13 But I

What is encaustic?

List of lessons:

Far from new and not entirely familiar, but this wonderful hobby called encaustic - wax painting technique. Painting, where instead of paints they use multi-colored melted wax.

A little history

Many ancient Christian icons were depicted with this type of painting. The earliest examples were found in the Fayum oasis of Egypt (hence the “Fayum Portraits”). The samples found contained afterlife images of the dead.

Later, the Greeks began to use this painting technique to create the first icons. The most colorful encaustic iconographic painting is the image of Christ Pantocrator in the 6th century, located in the Sinai monastery.

WITH mid-19th century centuries, attempts have been made to restore encaustic painting.

In the middle of the 20th century, Moscow artists V.V. began to engage in such painting. and T.V. Khvostenko.

What is the originality of the work?

Paintings created with wax can be preserved for a long period of time without losing all the pictorial characteristics.

The fact is that wax is quite resistant to the effects of the surrounding climate. It is considered the most reliable material for art. The proof is provided by paintings over a thousand years old that have survived to this day.

The uniqueness of the final result adds to the passion for encaustic painting, because it is difficult to imagine. And this is if you don’t create an abstract picture. But the still life - how the wax will behave, what surprises there will be from mixing and matching - is impossible to guess.

Drawing skill Drawing a drawing involving an iron seems a very unusual and impossible task. However, everything is simple, almost like basic drawing..

The iron in this special technique for depicting paintings is a brush

Currently, a special iron for encaustic painting has been created, but it is both difficult and expensive to buy. Before starting work, the iron must be heated to the melting temperature of the wax.

To check the temperature, you need to touch the surface of the iron with a wax pencil: if it spreads smoothly, then the iron is ready.

Do not allow the wax to boil. When the iron is ready for use, they begin to create a masterpiece. Wax is melted on an iron and apply it onto glossy cardboard with careful, gentle touches.

It's easy to learn the tricks of this painting, and you don't have to be a painter.

The whole highlight of needlework is that you can create a masterpiece either alone or together with your child, having told him in advance about the rules for handling a hot iron.

What's so tempting?

This type of needlework has many positive aspects:

1. Great way relaxation. In order not to lose heart from the monotony of everyday life, it is possible to distract yourself with encaustic painting and transfer all negative emotions to cardboard.

2. Materials for this art are freely available. Glossy cardboard and wax crayons They are inexpensive and can be purchased at any office supply store.

3.You can do without a special iron. A common Soviet iron with a smooth sole will do (this is fundamentally important). Even a travel iron will do.

4. Cleanliness and tidiness. You won’t have to scrub the paint off the floor, and you won’t need to wash your hands either. The wax does not splash in different directions and the manicure does not deteriorate.

5. It takes 10-30 minutes to create a painting. Thanks to this beautiful simple view creativity, everyone can show their individual vision and skills. This unique technique allows you to be creative and experiment. Having mastered the ability to draw with this unusual method, you can decorate your home and make original gifts.

A passion for encaustic painting from a hobby can easily turn into small business. Everyone knows that work done with your own hands is very valuable. Thus, it will be possible to combine business with pleasure.

Categories:// from 11/13/2017

"At a lake" Artist Olga Grishnyakova.

The word encaustic- Ancient Greek, and means “the art of burning.” Encaustic is a painting technique known for more than two and a half millennia: This is painting with melted wax.

IN Ancient Egypt wax painting was used to paint walls and facades, and in Ancient Greece They painted ships with hot wax paints. Many early icons were made using the encaustic technique. Icon painters kept the secrets of the skill of wax painting.

Later, wax drawings were supplemented and partially replaced by wax tempera, which was brighter and richer in shades.

The modern technique of encaustic painting is not just drawings with wax, it is drawing with wax crayons using familiar household appliances: an iron and a soldering iron. These simple tools are sometimes supplemented with a burning apparatus, or even better - a cauterium - this is a device similar to a soldering iron, but with less heat and with different shaped attachments, specially designed for encaustic painting.

Today wax drawings- decorative art, loved by many artists.

Olga Grishnyakova one of them. An amateur artist, he lives in the city of Polevskoy, in the Sverdlovsk region.

