RobertHemphill, artist - Canadian artist, Robert Hemphill, paints images of the westcoast of Canada in wax...his paintings are big, the colours intense, the brushwork passionate.

I paint using an oil-in-wax medium, a variation of "encaustic" (the word comes from the act of heating the entire finished painting just hot enough to meld it into an impermeable sheet of wax.) Beeswax, next to blood, may be the oldest painting medium known to man, and it is one of the most permanent. Ancient wax paintings found in Egyptian tombs appear as fresh as the day they were painted. While such permanence is important to artists I like wax because it lets light right insidethe paint itself. Each particle of pigment is suspended in translucence which gives the paintings a luminous quality. The rich textural effects combined with the clear colour create a delight for

I sketch using either oils or watercolours - and some of my happiest paintings have come from the simplest pencil scribble. I try to find the main movement and pattern, always keeping in mind the feel of the light. I don't concentrate too much on the details, letting the brush suggest it to the viewer, colour and light are the critical elements I work at getting right. Although I work mostly with oils, I also do charcoal portraits , nudes and serigraphs.