A MODERN APPROACH TO AN ANCIENT TECHNIQUE

 

“Encaustic or hot wax painting comes down to us from ancient Greece, where it was a major creative art process for both easel painting method and mural painting. It is perhaps man’s earliest formal easel-painting method, and it shares with the ancient process of fresco a certain fundamental purity or simplicity combined with a rather inconvenient and demanding modus operandi. (…)”

From “The artist’s book of materials & techniques” Ralph Mayer

Encaustic painting involves using heated beeswax to which colored dry pigments are added. The paste is then applied to an unprimed support, usually wood or canvas.

Greek artists were painting with encaustic as long ago as the 5th century BC. Perhaps the best known of all encaustic work are the Fayum funeral portraits painted in the 1st through 3rd centuries BC by Greek painters in Egypt. A portrait of the deceased, painted either in the prime of life or after death, was placed over the person's mummy as a memorial.

I have employed encaustic to produce my artworks since 2001. In 2006, I was invited to run a series of workshops on encaustic painting at Montsalvat (Victoria).

Inspired by its success and encouraged by the students I decided to run workshops and lessons from my studio to teach this little known ancient technique of Encaustic.

Every month I run a one day workshop on encaustic painting from my studio in Preston. The workshops are usually conducted on Saturday from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.

On a weekly bases I run lessons. The lessons are open to any medium and are loosely guided. 

The aim of those lessons is to establish a friendly atmosphere in which the participants can work in an inspiring and creative environment.

Lessons are also beneficial to people who - after the workshops on Encaustic Painting - feel the need to deepen their knowledge of this technique, 

or simply want to use an already set up studio.

Lessons are every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.

If you are interested in either the lessons or the workshop please drop me a line .