Technique-Encaustic

Artists use a wide variety of materials and techniques in their quest to create their images and tell stories, whether that is a sculpture, a painting, a poem, a movie, a performance, a line of computer code, a digital image or a musical piece. In the world of painting, there are many methods of media and material used to create art.

The Encaustic Technique

Encaustic is an ancient Greek painting technique most notably from the 1^st through 3^rd centuries AD. “Enkaustikos” translates to “burn in or heat.” Beeswax, pigments and resin are melted together and applied to a canvas or panel by brush or any desired tool. Each layer is reheated to fuse it to the previous layer. Encaustic painting is a slow and challenging technique even today and when done well can lend a rich optical effect to the finished work. Encaustic is enjoying a bit of a revival because electrically heated surfaces make it easier to melt and re-melt the wax during the painting process.

This technique dates back to the Greeks who used it in caulking for the hulls of ships. Color pigments were added to the wax which allowed ship builders a way to decorate warships.