Encaustic Painting: What is it and where did it come from?

Answering our phones and emails is a lot like opening a box of chocolates: we never know what we will get! We get all kinds of excellent questions here, and one of them was about encaustic painting.

What is Encaustic Painting?

Encaustic painting is an art form painted with pigmented wax on a substrate, such as a wood panel, and is fused or burned in through a heat source like a heat gun or propane torch. Color mixing is achieved through the application of heat to the substrate itself or a hot palette.

Encaustic is a Greek word (enkaustikos) meaning "to heat or to burn." Encaustic painting is an ancient technique used by the Greeks, who used wax to caulk ship hulls. It is estimated that the style of art was also used by the Egyptians as early as 100 AD.

Encaustic paint consists of natural bee wax and dammar resin (crystallized tree sap). Pigmenting the bee's wax gave rise to the decoration of warships, and the use of encaustic on panels rivaled the use of tempera in the earliest known portable easel paintings.

Modern Encaustic Painting

Today, you don't need a wood surface to create encaustic paintings, as heavyweight paper mounted to a hardboard works just as well, but the option to still use wood as a surface remains. Ampersand Claybord is another surface that is suggested for those interested in encaustic painting. It's a kaolin clay-covered hardboard that's absorbent and comes in a smooth or textured finish.

Tools for Modern Encaustic Painting

What sort of tools can you use today to try encaustic painting? At Cheap Joe's, you'll find that we have a wealth of tools and supplies specifically designed for modern encaustic painting. A few examples of them are:
• Encaustic Paint Sets
• Encaustic Mediums
• Encaustic Waxes
• Encaustic Paints or Hot Cakes Paint Sets
• Encaustic Starter Kits
• Natural Bristle Chip Brush sets, Painting, and Palette Knives
• Metal palettes
• Heat guns

Beginner Tips for Encaustic Painting

• You can't paint with beeswax alone. It's not durable enough, so it's essential to use beeswax with damar resin.
• It's vital that if you use brushes, you use natural bristles. Synthetic brushes will melt.
• As encaustic mediums do not deteriorate your brush, and the wax can always be remelted, you can leave your brushes without cleaning them if you want. Though if you're going to clean a brush, dip them in melted paraffin or soy wax to clear off the color, then clean them of wax by leaving them on a hot surface and wiping them clean when the wax is melted.
• Encaustic is an expensive medium, so take some time to consider your budget before you begin. If you're ready to jump all in, a complete kit or starter kit is a great way to get everything in one go.
• You'll need a griddle or hot plate to melt your medium; the most important aspect is to make sure it heats evenly, whichever you choose.
• You will need fusing tools. When encaustic painting, you will be fusing layers of wax applied in layers. Fusing merges these layers. You'll need a tool to use heat that allows each layer to soften enough to merge with previous layers.
• Choose flat bottom metal tins for melting and adding pigments to your medium.
• Your ideal substrates for encaustic painting should be absorbent, rigid, and heat resistant. Substrates like: wood, untampered Masonite, canvas or linen stretched over a panel, plywood, drywall or plaster, heavyweight paper, print-making paper, and even plexiglass should you wish.

At Cheap Joe’s, every day, we are amazed and humbled to learn something new about art and art mediums. Thanks to customers and passionate artists like you, we're always seeking new ways to express, create, and provide them to you! Is there a medium or technique you'd love to learn more about? Please, feel free to leave us a comment or get in touch with us. Your question might inspire our next informative blog post to encourage artists all over the globe wanting to try a new style of art!