“I learned about encaustic painting 4 years ago, it fascinated me, if I took an iron, I could paint pictures for 4-5 hours, or even all night long. I take part in exhibitions.”

"Twilight"

"Flower"

"Unknown Planet"

"Quiet evening"

"Night Glow"

"Seascape"

This landscape is painted on glass using only an iron.

Winter night. The picture is painted on canvas using only an iron.

"Chapel"

"Birds Fly Away"

"Lonely Tree"

"Summer Landscape"

"Sunset"

How is this heating technique used in encaustic painting?
It is better to use a small and light iron, or a small travel iron.

The design is applied with wax (colored, wax crayons or pencils) directly onto the sole of the iron turned upward. Then the drawing is imprinted on smooth (glossy) cardboard.
When the iron is repeatedly pressed against the design, the wax acquires a characteristic “texture”: veins, waves, ridges, etc. Using the side edge and the sharp tip of the iron, lines are applied to the drawing. Fine details and strokes are drawn with a cautery with various attachments or a burning apparatus.

Wax paints were used by the ancient Egyptians for painting tombs, but it is difficult to say exactly when they appeared. The material was developed for the durability of the colorful decorative layer. A little later, in Ancient Greece, wax painting received a second wind. The technique the Greeks used was called “encaustic” - burning a painting with wax paints onto a marble board. The result was very realistic images.

The heyday of the direction fell on the I-IV centuries AD. At this time, many still lifes, portraits and icons were created using wax. But during the Middle Ages, the encaustic technique was forgotten and lost. She was replaced by oil painting, more convenient for work, and for a long time No one remembered the technology of working with wax.

Wax painting that exists today is the findings and techniques of modern masters, attempts to revive former techniques. Wax in paints gives them an advantage - they do not lose their color over time, like oil paints. The only thing dangerous for such paintings is mechanical damage.

Tools and materials for work

There are ready-made wax crayons available for sale, but you can make your own wax-based paints. To do this, you can use either beeswax or paraffin. You can bleach natural material using hydrogen peroxide (20% solution) or in the sun. For the last method, the wax is crushed into shavings and laid out on paper in a well-lit place. It needs to be stirred every day. If required, it is re-melted and ground for sun bleaching until the shade is workable.

Pigments for coloring can be used completely different - old dried paints, expired decorative cosmetics, food coloring. When the paints are ready, you need to prepare the tools for wax painting:

Iron (a small travel iron is most convenient);
Soldering iron with attachments (preferably special for handmade);
Hairdryer (suitable for both hairdressing and construction);
A heated palette knife (you can use an alcohol lamp for heating, or keep it in water heated by a regular electric boiler, or heat it on a tabletop single-burner stove - whichever is more convenient);
A needle, wire, any sewing or dental instruments suitable for work - scratching contours and details, forming volumes.

Wax painting techniques

Wax paintings can be created in various techniques, even combined. The following methods are mainly used:

Drawing with wax – with paints on top (wax resist)

A contour drawing is applied to the paper with wax, and then it is painted over with paints. The outline remains unpainted. Watercolor paints are used for this work.

Relief with wax – with paints on top

Melted or softened wax is applied to the board or canvas, repeating the outline future painting. Essentially it is a wax bas-relief. You can write on top of it with gouache or oil (acrylic is also suitable), as on a regular base. We cover the paint layer with varnish.

Relief painting with colored wax

To do this, we use homemade wax-based paints. We apply them with a heated tool, pour them molten or lay them out with our hands, and then burn out the contours of the design with a soldering iron. You can use any available methods of applying and forming an image. Turpentine is used to dissolve wax paints.

Cauterization (encaustic)

In this technique we work only with molten paints. For this we use wax crayons or homemade colored wax. Apply background colors to a heated iron and transfer to paper (We work at minimum temperature). Then, either with the tip of the iron or with a soldering iron with a nozzle, we draw the details.

Scratching

On colored paper or apply colored wax to the board, and then scratch the design.

Painting with wax paints is complex and painstaking, but interesting both because of the technological process and the result. How successful the work will be will depend on your perseverance and imagination, which can be fully demonstrated in this technique.

