What is Encaustic?

Explaining the Medium

Encaustic Painting is a lost art from ancient times currently being revived, revitalized and adapted to contemporary art expression by a growing number of internationally recognized artists. Beautiful in it's luminous nature, the medium is based on beeswax mixed with Damar crystals. The lush coloured cakes are simply the encaustic medium with pure pigments finely ground in. As demonstrated by the richness and vibrancy of paintings, actually portraits for mummy cases discovered from the Ptolemy regime in Egypt (think Cleopatra's time), Encaustic is incredibly time resilient and permanent. Lost for centuries, it is now becoming more and more popular with contemporary artists who are exploring its almost endless versatility and friendliness to mixed media. In all the groups, Susan has taught, everyone has developed his/her unique path of expression with encaustic.

The question most often asked concerns durability and stability of the painting ("Will this stuff melt if I hang the work in my sun room?"). No work of art should be in extreme environments - whether very hot or very cold - so the same care given to any work applies. I have hung encaustics over the fireplace and in an un-air conditioned room with no adverse affects. Therefore, encaustic works, kept in the same environment as you would use for any other work of art, will retain the luminous beauty and clarity of hues even better than other mediums. The beeswax base especially ensures that the work will not fade or darken as it ages unlike works using varnishes or synthetic wax bases.