Wax + watercolor – uh, say what now?  For a long time now, I’ve been drawn to paintings made with encaustic medium, which is purified beeswax + damar resin. I never thought to combine the two, but after taking an online course a while back showing how to do encaustic over watercolor paintings, I decided to give it a go.

When unpigmented, encaustic medium leaves a translucent and luminous surface – really beautiful. And it smells so good, thanks to the beeswax. (Permission granted to smell the artwork!) Pigmented encaustic can provide a wide range of colors.

Encaustic medium can be used alone to create a painting, over other surfaces (like watercolor), and for collaging. The fun begins by melting the encaustic (let’s say 160-220 F), painting it on and letting it cool. You can sculpt it when it’s still warm and pliable, or remelt it to a “liquid pool” and leave it to cool to a smooth finish. More resin in the mix provides more sheen.

Here’s a glimpse of how I combine encaustic with a watercolor painting.  Be sure to watch the couple of short videos below to see it in action!

To see the range of work I’ve recently made that combine encaustic over watercolor, take a look at the gallery (menu above) and sort on “encaustic.”