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What is encaustic?
Encaustic: derives from the Greek word: "enkaustikos" which means
"to heat" or "to burn".
Encaustic painting involves applying layers of molten pigmented beeswax (mixed with molten resin to increase hardness) and fusing each new layer to the one beneath it to simultaneously paint and sculpt a surface.
Encaustic is the term for both the medium of pigmented wax, and the process involving heat, by which the medium is applied and secured.
Encaustic paintings exhibit a unique luminosity, as light passes through transparent or translucent layers of wax and is reflected up to the surface, illuminating the painting from within.
Encaustic painting dates back to ancient Greece. In Greco-Roman Egypt, 100 B.C. to A.D. 200, encaustic portrait paintings - the Fayum Portraits - - were set into mummy casings.
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