Encaustic Meets Fresco

Bettina Egli Sennhauser

The diferences between encaustic and fresco techniques are striking: fresco is wet, takes one or two days to dry, is rough and opaque, while the encaustic medium and color is waterrepellent, melts, is immediate, smooth, and translucent. These diferences might lead one to believe these techniques are incompatible, and you might wonder:

Why combine these two seemingly disparate techniques?

Pushing Boundaries

As an artist, I am looking for new ways to push the boundaries of my materials and explore uncharted territory. The smooth, glossy surface of the encaustic and the rough, matte texture of the fresco create visual and tactile tension. Juxtaposing the translucency of encaustic with the opacity of a fresco surface is like the diference between a polished stone and a raw, uncut gem—each has its unique beauty and character.

Combining the two allows me to create my narratives and vocabulary through innovative surfaces that abstract from what and who is around me and how I relate to it. These natural materials serve intimate and personal poetry and were instrumental in creating one of my most recent, deeply personal bodies of work: the Enso Series.

Enso, Encaustic on Fresco, ? x ? in

Tapping into the ancient roots of painting

Both techniques have been around for ages, playing important roles in art, architecture, and mysticism. Fresco dates to the Minoan civilization of Crete in the Bronze Age (2,000-1,500 BCE) and peaked during the Italian Renaissance with Michelangelo's amazing work in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

The most compelling reason to combine encaustic and fresco is that it connects us to the ancient roots of painting and to new explorations of the future. By pushing boundaries and combining the two, we tap into a rich history of art-making that stretches back thousands of years, learning from the artists before us and adding our voices. The lasting appeal of both methods lies in their beauty, durability, and the deep connection they create with our past.

Sustainable, natural building materials

Both encaustic and fresco are made from building materials. Beeswax, used by bees to build their hives, is solid and flexible. Similarly, fresco is more than just surface decoration; it's part of the architecture. All materials allow for unique textures and three-dimensional efects, making the artwork engaging and tactile. Both techniques use sustainable, natural materials that were around long before synthetic options from the modern era. Encaustic uses renewable beeswax, while fresco uses lime, sand, and pigments—all natural and plentiful. This focus on eco-friendly materials fits well with today's concerns about environmental sustainability and is important to me.

Mark making

Both encaustic and fresco allow for a wide range of mark making and expression. With encaustic, we can use various tools and techniques to create diferent textures and efects— from smooth, glossy surfaces to rough, scratchy marks. With fresco, we can use the texture of the plaster itself to create patterns and designs or incise lines and shapes into the surface.

Fresco in a nutshell

Buon Fresco is a fresco technique in which alkaline-resistant pigments are applied to wet lime plaster without an additional binding agent. When the plaster absorbs the pigment, it is fixed and protected from fading. Famous examples are the Sistine Chapel in Rome, painted by Michelangelo, and the ceiling fresco in the staircase hall of the Würzburg Residence painted in 1750 to 1753 by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. This fresco is part of the Unesco World Heritage and, with 7,287 square feet, the largest contiguous fresco in the world.

Fresco Secco, on the other hand, is the application of paint onto a dry plaster surface. The most prominent example is The Last Supper, completed by Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan in 1498.

Both types of fresco require a rough underlay called the arriccio. It's a coarse layer of plaster applied to the wall, typically made of lime and sand. This layer is intentionally left rough to provide a good grip for the next layer, known as the intonaco or fine coat.

The intonaco is the smooth, thin layer of lime plaster mixed with marble dust on which the painting is done. The roughness of the arriccio helps the intonaco bond to the wall, preventing peeling or flaking over time. It also allows for better moisture control, crucial in the fresco process as the pigments are applied while the plaster is still wet.

Different Types of Arriccio

Intonaco on Coffee Grounds

In the following tutorial, I will guide you step-by-step through one of my processes.

1. Substrate: Work on a wooden substrate that is at least a quarter-inch thick. The materials we use are heavy, so a thin substrate might warp.

2. Prepare your intonaco: Add pit lime to a plastic bowl and mix it with marble dust in a ratio of 50/50. Mix and knead the mixture until you have a creamy, frosting-like consistency. If the intonaco is too crumbly, add water from the lime putty until the texture is right. Cover with clear plastic wrap. Start mixing your intonaco before preparing the arriccio, as the latter sets up quicker.

3. Prepare your arriccio: Mix sand with marble dust (ratio 50/50) and a heavily diluted acrylic dispersion (1 part acrylic/ 3 to 5 parts water), depending on the brand and its adhesive strength. I usually work with K9 from Kremer Pigments). Alternatively, with sand bought from a store, you can start collecting diferent colored sands during your walks and travels or use marble grids, travertine, or brewed cofee grounds.

4. Arriccio layer: Apply your arriccio to a height of approximately 2-3 mm with a spatula on your substrate. Applying the material is part of your painterly process and vital in building the painting.

5. Intonaco layer: Apply 2-3 mm of intonaco with a spatula onto the damp arriccio (ensures a more stable bonding of the layers). Try to avoid mixing the layers, and do not aim for perfection. Play with the textures, and believe it or not, your energy will afect how crackly it dries. A thicker layer of intonaco results in coarser cracks.

6. Collage elements: Incorporate collage elements while the intonaco is still wet. I use stained cheesecloth or collage paper. Feel free to remove collage elements and reattach them in diferent positions or orientations, even if it partially destroys your work. This flexibility teaches you to embrace the process rather than focusing on a result.

7. Drying time: The next day, when you return to your studio, it is the best day in the process. The intonaco has worked its magic overnight. During the drying process, the intonaco produced a variety of cracks that still adhere to the arriccio. Drying time depends on the layers' ambient temperature, humidity, and thickness. It can easily take two days. The fresco is fully dry when the surface no longer feels cool, but hand-warm to the touch.

8. Encaustic layers: On a dry fresco surface, you can start building up additional layers with encaustic medium/color and work with all the encaustic techniques you are familiar with.

Final Thoughts

Patience is crucial in this process. I often let a piece sit overnight and return to it with fresh eyes. Don't pressure yourself to finish paintings in one session; instead, focus on the next immediate step rather than the result.

This process requires experimentation and a willingness to embrace an unpredictable creative process. The joy is in the journey.

Happy creating!

Finished piece

Sakura, Mixed media on canvas, 80 x 100 cm

I work with formal, natural, sustainable materials and themes to express intimate, personal poetry. I develop my narratives and vocabulary through innovative surfaces, abstracting from the people and things around me and reflecting on how I interact with them.

About the Author

Bettina is a visual artist, author, and R&F Artist Instructor living in Switzerland, near Basel. She teaches workshops in encaustic, cold wax, and fresco internationally at Art Academies in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the U.S., Ireland, as well as online. She is a member of the 120year-old Swiss Society of Women Artists (SGBK) and serves as Co-Chair of the European Chapter of the International Encaustic Artists. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and shows across Switzerland, Italy, and the U.S. She is represented by the Jeff Soderbergh Gallery in Wellfleet, MA.

You can view Bettina’s work at bettinaegli.com www.instagram.com/kunstfreiraum www.facebook.com/eglibasel

You can view a video about Bettina and her work at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLf6xeW-0O4