About Gilded Oils and Encaustic

Since ancient times, artists and artisans have turned to gold leaf as a way to make their creations shimmer and shine.  I recently discovered and have explored how light plays with the reflections and seemingly dances across the image.

The word encaustic originates from Ancient Greek: ἐγκαυστικός, which means “burning in”, from ἐν en, “in” and καίειν kaiein, “to burn”, and this element of heat is necessary for a painting to be called encaustic. Encaustice or Encaustike (ἐγκαυστική) was the art of painting by burning in the colours.