Encaustic is the painting technique based on a mixture of beeswax, a small amount of damar resin, and pigments. The term is derived from a Greek word implying burning, as the ancient procedure involved a final melting of the paint in order to even out and consolidate the surface. In antiquity, long before the invention of oil paint, encaustic was widespread in the Mediterranean,  employed not only in the creation of painted images, but also in decoration of statues and in the waterproofing of seagoing vessels. 

The well-known mummy portraits of Fayyum in Egypt, for example, were largely executed in the extremely stable medium of encaustic. Oxygen and humidity, the normal enemies of paintings, have no effect on wax. The desert conditions, which also preserved the wooden supports, allowed these fascinating portraits to survive more than two thousand years. 

Wax that is heated to a liquid state can be applied just like other paints, but  it has special properties with respect to other media. For instance, it’s easy to build up a thick coating, which is then easily scraped or incised. Encaustic can be highly opaque or quite transparent, which makes multiple layers visible. Colors sing out vividly in encaustic, and the medium conveys a strong sense of materiality. Encaustic is always applied to a rigid support, since a flexible one, like canvas, would cause cracking. While studio practice is somewhat more cumbersome than working with oil or acrylic paints, for example, the many modern and contemporary painters who have revived this ancient medium find that its unique visual and physical properties outweigh any inconvenience in the studio.

Encaustic is, above all, stable and durable. Beeswax melts at 65 degrees C. A temperature far above that ever found on our walls or interiors. Encaustic paintings seem not to attract dust, and in any case are easily cleaned with a moistened cloth. They require no other care than paintings in any other medium.