Never too old to learn
By Linda Graham
In June of 2019, I was fortunate to take an encaustic art class in Seattle, Washington. The word encaustic means; “to burn in”. This is a process of applying molten wax colors to a surface.
The use of encaustics, by Greeks, dates back to the 5th century BC. The Greeks painted with encaustics in Egypt to create portraits to be placed over the head area of mummies as memorials. They also used encaustics to color marble and waterproof their ships.
In this process, beeswax based paint is kept molten on a heated palette. It is applied to a surface and then reheated to fuse the paint into a uniform “enamel-like” finish. While it’s unlikely that I will be using my encaustic art on mummies or waterproofing the Lorena (our local paddle boat), I am enjoying using this medium to create abstract landscapes and flowers.
The piece I created in my class.