Encaustic Painting by Lola Baltzell, “These Wilds”

Encaustic Painting by Lola Baltzell, These Wilds

These Wilds is an original encaustic painting by contemporary American artist Lola Baltzell. Created using the traditional hot-wax technique, the work is executed on a cradled wood panel and is ready to hang.

The composition was inspired by time spent with the artist’s mother in the woods behind their farmhouse in rural Northwest Iowa—a place affectionately called “the friendly forest.” Subtle suggestions of flora and organic formsemerge through layered wax, inviting close and contemplative viewing.

Encaustic painting has a rich and enduring history. Works in this medium can be found in major museum collections, including the Harvard Art Museums, with surviving examples dating back to the 1st century.

What Is Encaustic Painting?

Encaustic, from the Greek meaning “to burn in,” dates back to the 5th century BCE. As a contemporary medium, it is prized for its depth, luminosity, and tactile surface. Artists work with beeswax-based paint, kept molten on a heated palette, and apply it to a stable, absorbent support. The wax is then fused with heat and may be layered, etched, collaged, or combined with transfers and found materials, creating richly textured, archival works.

A thoughtful and atmospheric example of contemporary encaustic art, These Wilds bridges personal memory with an ancient artistic tradition.

About the Artist – Lola Baltzell

Lola Baltzell is a contemporary American artist whose practice spans photography, painting, collage, and encaustic mixed media. She began her artistic career in black-and-white photography, focusing on portraiture and hands-on darkroom processes.

In the early 1990s, Baltzell shifted toward large-scale oil painting during a period of intense personal change. She later embraced collage, which led to international exhibitions, including a project shown in China in 2008. In 2012, her Art and Peace Project appeared at the Moscow International Book Fair and the Tolstoy Museum in Tula, Russia.

Around fifteen years ago, Baltzell discovered encaustic painting and fully integrated it into her mixed media practice. Today, she continues to explore abstraction through layered materials, physical process, and intuitive mark-making.