Photo: Sharon Brody

What’s Encaustic?

Painting Sustainably

Beeswax

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out my site. It’s still rough at the edges — like me, I guess — but I hope you’ll find something you like here.

The primary job of this site is, of course, to display and sell my encaustic paintings. But I’m also excited about introducing the medium to those of you who’ve never heard of encaustic painting. In an attempt to give you a glimpse of what inspires these paintings, I’ve also posted photographs I’ve taken at home, across America, and around the world.

Sometimes I’m just exploring a color combination I love, or turning objects and landscapes into abstract images. Other paintings are my attempt to replicate the moods, visceral responses, or ideas that the things I’ve seen evoke in me.

P.S.: The photos on this site are also for sale. If an image strikes your fancy, just contact me — I’m happy to tell you more about each photo and offer printing and purchasing options.

Exhibitions

• Liquid, Stilled: Encaustic Paintings by Lisa Carl.” The Cary Arts Center, Principal’s Hall, Cary, NC. January 31, 2025 - March 23, 2025.

• Focus Capture Inspire Exhibition, Edward A. Dixon Gallery. Photograph. “Capturing the Wind.” October 1-31, 2022.

• Cover photograph, Right Hand Pointing literary magazine. Encaustic sculpture. “Flotsam/Jetsam I.” September 2019.

• Group show, The Art Center of Carrboro, Carrboro, NC. Encaustic painting: “Family Crest (304).” March 16-31, 2016.

• Group show, “State of the Art / Art of the State,” Black and white photograph: “Mill Pond.” Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC, Sept. 20, 2014 – Feb. 12, 2015. http://www.cameronartmuseum.org/sota/

• Group show, “State of the Art / Art of the State,” Black and white photograph: “42nd Street, 2014.” Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC, May 30 – Oct. 30, 2012.

• Solo show: “Still Life: Wood, Water, Metal, Stone.” Black and white photographs.  Carrboro Town Hall, Carrboro, NC. March & April 2011.

• Solo show. Black and white photographs.  University Photo and Video, Chapel Hill, NC.  Oct. & Nov. 2005

Beeswax is a precious, labor-intensive commodity. To produce a pound of wax to build their honeycombs, bees must:

• Collect nectar from 30 million flowers, and

• Consume 8-10 pounds of honey

Each bee then needs 12 hours to produce 8 pinhead-size flakes of wax.

My paintings require pounds and pounds of beeswax. I’m careful to save and reuse any scrapings, drips, and spills of wax — the least I can do to respect the hard work of its makers.

Source: British Beekeepers Association (bbka.org.uk)

Here I am in Maine, near the beginning of my second solo cross-country trip in 2021 (check out photos and stories from both trips at: www.lisacarlre-coveringamerica.com Photo: Sharon Brody

Wood

I find the wood I paint on, as well as wooden frames, at thrift shops (Goodwill is especially good) and recycling businesses (shout-out to The Scrap Exchange in Durham, NC).

Pigment

I color my wax with encaustic paint, wax sticks, wax crayons, pastels, and oil paints, most of which I find at thrift shops.