Today I want to introduce you to painting techniques and decorative arts- "ENCAUSTIC" Some people are certainly familiar with this technique.
Actually, I would like to introduce you to my course work (additional), which I took at the B.M. Nemensky Institute during advanced training courses.

ENCAUSTIC (Greek enkaustike, from encaio - burn, burn out), a technique of painting with paints mixed in wax, which were applied and fixed by heating. Used in ancient times in Egypt, Greece and Rome for wall paintings, in portrait painting, in sculpture and architecture for polychrome coloring of statues and buildings. Although encaustic was highly valued as a means of exterior decoration for buildings and ships, which it protected from heat and the ravages of salt water, it was primarily used for wall paintings, usually with red and black backgrounds, covering the porous plaster surfaces of ancient Greek and Roman houses. The Egyptians used encaustic painting on sarcophagi. The ancient Greek painters Zeuxis and Parrhasius (5–4 centuries BC, not preserved) painted pictures using this technique.

Encaustic art, or the art of wax painting, has been known for quite some time. It is believed that encaustic painting is older than oil painting.

Attempts to revive encaustic painting have been made since the mid-19th century. In Russia in the mid-20th century. Moscow painters V.V. worked in this technique. and T.V. Khvostenko.

PORTRAIT OF AN ANTIQUE WOMAN. Wax. Tree

PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH A BEARD. 1st–2nd centuries Encaustic

Preheated paints (wax, resin, oil, pigment) were applied with a brush and a hot bronze rod with a spoon and a spatula at the ends (Latin - cauterium) onto a heated base, after which the painting was melted using a brazier. Gradually, the encaustic technique began to use the less labor-intensive “cold method,” which can be traced in the evolution of Fayum portraits (1st century BC – 4th century, Egypt) and in Byzantine icons of the 6th–12th centuries.

Don icon Mother of God was written by Theophanes the Greek

St. Sergius and Bacchus (VI-VII centuries)

Encaustic art is the destruction of stereotypes. Wax painting is interesting for its unpredictability and surprising results. Consonance inner world artist and outside world the painting turns into a play of meanings and associations... Roll calls, responses... Variations, nuances, gradations, halftones... Countless transformations... Where do these roads lead?

To create such designs you will need special heating tools and colored wax.

At home, you can use available tools: An iron without a steamer, wax crayons and cardboard.

Turn on the iron at minimum power and apply wax crayons to the soleplate. You can use several colors at once, they do not mix. Just don't take too long, because crayons melt quickly. Then transfer what you get on the iron onto paper using applying or ironing movements.

The first technique is smoothing. Represents a basic ironing motion with an iron.
Hold the cardboard with one hand and apply the iron right side at a distance of approximately one third of the leaf height from the edge. Lightly move the iron across the entire sheet to create a continuous wavy horizon line. Do not lift the iron.

Now smoothly move the iron in the opposite direction, leaving a second strip of wax below the first. Continue in a zigzag motion to paint the entire sheet to the bottom edge, adding more wax to the iron if necessary.

The second method - imprinting - creates veins. The iron is applied to the cardboard and then raised for a few seconds. Lift the cardboard off the table and use a compound stamping method to draw greenery in the lower third of the sheet. If the veins are hard to see, add more wax to the iron.

The third technique is to work with the side of the iron. Use the edge of the iron to draw blades of grass in the foreground. Change the length and thickness of the lines. Some of them should rise above the horizon line and give the picture depth.

The fourth technique is drawing with the tip of the iron. Dip the tip of the iron into dark wax and mark small dots on the sky. Clean the iron and then shape the dots into the shape of birds in flight. And finally, using the same method, draw flowers among the grass with bright wax.

Realism in this case is achieved thanks to natural colors, a clear horizon line and irregular shape blade of grass

A lot depends on imagination, the ability to combine colors, intuition and... luck!

Drawing dreams and moods - what could be more interesting?

Good luck, inspiration and lots of positivity in this extraordinary and fantastic form of creativity.

These were the works of craftswomen from the “Country of Masters”, for the sake of impression and inspiration, and now, inspired by their works, I want to present MY works to your judgment (which I took to the exam and some of them were taken away from me there for the fund)
My samples

This art involves creating paintings using melted wax of various colors. Such works are still found in excavations of Ancient Greece. Early Christian paintings still retain their bright colors.

