Encaustic Wax Painting Blog

This is a collaborative blog, a place for artists to come together and share their passion for encaustic painting.

What is Encaustic?

Encaustic is the name for both a painting medium of wax mixed with damar resin and a painting process involving heat to apply and fuse the medium.  The name Encaustic comes from the greek enkaustikos which means “to heat” or “to burn”.  Heat is used throughout the encaustic painting process.

Here you’ll learn about encaustic painting techniques & tools. Whether you’re a beginner learning to paint with encaustic or an experienced artist, I invite you to add your comments to share your knowledge and inspiration about art and All Things Encaustic.

Encaustic Wax Painting Tips, Product Reviews, & Tutorials for Beginners and experienced artists alike

Encaustic Collage with dried flowers and foliage

Collecting, Pressing, and Organizing Dried Flowers and Foliage for Encaustic Collage Last weekend I shared an encaustic griddle with artist Denise Callaghan. Denise brought with her to the workshop a large binder filled with dried flowers for encaustic collage. Her binder is beautiful---pages and pages of pressed and dried flowers and foliage. Denise kindly gave me a queen anne's lace to use in one of my paintings. Photocopying Leaves for Photo Transfers During the workshop, Denise had difficulty embedding a dried leaf into her painting. Andrea Bird said that embedding leaves can be problematic. That leaves, even when ...
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Venetian Plaster an Alternative to Encaustic Gesso

Last month Georgia Ferrell shared a post about her experiments with Venetian Plaster on Jute and Burlap for encaustic surfaces. In this post, Dianne Jean Erickson demonstrates how to use Venetian Plaster as an alternative to Encaustic Gesso when preparing a panel substrate ...
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Encaustic and Collage / Mixed Media / Assemblage

Encaustic is an ideal medium for assemblage, mixed media, collage painting. Encaustic wax can both preserve and adhere collage elements to artwork. 5 Rules for Encaustic Collage / Mixed Media / Assemblage Here are five guidelines for adding collage elements to an encaustic painting: Ensure that your ground is rigid and absorbent. Encaustic painting on acrylic primed stretched canvas is wrong---don't do it! Wood or any absorbent panel is ideal. Depending on the work, you may wish to reinforce the support before you begin. Wax can encapsulate collage materials and that will be sufficient to hold many collage elements ...
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3D Encaustic Sculpture Techniques | Dare to move off the panel!

The Versatility of Encaustic After painting realistically for 30 years and doing sculpture for ten years, I began working with encaustic. Like many others working with this medium, I was attracted to its translucency, luscious sheen and tactility. But I probably most appreciate the versatility of the medium, as one can use painting, collage, printmaking and sculptural techniques with it. Three-dimensional encaustic sculptures can be formed using encaustic medium with wire, wire mesh, bamboo, plaster gauze, paper, natural fibers and more. Encaustic Sculpture 3-Dimensional Exploration I took a 3-D Encaustic workshop at Truro Center for the Arts ...
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Experimenting with Plaster on Jute & Burlap

Years ago I purchased some oil sticks to play with, not having any idea that they would lead me here, to share my encaustic experimentation with you. Searching for information about using R&F pigment sticks with encaustic, I found All Things Encaustic and I was delighted to connect with Ruth who is from Toronto---I am also in Canada, just a little distance away in Westport. Plaster as a Suitable Surface for Encaustic Recently I have been working with plaster on jute or burlap before adding layers of wax. In this post, I share my experimental work and process . As I ...
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