Taking Encaustics Outside the Box

Nancy Natale

This painting is a collage of papers that have been dipped and painted with encaustic paint. Nancy works with old book spines, found and painted papers, and collage.

Lorraine Glessner
One of the things that draw me to this artists work is her delicate use of line. She uses long strands of human hair collaged under the encaustic medium to achieve this technique.

Brenda Mallory Capsules, 2006-2011,
 Waxed cloth, nuts, bolts, 11 units, each 10" x 10" x 17"

Beautiful three dimensional cloth objects can be encased in wax to give strength to an encaustic piece

Exciting texture can be added by imbedding paper and cloth into the surface. The wax also acts as an adhesive if heavier objects are to be imbedded, and they need not be completely submerged in the wax.

Perfect Specimens, Encaustic Collage
Lynn Corsi Bland

Exquisite detail can be achieved by transfering a photo copied image directly to the surface of the wax. The lines were drawn on the wax with a sharp needle and then filled in with black oil pastel.

Lynn Corsi Bland
encaustic and oil pastel


Another method to add drawing and line work like this piece, is to start with a drawing on paper. Watercolor paper is collaged to the surface of the board and the sketching is done on the paper before the wax is added with oil pastel. The painting can be completed using pigmented encaustic paint. 

The artists for these beeswax pieces are anonymous, but they show us the grace and beauty that nature gives us everyday. We, as artists, try, but the perfection evidenced here cannot be duplicated.