Welcome tO encaustic!

What is encaustic medium made from?

Encaustic medium is made by melting pure refined beeswax with damar resin, a tree sap. The resin helps harden the wax and gives the surface a beautiful luminosity when polished. Colour pigments are added to the medium to create the paint.

How do you paint with wax?

Encaustic paint is kept molten in metal tins on a heated palette. I use a simple pancake griddle for this! The molten paint is brushed onto an absorbent surface such as wood, watercolour paper or unprimed canvas. Each new layer of paint is reheated with a torch, heat gun or iron to fuse it to the layer beneath. This creates a permanent bond between the layers. The paint solidifies quickly, making encaustic a wonderfully immediate medium to work with.

What does it feel like to work with encaustic?

For me, the magic of encaustic is in its immediacy. The wax cools almost as soon as it hits the surface, so there’s a quick flow between thought and action. I can experiment, respond, change direction and keep moving. And if I don't like what I've done? I simply scrape it away and start again.

I love the control I have over translucency and opacity when mixing the paint, and the many ways to build texture. Dry brushing can catch the surface and create subtle highlights, while rubbing oil paint into the crevices brings out the texture I've created.

There is something wonderfully physical about carving into the wax and watching ribbons of it curl around the tool in my hand. Heat adds another dimension. I love the rhythmic movement of working with a blowtorch, sometimes tipping the panel and allowing molten rivulets of wax to run down the surface.

I can embed photographs printed on rice paper, watching as the paper seems to disappear into the wax, leaving the image behind. I can build up layers on a cradled wood panel, wire rusty metal objects onto the surface, and create tension within a piece by combining materials that might not otherwise belong together.

I love that encaustic is both painting and process. The physicality of the medium means there is always another way to push, pull, scrape, melt, reveal or rebuild the surface. That sense of discovery is a big part of why I’m still madly in love with it.

How long does encaustic last?

Wax is naturally moisture-resistant and does not readily yellow, so properly made encaustic artwork can remain stable for thousands of years. The ancient Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt are a remarkable example, surviving for nearly 2,000 years.