What is Encaustic Painting? A Complete Guide to Hot Wax Art

Have you ever heard of encaustic art?

Unless you have studied in art school or have an interest in art history, there is little opportunity to ever hear about encaustic art in modern media.

This ancient technique, which has been around for at least 2000 years, saw a rise in popularity in recent years because of the emergence of electric hot plates. But this encaustic painting method had almost been lost in time.

SO … What is encaustic art? Why did it lose popularity only to finally be reborn in the 21st century? Continue reading to find out more!

What is Encaustic Art?

Encaustic art is a painting technique that produces highly luminous and transparent works with the application of heat, wax, and pigment.

In order to create encaustic art, one must burn pigments mixed with melted medium (made of natural beeswax and damar resin).

While this technique has been around for quite some time, because it is a … very exciting painting method that requires one to risk their skin working directly with fire, it ended up losing popularity over the years.

Recently, modern technology made it possible to control molten wax with the use of hot plates and heat tools, and the art form saw a revival.

History of Encaustic Art

The word “encaustic” comes from an Ancient Greek word that means “burning in” or “to burn”.

Some of the earliest encaustic paintings come from Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians used wax to create detailed portrait panel paintings to cover the clothed faces of mummified bodies during the burial ceremony (around 100 – 300 AD).

At the time, the Egyptians were also quite fond of the tempera painting medium. Tempera had the advantage of being cheaper and a lot less time-consuming to use.

However, hot wax painting was still chosen as the preferred medium by encaustic painters because the layers of transparent wax created an optical effect that made it easier to produce life-like portraits. This aspect, paired with the brilliant high-gloss finish, made it the best option for creating realistic portraits of people.

Around the 5th century, the Greeks began to experiment with wax and resin to create elaborate and waterproof decorations for their warships which caused the enthusiasm for encaustic paint to become more resounding in the art world.

By the 18th century, fewer painters were making encaustic art because it was very costly and laborious. It’s also ironic that tempera paint eventually kicked it to the back burner. Two painting mediums battled it out for centuries, only for both to fall into semi-obscurity and be picked up once again in recent years.

What Is the Purpose of Encaustic Paintings?

That brings us to a question … Why choose encaustic paint over other mediums?

Let’s use oil painting as our point of reference.

Like oil painting, encaustic painting comes with certain risks. With oil paints, you have to beware of inhaling toxic fumes brought about from the solvents used to blend paint.

Encaustic wax paint comes with similar risks, as it requires burning pigments — some of which are toxic when burned at the wrong temperature and inhaled. Not to mention the fact that you have to work with heat the whole time.

Nowadays, you have heat tools such as heat guns, blow guns, and heated palettes to provide a semi-safe source of heat that can keep the wax at a molten state. But, back then, an encaustic painter would have to work with live fire and red-hot iron in order to complete their encaustic painting.

These two disadvantages, despite the fact that the risks can now be minimized with technology, makes it seem like encaustic art is the epitome of the famous saying “Art is suffering.”

So, why did those master painters choose encaustic painting over other painting techniques? And, why should you choose it now?

Let’s look at oil paint again. Oil painting is best known for its ability to create depth through layers of thick and richly pigmented paint. When working with oil paints, you can blend and mix to your heart’s content until you achieve the perfect result.

These features, when compared to fast-drying acrylic and the freely-flowing watercolors, certainly make oil colors unique.

But is it really unique? Actually, encaustic paints can serve as a very good alternative to oil paint. It cools very quickly, but it can also be endlessly modeled and sculpted with the re-application of heat and pressure.

When buffed at the end, it’ll produce a high-gloss finish comparable to varnish, and the depth provided by the translucent layers is no less brilliant than those constructed with oil colors.

Furthermore, unlike oils, beeswax will not deteriorate or turn yellow over time. Neither does it have to be protected under glass to be fully preserved.

Considering all this, what do you think? Are you tempted to try encaustic painting? If that’s not enough, let’s take a look at some famous encaustic art next!

Most Famous Encaustic Art

1. Fayum Mummy Portraits

This Fayum mummy portrait of a young woman is just one example that’s in better condition.

These portraits originated from the Fayum Basin — where it was traditional to cover the dead in cloth when buried. Back then, they would use these painted portraits on panels to cover the face of the diseased with distinguished class to serve as a remembrance for those who died. As can be seen from the encaustic painting above, the portrait is done in a life-like way that is representative of the mummy’s original features.