To get started you only need:

paper;
iron;
wax pencil.

Need to get some wax a certain color or even use several shades at once and apply them with a warm iron. It remains to spend this heated metal tool on paper, placing the base flat or edge-on. Now let's talk about this in more detail.

Wax painting: necessary equipment and materials for encaustic painting

You can depict anything. If you are a beginner artist, then you will be able to abstract paintings. If you have experience in creating canvases, then you will be able to depict clear landscapes.

The main material required for the work is artistic wax with colored pigments. It is sold in specialized art stores. If it is not possible to purchase such wax, then use crayons and wax pencils. They can be purchased at an office supply store.

You will also need:

glossy thick cardboard;
soft cloth for polishing;
a lining on the desktop so that it remains clean while working.

If you have the means and you decide to take up this type of art seriously, then buy a special iron for encaustic painting.

If this is not possible, then use a regular household iron, but it should be small in size, have a soleplate without holes and a temperature regulator.

You will need toilet paper and napkins or a cloth; these materials need to be used to clean the soleplate of the iron in order to change the color of the wax to a new one.

If you have a hair dryer in which you can adjust the temperature, then you can use it. Then use wax pencils as materials.

If encaustic painting becomes your regular hobby or even a source of income, then you will need to buy a special heating rod called a causarium. It will help to depict small details and ornate patterns.

Encaustic painting for beginners

For those who have just decided to master this interesting technology, it will be useful to know what techniques you can use when working, these are:

smoothing;
edge work;
imprint;
nose work.

Smoothing is the main technique used in this technique. To use it, turn the iron over so that its heating surface is at the top. Place the wax here, adjust the temperature so that it melts, but does not spread.

When the material acquires this consistency, you will need to run the iron over the surface of the paper, but without pressing hard on it, so as not to burn it. There should be a trace of the desired shape left on the sheet.

Working with an edge allows you to create different stripes. This technique is used to draw grass and flowers. First you need to proceed in the same way as when you applied the impression using the smoothing technique. Now place the iron edge-on on this pattern to get a strip of the desired length. Remove excess wax with a soft cloth.

To make veins in a drawing using the encaustic technique, you need to apply paint to a paper base, and then place the sole of the iron on it for a few seconds. At the same time, it should lie like a glove; you cannot fidget with it.

To create small parts painting, you need to dip the tip of the iron in the melted wax, and then apply it to the canvas in the right place.

Encaustic painting - master class with photos

Now that you have learned the basics of this art, it’s time to move on to the practical lesson. It will be easy and can be done by beginners.

Take:

wax pencils;
white sheet of thick cardboard;
glue;
hairdryer where you can adjust the temperature.

The pencils should be the same size; if some are longer, cut them on the opposite side of the lead to make them even with the others.

Spread the upper part of the sheet with glue, attach the wax blanks here tightly to each other with the tip down. When the glue is dry, take the hair dryer to the ends of the wax crayons, turning it on at its highest setting. In this case, the workpieces should begin to melt, and the wax will gradually flow down.

If you need strict vertical lines, then hold the sheet of cardboard in the usual position. If you want to achieve interesting special effects, then turn it from side to side.

If you are satisfied with the result, then place the work on a horizontal surface and wait for your masterpiece to harden.

Such an art object will decorate your home or become an unusual gift on New Year or for another holiday.

The next master class will allow you to create a beautiful abstract painting.

To implement this plan you will need:

thick paper;
a small iron without holes on the sole;
wax pencils;
paper to cover the work surface with.

Set the iron to “nylon” and heat it up. Turn this tool with the sole up and place wax pencils on top. Wait until they start to melt.

Now bring the iron to the paper sheet and begin to move it horizontally in one direction and the other. Try to ensure that the color stripes intersect each other and mix with each other as little as possible.

As you understand, the smoothing principle was applied. Now you need to use the imprint method. To do this, press the iron against the surface to leave uneven marks on it. You can make a few more impressions on each one to achieve an interesting effect.

Wait for the encaustic painting to cool slightly and after about a minute polish its surface with a soft cloth.

