Transformation 

Encaustic, by its very nature, is synonymous with transformational change. The wax begins as a hard, unyielding material that is melted and then applied and manipulated– brushed, poured, scraped, fused, layered, embedded and actively moved – before it ultimately returns to its original hardened state – profoundly changed and still recognizably the same.

Many of my works started with different concepts, color tonalities or technique approaches and were then deliberately left on a hot palette until they melted, flowed, fused and combined – transfigured.  From this transformation, a new work – completely different in concept from its earlier incarnation– was created.  Building on these changes, the process of actively influencing the work begins again.

My work and the encaustic process are a metaphor for the very human progression of incorporating change into our psyche – layering, scraping, smoothing, and embedding - and for the ways that life altering events change us, yet leave us recognizably the same.