What is an encaustic painting?
Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, is a painting technique that involves the use of paint made from pigments mixed with melted beeswax and resin, and after application, fixed using heat.
Encaustic artists can alter the substance of their paint by mixing wax with resin or oil. If the painting is to be done on canvas, oil is used. A heating element is used to melt the individual brush or spatula marks in the painting into a uniform layer after the paint has been put to the support, which is often composed of wood, canvas, or plaster.
The encaustic painting process
There are five key steps involved in the encaustic painting process. These are as follows:
- Selection and preparation of the substrate
Always start your encaustic painting with the right substrate. For example, if you want to paint on a white background, for example, you can purchase Encausticbord or prepare your substrate using chalk paint. You could, nonetheless, choose to paint with encaustic directly on an unprimed panel or board.
- Melting the encaustic in tins or a hot palette
Encaustic needs to be melted. You can use a pancake griddle with small metal pots to do this. When melting encaustic, ensure that you keep the temperature between 150 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. You could also use an encaustic medium in tins and then add oil paints for color.
- Applying the wax onto the substrate
To apply the wax onto the substrate, always use natural brushes because synthetic brushes tend to melt. Remember that you need to heat the wax while keeping the brushes hot at the same time. To keep the brushes hot, you could leave them in the pots of colored wax or on the surface of the griddle as you paint.
- Fusing the layers
Fusing simply means applying heat to allow each layer of wax to soften enough in order to merge with previous layers. It provides bonding between the layers and ensures overall stability.
There are various encaustic-fusing tools that an artist can learn about during his or her encaustic class. They include a heat gun, a blowtorch, an embossing heat gun, an encaustic iron, and a stylus.
- Scraping, incising, and gouging
Scraping helps to smooth the surface of your encaustic painting. You can learn more about encaustic scraping, incising, and gouging from encaustic workshops or any online workshop on hot and cold wax encaustic offered by Art and Success.
Requirements for encaustic painting
Besides the items listed in the subsection above, you’ll need the following for your encaustic painting:
- Hot air drier or blowtorch
- Heat-adjustable pen
- Colored encaustic beeswax
- Clear wax
- Brushes
- Encaustic paper
- Wood paper
- Wood panels
- Cover for the table
- An apron to protect your clothes
- A multiple-socket plug with a switch
- Kitchen roll for regular cleaning of the iron and pen
- A fine stocking to polish up the finished pictures at the end
- Shellac wax in the right colors
- Fire extinguishers
Get help or learn encaustic painting today
If you need more information about encaustic painting, want to learn encaustic painting, or are interested in enrolling in encaustic workshops or any art workshop online that deals with hot or cold wax encaustic, contact Art and Success using the feedback dialog provided at the end of this page.