Advantages of painting realistically with encaustic

Some might ask why paint with encaustic? Even more might say why paint realistically with encaustic when there are other mediums that can be used without heat, equipment, etc. Well here are three  reasons for painting with encaustic and painting with them realistically.

1. Archival- The Fayum encaustic portraits are a testament to the longevity of encaustic paint. Encaustic paints don't discolor or yellow like oil paints made with linseed oil so the color you apply to your painting today will look the same for hundreds of years.

2.No wait time. Encaustic can give you the look of oil paintings without the drying time associated with  oil paintings. So you can apply layer upon layer one right after another the same day because encaustic paint can be layered as soon as the previous layer cools which typically only takes seconds.

3. Re workable- Encaustic paintings can be reworked whenever. Don't have time to work on a painting for 10 years? That's ok you can just pick up anytime where you left off and work on your painting.

That's it! Encaustic is a great medium to work in and if you have the time/resources you should definitely try it out. You just might fall in love!

Portraits

Portraits are what encaustic paintings
were known for when artists first started to use them in Egypt. The famous Fayum portraits are a test to the archival properties of encaustic as well as to how encaustic can be used for realism. I have done some portraits in encaustic and these are a few examples

One with the typical encaustic texture

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One in progress, smoother surface achieved by scraping with razor blade.

The start

On the substrate I sketch/transfer the image.



About to add color from my homemade colors melted down into a muffin pan. My other tools include

a woodburning versa tool with a hot brush attachment,reference photo and a tuna can of soy wax for cleaning the brush in between colors.



 Initial phase

Check back to see more progress photos and final product.

Substrates



Substrates are what you paint on. Encaustic needs a rigid surface so that the wax does not crack from movement over time. Traditionally, encaustic was painted on wood panels by Greek artists when they painted portraits to be places on peoples' tombs when they died. If you look up Fayum portraits you will see the beautiful portraits done by these artists. Today we have more options for what we can paint on. My personal favorite is encausticbord by Ampersand.


 Its a great surface designed for encaustic. My second favorite is a cradled birch wood panel.



This is a great more affordable alternative to encausticbord since it is cheaper and work great. Other suitable surfaces are claybord by ampersand



 and even watercolor paper( thick paper only). Other artists have experimented with surfaces such as plexiglass, metal,etc.The  R&F company has a list of substrates suitable for encaustic. Check the link below for more details. Stay tuned for the next post when we will get started painting!

Surfaces

Setup

Popular misconception is that encaustic is a hard medium to learn or that it requires a large investment of money to get started. Encaustic painting does take some getting used to, but I personally don't find it that much different that a lot of other painting mediums. There are some advantages to encaustic painting. For example, encaustic paint is never really "dry" or "wet" . If it is heated its in a liquid state and if it is cool its solid. this happens in a matter of seconds so there is no wait time for drying. So you can add layer after layer with only seconds in between. Also encaustic doesn't take a great deal of money to get started. All you need is a heat source, brushes, and some encaustic paints. My setup is simple. I have a wood burning tool with a temperature regulator ( heat source),

 two encaustic metal wire brushes ( brushes)

 and encaustic paint.

Some people use a heat gun but its not necessary because the woodburning tool "burns in" the colors
This simple setup can provide you with the ability to create realistic encaustic paintings with control and have the look of a oil painting. In the up coming posts I will walk through how to create realistic encaustic works of art. Stay tuned!