An increasingly popular art medium is being revived in the contemporary art world...encaustics. What are encaustics? Encaustic originally meant "to burn" in Greek and the Greeks are credited with inventing this art form, which they used primarily for funeral portraits in ancient times. Surviving encaustic paintings by the ancient Greeks have been found in modern day Egypt, so talk about timeless!

Encaustic painting is the art of using pigment mixed with beeswax which is repeatedly heated, then cooled, to fuse layers of wax and pigments together. Other mixed media, such as paper, collage, found objects, charcoal, oil, etc. can be blended in with the wax to create interesting effects and textures. Both abstract and realist artists are learning to use encaustics in various ways to create very expressive and textural artwork.

Encaustic paintings can be created on a number of surfaces, from wood to masonite to canvas to thick watercolor paper...and I'm hoping to experiment with other surfaces as well. The paintings dry almost immediately, so there is no drying time, like with oils. Also, the results are more water-resistant than oil paintings as well. Just keep the paintings away from extreme heat sources such as heating lamps or fire, and your painting will remain stable.

Many of the supplies used by modern day encaustic painters are general household items: pancake griddle (used as a hot palette to melt the wax), cat food cans (to hold the wax colors in and keep warm on the griddle, clothespins (to attach to the cans and materials to pick up so that you don't burn your fingers on the griddle.) Although many encaustics use a heat gun developed especially for encaustic paintings, I have successfully been using my hairdryer to fuse the wax layers together and create interesting patterns from the melted wax. I also tried my curling iron, but this did not seem to heat up to the desired temperature (200 degrees Fahrenheit seems to be the perfect working temperature for melting the wax), so I'll keep that for curling my hair!

Well, I hope this bit of information on this fascinating old, yet new, medium might pique your interest in trying encaustics or searching for encaustic art for your collection!

When I was growing up and going to school, my class always had weekly art classes and music classes, as well as opportunities to sing in the choir, play an instrument in the band, act in a play, etc. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I am well out of school now (just enrolled in the school of life : ) ), but I hear about how so many schools have had to cut art and music classes. If it isn't science or math, it seems, it is often cut out of the budget. While I feel that left-brained activities including science and math are, of course, important and crucial to society (my husband is an engineer, after all...), I still feel that "the arts" are often unfairly dismissed as petty and frivolous. I just don't believe this is the case! I was recently reading the results of a study conducted which shows that youth that routinely participated in the arts for a certain amount of time per week were higher academic achievers, more likely to be elected to class office, had higher school attendance, were avid readers, actually performed better in math and science, performed community service much more often, and participated much less often in delinquent behavior. Aren't these goals that we, as society, should aim for?