2. The Encaustic Icons of Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Christ Pantocrator)

In St. Catherin’s Monastery at Sinai, there are many Byzantine religious icons painted with encaustic wax. This encaustic painting, which serves as an icon painting of Jesus Christ as Pantocrator, is one of the oldest, dating back to the 6th century AD.

It had actually previously been painted over, making people believe that it was painted in the thirteenth century. However, the original wax paint has long been unearthed, and the monastery is very dedicated to preserving its original appearance.

3. Jasper Johns’ Encaustic Painting

Jasper Johns is a famous American artist who was best known for his mixed-media artwork. He mixed encaustic wax with collage in order to create various paintings of flags. As a discharged military officer, his U.S. flag painting, titled “Flag”, painted in 1954 is his most famous work.

The wax painting in the image above is an encaustic painting on canvas that was sold for $1 million dollars and is currently being displayed in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

4. Diego Rivera’s Encaustic Murals

Diego Rivera is a famous Mexican encaustic painter who experimented with encaustic wax in the 1920s to create his murals. One of his first murals, “Creation,” was done completely in encaustic wax, but he soon discovered it was very costly and laborious to work strictly with encaustic wax as a medium.

As such, he began to experiment, adding mixed-media elements to his wax paintings for figure paintings (the most famous example of which is called “Young Girl Kneeling”). The mural above, “Exploitation of Mexico”, is one of his later works.

5. Tony Scherman’s Encaustic Portraits

Antony Scherman is a famous Canadian artist best known for his abstract, encaustic art.

As can be seen in the image above, his use of encaustic wax is very free. This particular encaustic painting is particularly expressive with its use of warm tones amongst grays and dark shades to create a brilliant contrast.

Things You’ll Need for Encaustic Art

Inspired after seeing the most famous encaustic art over the years? Don’t worry!

It’s actually not difficult to get started with encaustic painting. You can gather all the supplies needed for creating encaustic art from the crafts store and dollar store.

As for the rest, you can buy them online if there are none in the art stores near your home. OR, you can make some yourself with wax, resin, and dry pigments.

Note, there are also basic encaustic kits available online if you’re in a hurry to get started and want to spare some time gathering materials.

Encaustic Paints

Encaustic paints or colored wax may not be found in the smaller craft stores because there are not many manufacturers that produce them. Those that do sell them in blocks that can be heated to produce mixable paint.

Presently, the most famous brand for beginners in encaustic wax painting is R&F’s brand of colored wax. They offer various sets, including an introductory set of wax colors (which can be used to mix a wide array of shades).

If you want to try to mix your own encaustic wax paint, you’ll need dry pigment — which can also be bought online and in craft stores — along with an encaustic medium.

Encaustic Mediums

Encaustic medium is used to drive paint. This medium is water to watercolor paints, linseed oil to oil paint, etc.

If you want to lower the translucency of your wax paints, you can add more medium. Similarly, if you want to mix different shades of encaustic wax, you’ll need to have a wax medium to serve as the vehicle to bind the different pigments together.

You can buy encaustic medium in pellets online if you don’t want to mix it yourself. These pellets can be stored in a tin and can be used quickly after being heated. Otherwise, if you want to customize your medium to have other effects (e.g., make the resulting gloss shinier, bind stronger, etc.) you can mix your own encaustic medium with beeswax and dammar resin.

It’s very simple, you just need to get the ratio right, cook it up in a pan — without letting it smoke — and soon enough, you’ll have a medium that’s no different from the storebought medium. You’ll just have to clean the debris (or filter it with a soft cloth beforehand) and cut it up yourself for easier heating.

Heat Tools

In order to make encaustic work, you’ll need heat tools as well as heat implements. In the past, live fire as a heat source and hot iron was used. These days, however, you can get by with the following:

• Electric Griddle: The electric hot plate serves as a heated palette for mixing encaustic paint. This heated palette surface retains heat at a specified temperature so that you can work with hot wax at all times. Note, that there are many types of “heated palettes.” It’s best to buy a heated palette with a large surface area so that you have a mixing space!

• Heat Gun: The heat gun is the heating implement used for heating up the surface of your encaustic painting. This way, you can create different effects or, even, carve up some of the painted layers of wax to change the look of your painting completely.

• Blow Torch: Same as the above, a blow torch is an extreme heat source that can be used to create different effects for wax art.

