My studio is a sacred place. Encaustic paintings seen in Santa Fe seven years ago pulled me into the art. “The sense of mystery intrigued me. It’s wonderful to work in a medium with endless possibilities. I push the boundaries by incorporating Japanese poems from books printed on rice paper centuries ago, found rusted objects, formed and hand made paper, micro-planed crayon and pigmented wax, acrylic paint, sumi ink, image transfers, graphite, and much more. I take one form of encaustic art that I create on a large hotbox, monoprint, and then cut those into various shapes and collage them onto boards or into three-dimensional shapes. I use layer upon layer of pigmented and raw encaustic medium to create depth and interest. I teach encaustic classes where my goal is to help artists push their creative boundaries beyond their comfort zone in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and sculpture. Wax forces you to think differently, to grow. That’s what it’s all about.