Why Encaustic?
You might be wondering why do you paint with wax and how did you choose this specific material?
The answer simple answer to that is I fell in love with the look of encaustic paintings. The long answer to that is I did a lot of research on the material before I started using it and now I can’t imagine creating with anything else.
If you are new around here, you might not know that I started painting with acrylic paints and in fact have an entire collection of fairly expensive paint that I no longer use. You can’t mix acrylic with encaustic because acrylic is a plastic and encaustic needs a porous surface to fuse to. (overtime if you add encuastic over acrylic it will peel away)
Now getting back to why encaustic - I was at an art fair as a spectator one year and came across an encaustic artist (sorry, but I do not remember his name). I could not get the material out of my head and so I did a lot of research and then some more research. I eventually took a few online classes, bought some basic materials and started exploring this new medium.
I quickly fell in love with the layering process, the texture, the smooth glass like quality, and the quick “dry” time. Encaustic had my heart and I haven’t looked back.
Plus, if I’m really honest, I like the fact that I get to use a torch. I like that I can turn the torch down quite far and have a whisper of a flame or I can turn it up and really move the paint around. In this weeks studio vlog I paint 2 paintings. Watch the video below if you are interested in seeing the encaustic painting process (starts at around the 3 minute marker).
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out. I truly love talking all things art and encuastic.