Home >
Encaustic Art ~ Painting with Beeswax
The good news is that it's simpler than ironing your shirt. Just because you may not think you are an artist doesn't mean you can not be creative, and "to bee" creative is what encaustic art is all about. The encaustic medium is a mixture of wax and pigment. This wax colour is melted and applied to a surface. A heated tool, similar to a small travel iron, is required except that it needs a high quality thermostat to allow careful control of temperature. It also needs a polished metal base rather than a Teflon coating. The surface is a sealed card, which remains clean underneath the wax, thus allowing re-melting and changing of the wax effects.
The
advent of electricity has made it easy to control the heat of tools, but
in Ancient times, when encaustic was first used, the heat source was charcoal.
The Greeks, Romans & Egyptians would melt the mixture of Beeswax and
Damar Resin (or Dammar, a hard resin from conifers that is used in making
varnish) over this heat-source and blend the ingredients together, probably
in a proportion of about 85% Beeswax to 15% Damar. Once the wax formula was
molten the coloured pigments could be introduced. These would mainly have
been earth pigments, the right coloured dirt! The wax colour was then painted
onto a wooden support about 3mm thick using natural hair brushes. Some of
the strokes would have to have been quick. Too much dallying would lead to
the wax re-solidifying on the brush, making it impossible to apply as a paint.
A good introduction to the fascinating world of mummy portraits is the book
that records the wonderful exhibition of many of these Ancient artworks,
held at the British Museum in 1997. Simply called "Ancient Faces",
it is available from the British Museum Press ISBN 0-7141-0989-4
In
1986 I met a French Canadian named Jean Marie Giraud who was in the UK selling
his unusual artwork at shows around the country. My wife, Shona, and I bought
one of these images that was made from oil-pastel and waxes using heat
techniques including a travel iron. The finished pieces were varnished for
protection. I was inspired by this 'painting that was not a painting'. After
I had stolen Shona's iron I started messing about with the effects it produced
when coloured crayons were melted onto the backs of old Christmas cards.
At Easter 1987 I displayed some of my artwork at St.David's Cathedral, near
my home in West Wales. People liked it. This success, for a man with no formal
painting training or ability, changed my life completely.
So how does it work?
Anyone
can get the basic four effects that iron and wax together provide. It is
not a difficult task for everyone to assemble these effects into a simple
image. The landscape shown on this page is the image that I originally developed
and is based on the Preseli Hills, in Wales. The fantastic 'foliage' effects
in the foreground are part of the surreal style that you just can't help
but be intrigued by.
To
get started you need an iron that will hold a low temperature and some waxes
that are designed to be used molten rather than as crayon (see contact address
for supplies). The iron needs a low heat similar to the nylon setting on
conventional travel irons. The more constant the temperature the more controllable
the handling characteristics of the wax colour. Using straight beeswax with
pigments or dyes added will not give very good results.
Once
the iron is 'loaded' with some colour it is time to spread the wax onto the
sealed card in a smoothing manner. The card should be placed on some disposable
under-paper. A pad of computer paper is very handy for this job because when
it gets dirty the offending piece can easily be torn off and removed. The
rounded shape of this iron's top edge causes the horizon in the emerging
landscape. In time, many different horizon shapes can be achieved
When,
instead of smoothing with the iron, it is lifted off the card, a most amazing
effect occurs. This 'foliage' patterning is caused by breaking the suction
between the wax, card and iron. As air rushes into the space created by lifting
the iron, the wax is pushed into 'channels'. These appear as an organic form
that can be used to imply all sorts of things within images. Trees, bushes,
lichens, coral but to name a few.
As
the main landscape and foliage have been created it is time to add a few
details. The edge of the iron is very good for sliding through the wax to
form slender 3D grasses. The tip of the iron is used to add a bird or two.
Before you know it some spots of stronger colour are popping into the foreground
to give the impression of flowers. It really is so quick and easy that this
simple form of encaustic art now brings pleasure to many tens of thousands
of people all over the world.
Of
course, there are times when you may want to do more carefully controlled
graphics. If you can already paint or draw, the 'stylus' tool is just the
job. It is like a very low temperature soldering iron but never gets hotter
than about 90° C at the tip. It has been specially produced to give a
constant working temperature, ideal for the wax colours. Different tips are
available and you can use small items like screws, so long as they will fit
into the hole and can be secured by the screw provided in the tool's heated
stem.
All in all, the use of beeswax for painting lasting images that span over 2000 years, or for creating almost instant artworks that everyone can enjoy, proves that this use of a wonderful natural product is here to stay. Somehow the wax colours are alive in their vibrancy, almost bringing a new dimension to colour. Bees see differently to us. Perhaps these colours can help us to see differently too.
Michael Bossom e-mail:mike@encaustic.com Visit our website http://www.encaustic.com
