Encaustic Work

Magical Marsh

12 x 12

Encaustic on Board

© 2016 by Rebecca Croft

Last weekend I took an encaustic workshop.  Oh, what fun it was!  I felt like I was back in elementary school art class.  Encaustic means pigments that are burned in using wax.  It's an interesting technique that I have wanted to try because I like the way you can manipulate the wax for all types of textures.  You begin with a birch board and you lay melted bees wax on the board all over. You do this for two coats and then you melt two coats of melted medium on the board.  Your palette is actually like a plugged in skillet and the paints are like bars of soap that you melt onto your palette for painting onto the wax board.  You have to keep the wax & board warm in order to apply the paint. You need very good ventilation for all of this burning and melting and you have to be careful not to catch anything on fire or burn yourself.  I felt it to be a really fun creative process and I loved how my 4 paintings turned out.  This was the last one I did.  Stay tuned for other postings!