Artist statement
I am an emerging artist, learning, pursuing and striving for a place in the world of art.  I have always followed the organic natural order of things by studying anthropology, Physical geography, biology, and how those sciences work within the continuum we call life, I’m inherently curious about what’s around every corner and will question just about everything I see, desiring more information, clarity. In time, it is my heartfelt desire that my art will tell this story, and that art lovers will appreciate this quest.  Give me the bizarre, exotic and extraordinary. That is what I believe to be the perfect artistic environment, the world that excites my creative and spirited juices. I suppose that is what has driven me to the fluid and unpredictable world of encaustic as an art medium. I have always been  filled with curious passion, a child of nature; digging in the dirt, following the bees to a flower, planting a seed, creating worlds’ within worlds.  I’ve had the opportunity to fly above the country, over oceans, islands, and continents. High above the clouds, I watch the storms as they travel the atmosphere, looking down on the world of expansive topography and possibility, mesmerized by the patchworks of fields and divisions of land from meandering rivers to prairies that go on forever. As we fly higher and higher the world below becomes an abstraction, a feast for our hungry imagination.  I have spent hours meditating about all that has come before, all that has happened to this earth, the organic, Unpredictable and natural order of creation, evolutionary power and the overall majesty and mystery of Gods great hand. My abstractions are an attempt to unravel and reveal the simplicity and elemental ideas that every living thing exists within our complex environment, to reverse time, and get back to basics.  Nature is an ongoing play and will always be the muse to my creative spirit. So turn on the burners, let's melt some wax!


What is Encaustic?
Encaustic is a term from the Greek word “enkaustikos”, meaning to inust, that is to “burn in”; thus encaustic is marked by the use of heat to melt and fuse layers of beeswax. Encaustic consists of natural bees wax and dammar resin (crystallized tree sap). The medium can be used alone for its transparency or glue like adhesive qualities or used in combination with pigments. The medium is melted and applied with a brush or any tool the artist wishes to create from. Each layer is then reheated to fuse it to the previous layer. Luminous is an adjective used quite frequently to describe the quality of encaustic painting, one also can feel a sense of memory as the lit up layers underneath are visible to the viewer. Organic is also a term used because of the very natural and life like supple nature of the wax. The exact origins of encaustic are unknown, though the Greeks may have learned to use wax for utilitarian purposes, such as caulking and painting ships from the Egyptians, only to pass it down to the Romans. There are no known existing examples of early Egyptian or ancient Greek or Roman encaustic art, only those works called the Fayum portraits exist, and the earliest of these dates from the first century. In Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, the author devotes Book 35 to art, and specifically focuses on encaustic. We do not know who first invented the art of painting with wax colors and burning in the painting, Pliny’s writings describe three separate methods of using encaustic. The 20th. Century saw a rebirth of encaustic on a major scale. the most recognizable in the artwork of Jasper Johns in the 1950’s. Johns’ process combined layer after layer of paint, wax medium, newspaper and collage items to create a sensation evoking a personal history. The paintings done in encaustic are extremely archival, but as with any fine art, care should be given to them. There should be no fear of melting in normal conditions, the wax and the resin will not melt unless exposed to temperatures over 150 degrees. Some encaustic paintings will bloom over time, becoming cloudy, take a soft cloth and rub the surface gently. The surface will retain its gloss as the wax medium continues to cure and harden for up to 1- 3 years.