Caryl St. Ama- The Art of Encaustic 

By Joan Whitmore 

We were honored to have Caryl St. Ama as our featured presenter at our March meeting. In addition to showing us the latest techniques with encaustics, she also shared its history, which goes back to the Greeks and Egyptians. The Egyptians had burial portraits done in molten wax which have survived through time.
 
Caryl engaged the audience with her torch burn-ins to set the wax and was careful not to burn the house down.  She stressed safety issues throughout the presentation. Caryl showed us how to apply texture with stencils and repeated layering of wax. We learned how to extend the encaustic paints through the addition of the medium (wax and resin).  With this thinning of the pigment a translucent effect can also be achieved. Caryl alternated between torch and heat gun depending on what she was adding to the piece. We saw her do transfers and additions of different papers for varying effects. We learned the use of torches isn’t great with paper embellishments! Hot and cool wax applications produce different effects on her pieces and would be fun to try.
 
We each received a brush and oil stick to set us on our way to do encaustics on our own. Caryl offers classes and many added our names to her email list for updates and class dates. Caryl shared informative brochures from R & F Company. This was an enjoyable and fun March meeting. 
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