An inexperienced viewer is unlikely to understand what you made of this work, beautiful and very effective. After you have practiced with simple patterns, you can move on to more complex ones.

Encaustic painting - master class for experienced

If you have everything necessary tools, then the work should not seem too difficult even to masters with little experience. Here's what you'll need:

hob;
iron;
paper;
foam;
textile.

First, secure the sheet to the hob using masking tape.

To draw a landscape, take a wax crayon or pencil of blue color and start shading it at the top of the sheet. Since the cardboard base will be heated, this will not be difficult to do.

Next the mountains are drawn. To do this, put a piece of chalk Brown onto the soleplate of the iron, turn the tool over and heat it up.

Then apply the iron to the surface of the sheet, depicting pointed peaks and a system of mountains, using some encaustic techniques.

If you need to shade the paint, use a piece of cloth or a sponge to do this. To make the mountains surrounded by greenery, draw it using chalk of that color. Draw other elements of the picture, after which you can frame it.

Technique for drawing with wax on paper

The encaustic technique allows you to get very beautiful landscapes. You will see this now. Look what wonderful paintings the craftswomen create.

To work you will need:

an encaustic iron or a regular small travel iron without holes;
glossy cardboard, thick photo paper for printers on which photographs are printed is suitable;
colored crayons;
napkins;
soft cloth.

First you need to heat the iron, but not too much. Turn it over and place crayons of the desired color on the sole of this device.

When they become soft, you can use them, but without waiting until the wax begins to flow down from the surface of the iron.

Apply the melted wax to the glossy cardboard, moving from left to right. At the same time, use the iron to make a small semicircle.

Carefully, so as not to burn yourself, wipe off the wax from the surface of the iron with napkins and place crayons of a different color here. When they are melted, place the iron on the right side of the sheet and move it to the left, then to reverse side and left again.

Now you need to remove this wax from the iron with a napkin and melt the brown wax on it. Use the prepared solution to make so-called touch-offs. In this case, you need to apply the iron to the paper and quickly lift it. This is done several times.

It remains to identify the small details. To do this, use the previously listed techniques. Run the edge and then the tip of the iron over the design to create a bush.

Look how beautiful it turned out. Since the painting is made with wax paints, it will have a charming shine.

The encaustic technique is also good because you can come up with a plot for a painting right on the go. By making several movements with the iron, arranging the wax in a random order, you may find that you have drawn something that you had not thought of before.

The craftswoman from the next master class depicted the bird in exactly this way on her masterpiece. But first things first.

First she took:

heat-resistant glossy cardboard;
German and Russian wax crayons;
iron;
towel;
napkin.

So as not to get dirty workplace, you need to lay a towel on it first, and a napkin on top.

Now you need to put white and blue crayons on a warm iron and start drawing with them.

Turn the cardboard over and coat the other side with wax using an iron. Now you need to draw clouds with the edges of the iron.

If necessary, occasionally wipe the sole of your instrument with a tissue. But if you use the same colors, then you don't have to do this.

Taking a closer look, the craftswoman saw that a bird had appeared on the canvas, albeit a little strange. It was decided to add feathers to her using the tip of an iron.

You can make adjustments using a toothpick or a pointed wooden skewer. Using it, you can remove unnecessary things, finish drawing something, and clean something.

Now we need to make impressions to depict grass and bushes. To do this, place green and brown chalk on the iron and apply them to the desired part of the drawing.

Tree crowns are depicted like this. Apply a little brown or green wax to the tip of the iron and paint this part of the picture with this part of the tool.

Using the stamping technique, draw leaves on the trunk and branches, and use a skewer to apply adjustments.

The heroine did not like the first bird, so she drew a tree crown in this place. But then I decided to draw a seagull white. To do this, you need to scratch the outline of the bird with the tip of a wooden stick. Dip it into melted wax and add details.

All that remains is to polish the masterpiece with a soft napkin and you can hang the picture or give it as a gift for any occasion.

How to draw with an iron - technique for beginners

The next master class will allow you to create a picture in red and yellow tones with dark splashes.

Even those who think they don’t know how to draw can draw it. To do this they will only need:

glossy cardboard A5 format;
wax children's crayons;
an iron without holes on the soleplate with a thermostat, which is designed for dry ironing.

