Encaustic painting is an intriguing method to create beautiful layered, luminous works. Greek artists painted portraits and scenes with wax as early as  the 5th century BC.  The best known encaustic works are the Fayum funeral portraits painted in the 1st and 2nd centuries by Greek artists living in Egypt. These portraits were placed on/in mummies.  Encaustic painting became a lost art with a few exceptions.  You may have seen some of Jaspar Johns’ encaustic paintings from the 50s, for example, his Flag paintings.  An increasing number of modern artists are working with encaustic.

Encaustic paint is made up of beewax mixed with dammar resin (called encaustic medium) and pigments.  Encaustic paint is applied usually to a wood substrate or surface, although it can be applied to most anything if the right ground is used.  I paint on wood and on paper, using either plain beeswax as a ground or encaustic gesso (different from acryclic) gesso, which may be purchased from several suppliers.  The encaustic paint is applied warm to the surface and each layer is then fused with a heat gun or iron.