This past Saturday, I was lucky enough to attend an Encaustic Media Demonstration with my daughter, given by Julia Heatherwick at Surface Gallery in Downtown Bakersfield. What a a fun and informative demonstration!
My daughter in front of Surface Gallery, Downtown Bakersfield
Encaustic Art Demonstrator
It was so inspirational and Julia has so much energy! I am just dying to go out and by the startup kit! You can find it here! It is a little pricey, but comes with everything you need to get your creativity on with Beeswax.
Hunk of Beeswax
That’s right. Beeswax.
I always thought of some sticky chemical substance when I saw the word encaustic, but it is comprised of plain old beeswax, “damar resin” and pigment.
What is “damar resin’? Well, in plain terms it is “tree sap” in a crystal form. At www.about.com it is said to come from maple trees and is dried and mixed in with the wax and pigment. Another website, www.fineartstore.com claims the sap comes from trees in India.
Damar Resin
The demo covered the basics of encaustic, the history of the media, as well as its “modern revival”.
We were able to see some of these modern examples on display right there in the gallery with “Cross Pollination: connection through the art of encaustic”
Cross Pollination Exhibit
Here are some photos from the exhibit! 
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Surface Gallery offers several wonderful workshops throughout the year. I have taken the oil painting, block printing, nature drawing and improv classes and love, love, LOVED them all!
Let me just start out by telling you I am NOT an artist. I love art. I have taken art classes in high school, even squeezed by with an A in Art Appreciation in College, but that is the extent of my training. I enrolled in the classes because I have always enjoyed art and they sounded like fun.
I admit, I was a little intimidated when I first arrived at the workshops. It was pretty clear that there were many experienced artists in the group, but the enthusiasm of the instructors were hard to resist and I couldn’t wait to jump right in and participate Each workshop has been an enriching experience and thanks to the kind and patient instructors, I have come away from each feeling like just maybe, someday, I might be an artist, too!
