Linda Robertson
About Linda
Linda Robertson creates imagined landscapes in encaustic, with vibrant colors reminiscent of her childhood in Hawai’i and her current residence in the Pacific Northwest. Her multi-layered paintings celebrate how color and light interplay with lush botanical forms in nature.
Linda is a nationally recognized artist, an art instructor for over 20 years, and author of the Embracing Encaustic book series. She has been a featured speaker and instructor at numerous art conferences across the US and in Ireland. Linda is a recipient of the International Encaustic Artists prestigious La Vendéenne Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of encaustic painting. Her work has been published in books and periodicals including American Art Collector, Authentic Visual Voices, and Professional Artist Magazine. Paint with Linda in person at her multi-day retreats at Essence of Mulranny in Ireland, on Whidbey Island in Washington, and in her private studio in Vancouver Washington.
You can view Linda’s work at:
www.lindarobertsonarts.com
www.facebook.com/LindaRobertsonArts
www.facebook.com/EmbracingEncaustic
www.instagram.com/LindaRobertsonArts
www.instagram.com/LindaRobertsonWorkshops
LindaRobertsonArts.bsky.social
Class Details
Layered Gestures: Where Wax Meets Water
Let’s explore the dynamic relationship between encaustic and water-based media—including watercolor and ink—focusing on layering, resist, and transparency to create expressive, luminous surfaces. You’ll learn simple ways to introduce gesture, spontaneity, and personal expression at any stage of your process.
We’ll experiment with techniques that work beneath and between layers of encaustic paint, observing how wax repels, contains, and guides watercolor and ink to create unexpected marks, depth, and movement. I’ll demonstrate multiple approaches to combining these materials, whether you prefer intuitive exploration or more intentional composition.
This is the same process I use in my own encaustic paintings, so if you enjoy my work, you’ll love seeing how these pieces come together. By the end of the session, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how to integrate encaustic with water-based media into your practice—and the confidence to continue experimenting.
Yikes to Yes! The Art of the Do-Over
Yikes to Yes is designed for encaustic painters facing panels they’d rather hide under the table. In this session, I’ll share my own stuck, overworked, or truly questionable pieces and demonstrate practical, low-pressure ways to transform them—whether that’s melting, scraping, obscuring, or rebuilding. We’ll treat “mistakes” as raw material, exploring how to rescue what’s working, when to radically rethink a piece, and how to use what’s already there to push the work forward.
Through guided demonstrations and hands-on strategies, you’ll see how to experiment with surface manipulation, layering, and mark-making without fear of “ruining” a panel. This class is about freeing yourself from perfectionism and preciousness, embracing risk, and finding creative solutions in unexpected places. By the end, you’ll have a toolbox of techniques and a mindset for turning “yikes” into “yes”—one panel at a time.
