You may have heard the term “encaustic art.” It gained a lot of popularity in recent years but this is actually a 2,000 year old technique which had been lost over time. Encaustic art is a process of painting with heated wax that has been colored with pigment and as a result produces luminous and transparent works.

The word “encaustic” originated from an Ancient Greek word that means “burning in or to burn.” The earliest encaustic paintings came from Ancient Egypt where they created detailed portraits to cover the clothed faces of mummified bodies during the burial ceremony (100-300 AD). The photo below of Fayum is one of those burial paintings. But it was also a common technique used in ancient Greek and Roman paintings.

Fayum mummy portrait (100-300 AD)

However, during the 18th century encaustic art lost it’s popularity because it became too costly and was basically replaced with tempera paint. I was very interested in this technique and created the encaustic artwork below as a tribute to my parents which included bits of sheet music composed by my father.

To create this artwork I collaged my background pieces in place and then added beeswax pellets on the canvas which I carefully melted with a small mini quilting iron (available on amazon). I added bits of color and small pieces of heart confetti in between the layers of wax and mixed it in as I went. I finished it off with sheer flowers and a drawer pull at the top. As you can see the end result is a very soft and delicate, dreamy affect.

There are plenty of books available online and in the bookstore on how to create encaustic art. It was a fun learning experience creating my first piece and I plan on making a more of it. There are so many things fun ways you can incorporate this medium into your art.

I hope you enjoyed this post today, thanks for stopping by!!

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