Mitch Schofield

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I am a UK based, mixed media artist working primarily in encaustic. Alongside my art practice, I promote and educate about this 2500 year old technique, determined that this ancient medium experience a resurgence in the UK as it has in the USA. My process involves building up layers of encaustic paint (molten beeswax, tree sap and pigment) on wood, adding fire to fuse (bond) the layers together.

I am a UK based, mixed media artist working primarily in encaustic. Alongside my art practice, I promote and educate about this 2500 year old technique, determined that this ancient medium experience a resurgence in the UK as it has in the USA.

My work is deeply personal, unflinchingly honest and takes inspiration from my lived experience of bipolar disorder, memory loss, legacy. Encaustic suits a restless mind and rapidly firing brain. The contrast between control and spontaneity and energetic layering followed by slower, mindful applications of fire, is exhilarating yet soothing, and is the perfect practice for such a psyche. 

My process involves building up layers of encaustic paint (molten beeswax, tree sap and pigment) on wood, adding fire to fuse (bond) the layers together. I then scrape back, carve into and manipulate with heat whilst navigating the unpredictable nature of encaustic. My work is both painterly and sculptural and embraces the three-dimensionality of encaustic wax to create textured, abstract, translucent pieces that demand to be touched.

I am fascinated by the alchemy of art and experiment incorporating modern techniques and other materials into my encaustic practice. I make pigment from crushed medication and use papers stained with handmade botanical inks. Every layer tells a story and I record every detail of the story and process to create a visual archive that preserves the artwork’s legacy and accompanies the finished artwork.

I am represented by Seventh Circle Art Gallery, Birmingham UK https://www.svnthcrcl.com