Other Materials

Other materials that you will need for encaustic art include the following:

• Painting Surface: The best surface for encaustic art is undoubtedly wooden panels. This is a long-standing tradition, and any other painting surface will definitely not work as well. Canvas, for example, tends to absorb wax more than wood. This way, you’ll need to use more wax — which may damage the canvas.

• Paint brushes: For encaustic painting, natural hair brushes are best as synthetic brushes are not able to withstand the heat required for encaustic art.

• Metal Tins: Metal tins are used for storing encaustic paint and medium. They can retain heat, so they’re the perfect storage device so your paint and wax medium continues to remain in a molten state. They’re also compatible with hot plates, so you can separate your working area and keep colors from mixing without your knowledge.

• Palette Knives: Great for mixing paint and scraping warm paint on both the palette and the canvas.

Things You Should Keep in Mind Before Painting with Wax

Although modern technology has made working on encaustic art a lot safer, it’s still not completely safe. As an encaustic artist, there are some risks that must be addressed before you start working with encaustic wax long-term:

• Heat: The biggest source of injuries for an encaustic artist is heat. Skin burns are practically unavoidable, but to minimize the risks, place your heating equipment at an appropriate distance from yourself. Also, it shouldn’t be placed too low, as dropping anything in it may cause wax to splash.

• Wax Fumes: Wax fumes can cause eye irritation, breathing difficulty, and other health problems. These fumes can be avoided by controlling the heating of wax at a safe level (200F or 93C). However, it’s still better to keep your room ventilated (e.g., keep a window open and a fan to circulate the stale air in the room.)

• Toxic Dust Particles: When handling dry pigments, it’s best to put on a mask as most pigments contain heavy metals and are detrimental to your health when inhaled.

• Electric Cables: As you’ll be working with heating tools that require electricity the whole time, you’ll need to arrange your electric cables in a neat and orderly way. Otherwise, you’re at the risk of tripping and falling into said heating equipment.

Alright, now that you’re aware of what needs to be avoided, you can follow along with our encaustic art tutorial below and truly experience wax painting:

7-Step Encaustic “Wax” Painting Tutorial

Step 1: Prepare Your Materials

You already know the supplies and tools required for creating encaustic art so let’s skip going over it twice.

This is the time for you to turn on your heated palette, set it at the right melting point, prepare your heat tool (i.e., heat gun, blow torch, etc.), and lay down your paint brushes and paint.

If you have pre-selected encaustic colors for your encaustic painting, you can also take this opportunity to load them onto your heat tool in tin cans for melting. Otherwise, you can start with your medium and some basic colors for mixing and leave the shades that are not as commonly used by you on the side for easier access.

(OPTIONAL) By the way, if you want the sides of your wooden panel to stay clean, you can tape them up so that they can be protected from paint and excess wax.

Step 2: Prepare Your Art Room

Aside from opening a door or window for ventilation, there are other preparations to be made to make sure that your art space stays safe and orderly.

First, lay down some newspaper or heat-resistant mat on your workspace for easy clean-up later. Also, make sure to keep anything flammable as far away from your heating tools as possible. At the same time, ensure the stability of the surface you’ve placed such heat tools on so that they don’t fall down or slip in the middle of your painting session.

Step 3: Prepare Your Painting Surface

To prepare the wooden panel for painting, you first need to heat up the wood. This will close up any air holes on the surface — allowing for a stronger paint bond later. In the example above, the tool used for heating up the wood is a blow torch, but heat guns will work too.

Next, it’s time to apply clear wax (AKA the medium) onto your wooden panel. The best way to do this is to use a large flat brush with soft bristles. It will ensure that the layer of wax is flat and that no spots are missed.

After you’ve applied a layer of medium, you have to take out your blow torch once more to completely fuse the wax with the wood.

By the way, the fusing process should be done at least 2-3 times to be effective! So, you’ll have to re-apply another coat of medium and heat it up with your blowtorch at least once before moving forward.

Step 4: Apply Encaustic Paint

This is the step that is the most free. Basically, it’s time to put on your creativity hat and lay on wax with your paint brushes.

ALSO! You can introduce mixed media at this point. For example, some people like to make collages with encaustic wax, so they cut up strips of newspaper and paste it with hot wax. Others use oil paint or an oil stick to rub onto dried wax to add details to their painting.

Step 5: Manipulate the Wax

Whilst the wax is still warm, you can continue working on it to get the shape that you want.