The iron temperature should be as low as possible, so set the thermostat to the wool or silk ironing position. Place the crayons on the sole of this tool so that the yellow is at the bottom, the orange is below it, the red is even lower, then the dark pink and burgundy come next.

Paint a bright sky with this colorful rainbow using the smoothing technique. To do this, simply move the iron over the surface of the paper as if you were ironing from right to left and vice versa.

Wipe off excess wax on the warm surface of the iron with a napkin and place crayons of a different color here. Which ones can be seen in the next photo.

You also need to iron the sheet horizontally using back and forth movements. This way you will create the main background.

To draw further with the iron, you need to dissolve black chalk on its tip. Use this part work surface iron, making an impression on the paper with its tip.

Next, using this technique, make impressions at the bottom of the sheet and create fabulous vegetation.

To wax further, use the sides of the iron. Place it edgewise on the applied background to create vertical lines, such as grass.

After you have made an impression with black wax, you will be left with a certain design on the tip of the iron. Do not wipe off this coating, make prints further, you will get a spectacular result.

This encaustic painting is also suitable for beginners, as it does not require any special skills.

Now draw with the tip of the iron; to do this, you need to pick up a little wax with the tip of the iron and move it around the drawing, creating black flowers and leaves here.

See how to draw birds with wax. To do this, place a dot on the desired part of the picture with the tip of the iron. Then, using edges, draw two wings for each bird.

The final step is polishing the image with a soft cloth. It will turn out radiant and shiny.

When you practice on such works, you will be able to create masterpieces with finer features using this technique.

To reproduce such a blooming apricot or sakura branch, take:

black cardboard;
white marker;
wax crayons;
iron;
soft cloth.

First, draw the outline of the future flower on dark cardboard using a white marker.

Keep the iron in right hand, and take the green chalk to the left. Place the tip of the iron against the iron so that the wax melts slightly.

If you are better with your left hand, then hold the tool and chalk in a way that is comfortable for you.

Start filling one half of the sheet first, moving the iron up and down. Do not tear it off the cardboard to create a continuous layer. Now fill out the second half of the sheet in the same way.

Take a pink crayon, melt it on the tip of your iron and start recreating a pink petal.

Do all the flower elements in the same way. Those petals that are closer to the viewer need to be filled last to create volume.

Apply to the tip of the iron brown paint and make a twig. Form stamens from yellow and brown ones.

To make the flower look more realistic, you need to lightly scratch it with a special tool from the core to the beginning of the petals. To do this, you can use a pointed wooden stick.

Using the same device, you can scratch the wax where it is not needed to make the contours of the petals and flowers smoother.

If the elements of the painting have already frozen, you can put the canvas on a heating surface so that the wax softens slightly and remove excess or draw veins on the sheets. After the final sanding of the painting with a soft cloth, you can proudly admire the result of the work.

Yes, if you try, then the iron will become a tool of a talented artist.

The work presented is more within the capabilities of adults, and small children should not be given even warm irons to work with. Therefore, check out the variety of this technique that kids enjoy doing.

Encaustic technique for children

Invite the children to do encaustic painting in the pointillism style. The next master class will help you master this handicraft yourself and teach it to your children.

On a piece of paper you need to draw with a simple pencil outlines of the future masterpiece. For example, this is a cockerel.

So that you can depict it, we suggest attaching a sheet of paper to the presented template and simply redrawing it.

Since encaustic painting still involves heating the wax, be with your child during the lesson. Place the candle in a convenient container and light it. Have your child hold the wax crayon over the candle flame until a drop forms. After which it must be quickly transferred to a certain area of the drawing.

The work requires patience and accuracy, but the result will be amazing. Such three-dimensional picture will become a source of pride for parents for their child.

If the children are very young, then there is no need to show them the technique of creating a picture with a burning candle, but it is better to teach them how to create masterpieces using the pointillism technique, using the cold method, which is safe for them.

Winter drawings will come in handy now. To make them, give the children:

sheets of black cardboard;
cotton buds;
paints.

Let the children dip cotton swabs into white paint and use it to create falling snow and stars. The tree in the center of the composition can also be made in light colors so that it can be seen that it is winter.