Left Bank Art League

February membership meeting - program details! 

(LOCATION CHANGE - this month's meeting will be held at the Deere-Wiman Carriage House, 1135 8th Street, Moline, IL)

7:00 pm

Park on street or in the lot on the west side. Handicapped parking is available and this is the location where LBAL hosts its workshops.

Helen Boyd will demonstrate the art of encaustic painting.

Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface—usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. The simplest encaustic mixture can be made from adding pigments to beeswax, but there are several other recipes that can be used — some containing other types of waxes, damar resin, linseed oil, or other ingredients. Pure, powdered pigments can be purchased and used, though some mixtures use oil paints or other forms of pigment.

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. Because wax is used encaustics can be sculpted as well as painted. Other materials can be encased, layered or collaged into the surface, or layered, using the encaustic medium to adhere it to the surface.

Though practiced for the last two thousand years and believed to have started in Egypt, encaustic has resurged in popularity since the 1990s.

Don’t miss Helen Boyd’s demo at our February meeting!