You can carve out textures directly with a scraping tool to add interest to the surface of your painting. Or, you can use a blowtorch to smooth out unwanted textured areas.

Step 6: Fuse Painted Layer

After working on your paint layer, remember to fuse each layer of wax with your heat tool before moving onto the next. This way, the bond between every layer is strong and stable.

Step 7: Let it Cool & Buff It Up

When you’re done with your painting, you can put it aside to cool and harden before proceeding to the final step. That is, the buffing!

Encaustic colors tend to turn cloudy after a while.

Encaustic artists call this process “blooming”. It usually occurs half a year after the painting has fully dried or when the painting has been left out in direct sunlight. The cause of this phenomenon is the release of the moisture that was sealed in the wax. It’s a natural phenomenon and it can’t be prevented.

Because of this, the painting appears indistinct, like there’s a layer of fog covering it. To make sure that your finished painting shines, you’ll need to take out a soft cloth and buff the surface of the painting (any lint-free cloth will work, for example, some artists will use a nylon stocking!)

Best Encaustic Techniques

If you want to completely open up your horizons in encaustic art, the best thing to do is to study some encaustic techniques. This is necessary for you to understand the properties of wax completely.

Listed below are examples of painting techniques within the three main categories of heat, collage, and mix-media:

1. (Heat) White Shellac Burn

Applying heat in different ways will create different effects. One example of this is the popular ‘white shellac burn’ effect.

For this technique, you’ll need to lay down a layer of colored paint. It doesn’t matter what color it is — though if you want the effect of waves in the sea, blue is the best choice!

After laying down the colored wax and letting it fuse, cover up the previous layer with a bright white shellac. Then, hold your blow torch at a 45° angle to disperse the white paint. This will create the ‘white shellac burn’ effect shown in the image above.

2. (Mix-Media) Oils on Wax

For creating mix-media fine art, oils and encaustic make a great pair. Oil pastels, in particular, are useful for adding details over an encaustic background.

For this, all you need to do is draw with the oil stick and then simply rub it against the wax to mix and blend. Other media may not react in the same way, but with oil paint — no matter the variety — it will always work with some linseed oil to help disperse the pigments.

3. (Collage) Fabric Texture

If you want to introduce texture into your painting, collage is the best option. For this, paper, fabric, plastic, and, even, glass, will work. You can paste on the collage element by applying a thick coat of wax and patting down the fabric or paper until it’s secure.

Once the collage element is secured, you can paint on top with wax and other media to create various effects. For example, in the image above, a thick layer of wax was applied and then covered with a diluted oil paint mixture to create a weathered effect.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Durable Is Encaustic Art?

Encaustic art is very durable. Beeswax is a great barrier against moisture and doesn’t need to be varnished or protected under glass to be preserved. Also, unlike oil paint, encaustic paint will neither darken nor yellow over time. The dusty blooming effect is also solvable, so preservation is absolutely no problem.

Does Encaustic Paint Dry Fast?

Yes, encaustic paint “dries” fast. Though, the proper term should be “harden.” Melted wax will harden not long after it has been applied.

However, it will take around half a year for it to completely cure. It’s during that period when the painting will bloom and must be buffed to return the previous glossy finish.

Can You Do Encaustic on Canvas?

Yes, you can do encaustic on canvas. However, it’s not recommended.

The best surface for encaustic art is wooden panels, as they’re rigid, heat resistant, and absorbent. Canvas has a tendency to flex overtime due to changes in temperature and humidity — this will cause the wax to crack or peel.

What Is the Difference Between Impasto and Encaustic?

The difference between impasto and encaustic is that impasto is a technique while encaustic is an art form. The purpose of painting impasto is to create three-dimensional effects with thick paint layered over each other. Meanwhile, encaustic is the process of burning wax onto a surface to create fine art.

Can You Paint Over Encaustic?

Yes, it is possible to paint over encaustic. However, to ensure a strong bond, you’ll need to fuse it along with clear wax so that the painting remains stable.

Paint with Encaustic Wax!

Now that you know the basics, you can start painting with encaustic wax!

Encaustic is a rarely seen ancient painting technique that has been pushed aside several times over the past millennia. However, it hasn’t failed to come back into the spotlight again and again, it will always be a beautiful craft that’s worth experiencing.

If you want to learn more about this unique, ancient craft, there are video courses in Domestika that cover everything you could possibly want to know about encaustic painting. Don’t miss it!