RENSSELAERVILLE — “Close to Home,” an exhibit featuring the recent encaustic landscapes of Leslie Yolen, will be on view from Dec. 3 through 27, in the gallery at the Kuhar Family Farm Café.

A reception will be held on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m., offering an opportunity to meet Yolen and discuss the encaustic painting process.

Encaustic is an ancient method of painting, known to have existed in 3rd or 4th century B.C. Greece.  The method was lost through the ages and revived after World War II.  One of the most famous modern artists to use encaustic is Jasper Johns in his early flag and target paintings begun in the 1950s. The word comes originally from the Greek word “enkaustikis” meaning “to burn in.”

The paint consists of beeswax and natural resin, usually with pigment added.  The process involves heating the paint until it liquefies, painting it onto a wooden panel or other rigid substrate with brushes or other tools and then heating it again, in place, with a blowtorch, heat gun or heated tool.  The second heating, called fusing, is essential to the paint adhering to the substrate.  Layers of paint are applied, one over the other, each layer being fused to the one underneath.

Gallery hours are Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesdays from 5 to 9 p.m. with plenty of parking and wheelchair accessible.