Working Processes

Color and surface are very important components of my work. After many years of experimenting with oils, I have chosen to work with encaustic because of the quality of the surfaces I can produce. Working with this medium is very seductive and combines two of my loves: intensive manual labor (layering, scrapping, fusing), and playing with concepts and ideas. Each work is made of multiple translucent layers of melted pigmented wax and a combination of painted, stenciled, scratched and/or collaged images imbedded in each layer. As each layer gets added, it is fused to the previous one by means of a heat source. Depending on the surface I want to achieve, I use a heat gun, an electric taking iron or a torch to produce the results. The repetitiveness and the technical aspects of the process help to unlock the subconscious imagery that surfaces in the work.

Printmaking equally engages me by offering new challenges and choices. I am drawn to this medium for the extraordinary visual and tactile qualities produced by the press, and the inductive creative rhythm of the process. As a printmaker with a painting background, I primarily make one-of-a-kind images, or monoprints. My approach to the media is constantly experimental, combining printmaking processes and using multiple materials and techniques. I enjoy drifting between these two mediums and benefit from the way one informs the other.