surface is susceptible to scrapes and scratches and to extreme temperatures. Glass is placed in the framing, as with watercolors and guache, to protect the surface from damage. They, like oils, watercolors and acrylics, should not be hung or stored in direct heat or sunlight, over heat vents or in temperatures over 120° F (48.9° C) and 32° F (0° C).

A Look at Visual Arts Materials

The environmental and/or health effects of visual art mediums are a subject not on the forefront of the public’s mind. Perhaps, in part, lured by artistic imagery we don’t perceive the dangers inherent in the materials used to create them. I also believe much of the responsibility for its’ hidden aspects is with those bodies funding the visual arts. Many are petroleum, chemical and governmental sources.

The group Art and Creative Materials Institute (ACMI) is a non-profit trade association of manufacturers of art materials. They are responsible for labeling and monitoring art paints for their safety. In other words they are largely sponsored by "in house" industrial representatives. Guess what!

It’s interesting to go to the manufacturer websites of visual arts supplies and read through their safety data sheets. As one example the following is quoted from Windsor Newton’s site on the commonly used Flake White oil paint:

 “USAGE PRECAUTIONS: Avoid spilling, skin and eye contact. Wear full protective clothing for prolonged exposure and/or high concentrations. Pregnant or breastfeeding women must not handle this product.

STORAGE PRECAUTIONS: Keep in cool, dry, ventilated storage and closed containers.

STORAGE CRITERIA: Misc.hazardous material storage.

INHALATION: Harmful by inhalation. Harmful: danger of serious damage to health by prolonged exposure through inhalation.

INGESTION: Harmful if swallowed. Harmful: possible risk of irreversible effects if swallowed.

SKIN: Product has a defatting effect on skin.

EYES: Irritating to eyes.

HEALTH WARNINGS: Swallowing concentrated chemical may cause severe internal injury.

OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS: Toxic to Reproductive Health Categ. 1. Toxic to Reproductive Health Categ. 3. Carcinogen Category 3.

ROUTE OF ENTRY: Inhalation. Ingestion.” [skin absorption.]

MEDICAL SYMPTOMS: Upper respiratory irritation. Nausea, vomiting. Allergic rash.

MEDICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Skin disorders and allergies.”

So not to single out Windsor & Newton nor Flake White more information on toxicity in oil, acrylic, watercolor, etc. paints can be found by requesting a Material Data Safety Sheet (MSDS) from individual manufacturers, ie: Utrecht, Rembrandt, Liquitex, Crayola, etc.) Most of these companies provide MSDS's on their websites. The Cadmium, chromium and thalo colors are significantly toxic as are terpentines, fixatives, varnishes, plastics/acrylics, and preservatives, ie. formaldehyde.

Taking this a little further one asks, “what happens to the environment when a manufacturing plant produces large quantities of this material?” and “how many artists, art students, and hobbyists are using the very necessary precautions when handling the paints?” Once the painting is finished and placed in the living room, kitchen or museum, what is the air quality produced by VOCs/off gases?

A look at the alternatives with the painting arts that do not produce a toxic body or environment gives egg tempera, casein (milk), water and beeswax mediums. All can be used without toxic pigments, petro chemicals (varnishes, acrylics, fixatives), heavy metals (cadmium, chromium), and formaldehyde and other preservatives that are in common use with many paints.

With sculpture there is clay/earth/stone, wood, fire, water and air to create work.

Sustainable solutions are at our fingertips.

There’s been alot of excitement in the last 30 or so years with artists applying the natural world to create their statement. A wonderful website to view what is going on in environmental art, with many artists and approaches as examples, is www.greenmuseum.org.

Artistsfoundation.org has more information on hazards in their Occupational Health Care Hazards for Artists, and also look at Square Feet Chicago's "Safe and Healthy Spaces".

Previous Artist Statement

Currently living on the shore of Topsail, a barrier island in North Carolina, Greg Patch is an artist and a traditional herbalist whose paintings portray the earth, the unconscious and the one-ness of all life. His commitment to restoring the planet and its supported life to its natural balance is reflected in his work with individuals as a natural healer, in the environmental themes of his artwork, and in the non toxic medium which is integral to the meaning of the finished work.
 
The colorfast “beeswax colors” Greg uses are made in Germany. The carefully selected food container safe pigments are based on Goethe’s color wheel. They are free of turpentine, processed oils, petro chemicals or toxic substances like cadmium, chromium, "thalos", lead, preservatives or fungicides that are found in most oil, acrylic, encaustic, watercolor and guache mediums and pigments. Beeswax as a medium intensifies the clarity, richness and integrity of color, line and form. Beeswax and pigment has been used since prehistoric times.   Greg’s painting is a means of meditation for him and a vehicle for contemplation for us. It is a literal expression of “being in” nature.
 
“There is a wave in the landscape,” he explains, “where the movement is behind our eyes and before our eyes in lines, shapes, forms and color. It is in our memories and in the memories of all there is, and contains the symbols of a universal language that lay deep within our collective unconscious. I have seen these symbols in my paintings during and often after creating them.
 
“My paintings move with the forces of nature - the streams, mountains, astrology, technology, thoughts, yoga, actions, energy, self, lunch – and culminate in the realization that everything is the wave.
 
“I believe that nature calls to each of us to step out of ourselves and into it, to identify and revel within it, amid the waves. Doing this can transform our awareness into an energy greater than our own understanding.”
 
Greg received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the State University of New York at New Paltz. He studied at the Munson-Williams Proctor Institute School of Art in Utica, NY, the School of Visual Arts in New York City, the College of Artesia in Artesia, New Mexico, and did graduate work at the State University of New York in Albany. He apprenticed with steel sculptor Willard Boepple (Utica Boatworks) and Bob Schuler (Tethys Project, High Falls, NY}. Greg has also been a student, teacher and practitioner of herbal medicine for 25 years.