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Hi Rochelle:
I can't comment on wax with oil paints as I haven't tried it, but the encaustic technique is kind of interesting to experiment with.
You can use an old electric frypan to keep everything at desired temperature. The pigments mixed with melted wax can sit in small metal cans in the pan. You can use a hot-plate as a palette.
The tricky bit is controlling the paint on the support. Some people use a heat gun from the hardware store to melt bits of the wax on the surface. One of the teachers at my college has refined this by making shaped sheet metal shields that help direct the heat more accurately. I can't claim any expertise in this medium whatever, but like any medium it takes practice. It certainly is different.
Pure beeswax and pigment is probably the most long lasting combination known. The Romans used to coat their ship-hulls with it. I've read that murals discovered on stone walls stuck out in relief from the stone, which had weathered over nearly two thousand years. That's pretty permanent, I'd say. (I haven't seen these walls, so beware the hearsay...)
STARTING in encaustic isn't so difficult, with modern heating tools. Developing skills...well, my dabbling suggests that could be a little more difficult. When your painting melts before your eyes some interesting things can happen.
The controlled accident is a time-honored part of watercolor- so if you feel adventurous....
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