I turned over a piece that I was supposed to be framing and I realized I had no concept of what the medium was. It appeared to be a thick clearish paint that was almost plastic-y? (I'm sure "plastic-y" isn't a correct 'artistic' term, but oh well)! I found out there is a way people essentially 'paint' with wax which is called Encaustic Painting. When I jotted the note down to remember that I had learned that I spelled it "incostic" good thing Google is so smart.
So encaustic painting is essentially using dyed hot wax as your paint medium and is usually applied to wood (the piece that I was working on was on a 5x5in piece of wood). Something I learned about encaustic painting (after verifying the spelling) is that: metal tools and special brushes can be used to shape the paint before it cools, or heated metal tools can be used to manipulate the wax once it has cooled onto the surface. Today, tools such as heat lamps, heat guns, and other methods of applying heat allow artists to extend the amount of time they have to work with the material.
- Lizzie