I am a multimedia artist living in and around the lovely little town of Brattleboro, VT, a town rich in artistic expression and earnest support for artists. Over the years, I have worked in many mediums and art forms, including clay, mosaic, jewelry, acrylics, and more. It was my discovery of encaustic painting and my immediate love for it that set me on a new artistic course.
Encaustic painting offers layer upon layer of possibility. In both process and product, the medium encourages a dance between intention and happenstance. For me, this lesser-known medium offers a very comfortable, versatile physical interface full of interweaving layers and unplanned effects. Using a combination of beeswax, dammar resin, and pigments with various found objects and oil paints, these encaustic paintings are a collage-like ensemble of texture, color and form, embedded and revealed through assorted layers of additions and subtractions. I never know what each piece will become when I begin, like going on a journey with no clear idea where I’m going or when it will end… and I LOVE that! The many discoveries and surprises are a big part of why I love doing it. I imagine that the incredible joy I feel while creating these paintings is captured in each of them.
My work combines vivid color and gentle forms, suggesting to me the many varied ways we connect. For me, art has always been a connecting medium, and my paintings are about relating to oneself and to others and how we interact and come together, or perhaps feel separate and vulnerable.
When I paint abstractly, it invites the exploration of the unknown through play! Pure Joy!