My paintings are about joy and beauty and it is my hope that they inspire ongoing appreciation for our precious planet. The natural world, music, dance, and the interconnectedness of all living beings including us humans are what feed my love of creating. I find my voice primarily through the magic of color. Many of my paintings are acrylic on canvas, sometimes including oil pastels or pigment sticks that are partially wax based. For these paintings I create thin wood frames that I’ve painted gold. Some of my work is encaustic on wood panels (the edges of the panels are also painted gold). Encaustic painting is an ancient technique that has been modernized using a process of combining beeswax, pigment and tree sap (damar). The damar acts as a resin, making the surface harder and stronger and raising the melting temperature thus making the wax more durable in higher heat conditions. I am basically painting in hot thin layers with colored beeswax wax and I use a heat gun or torch to fuse each layer to the next. I create my wax colors by combining the beeswax with the damar, and then adding pigment.