Encaustics - A Cautionary Tale

A couple of years ago I was giving a public lecture on encaustics. I began my presentation by stating that several encaustic artists in the early 1960s had suffered with lung cancer. One participant at the lecture raised their hand and stated that they had beeswax to make their own product. As gently as I could, I reminded them of the risks. Four more times during that lecture the participant enthusiastically made the same statements on making their own products. Feeling as if my words of warning were falling on deaf ears, finally, I stated that I would rather spend my time creating with the product than making the product and that if they wished to continue down the road of making their products I hoped that they would take the appropriate precautions.


At the core of all these posts is artist safety. As artists we often pick-up a new artform out of excitement and practice without any thought to dangers inherent in that art form. Due to the heating of chemicals during the arts of encaustics an understanding of how to protect yourself from wax vapors and decomposition fumes is vital. So, with this post I am hearkening back to my “raison d’etre” for writing these articles, artist safety.



Natalie Shifrin Whitson states in “The Specter of the Golem: The Quest for Safer Encaustical Painting in the Age of OSHA” published in Leondardo, Vol 33, No. 4, 2000, pp 299 - 304 that encaustic artists have reduced the dangers associated by exposure to solvents required in oil painting. She continues that heating pigments creates airborne substances that can cause longer term health effects to the artists who do not take precautions. Dry pigment particles can be smaller than 0.3 micron, making a specific respirator and good ventilation a must when working with encaustic products. And to my fellow artists who insist on making their own products, Lissa Rankin in her book “Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax” clearly states the artist should “use commercially prepared products.”  

Encaustic is a very flexible artform. As a practitioner I create everything from traditional portraiture with the medium, sculpture, and mono-prints using a hot plate and encaustic waxes. Encaustic is about the only material that I use in mixed media pieces. The structure of the beeswax allows the product to absorb any carbon based products, such as a charcoal drawing, which can be transferred into the cool wax. The damar varnish within the material also allows for the inclusion of oil paints into the finished product. Many artists of the renaissance would incorporate beeswax with their oil paints. 


Years ago I made my own beeswax based medium to mix with powdered pigments for all my oil paintings, a medium that created a product with the quality of butter. Encaustic products can be used to create relief areas on an other wise smooth painting.

 Yours in Service to the Dream
Addison