Encaustic

Care and feeding of your encaustic painting
Encaustic painting is made from beeswax, damar resin, and pigment. For many months after the wax has last been melted, the painting will continue to slowly cure and harden. During this period the surface may become cloudy. This is called bloom, and it is more visible on the darker colors. It is not a defect. To restore the lustrous shine, gently polish the surface with a soft cloth or the heel of your palm.

What is Encaustic?
Encaustic in its basic form is a painting technique using a wax medium mixed with pigment. The wax paint is applied in layers to a rigid surface. Each layer of wax is then fused or melted to the previous layer.  The word encaustic comes from Greek and means “to burn in”, which refers to this process of melting and fusing. The wax medium is made from beeswax and damar resin, a sap from a tree in East India, raising the melting temperature and giving the wax extra hardness. The final surface can be polished to a gloss. Because wax is impervious to moisture and air, it does not easily deteriorate. It does not fade or darken with age and doesn’t need to be protected with a varnish or with glass.

The painting technique dates back to the 5th century B.C.E. The Greeks used coatings of wax and resin to waterproof ships and added pigment for decoration. The best known encaustic works are the Fayum funeral portraits, which were found in tombs along the Nile. They were painted in the 1st and 2nd century A.D. by Greek painters in Egypt. A portrait of the deceased was painted on wood and placed over their mummy as a memorial. Many of these pieces have survived and their colors are still vibrant. Encaustic was also used for murals, on statuary and on architectural stonework. After the 5th century the medium was replaced by tempera and oil, which were less cumbersome. In this century, with the availability of portable electric heating implements, it has enjoyed a resurgence, with much variation and experimentation.

In my encaustic paintings I use a combination of wax paint, watercolor, oil pastels and transfer images. This medium is endlessly flexible and artists have discovered many other techniques to use.  I keep the wax liquid in small tins on an electric griddle. For color, I add dry pigments to the wax. After applying the wax to the board with paintbrushes, I can immediately carve into it, scrape it back, or incise lines or shapes into the wax.