Materials and Technique
I use watercolor pencils to draw the pattern onto the panel before I start painting with encaustic glazes (encaustic paint diluted with encaustic medium). I work on an easel, use masking tape to get clean lines, and fuse the wax with a hot blending tool.
About An Unexpected Twist
While visiting the Courtauld Gallery in London, I became fascinated by the two sets of stairs that linked the floors above ground to the floors below. I wanted to know where they went. To follow each path. To capture the lighting, the delicate colors, the contrast between the elaborate railing of the upper stairway and the rustic simplicity of the lower.
For me, these stairways symbolize the many twists and turns of life. From light to dark and dark to light. The struggles and mysteries. Wanting to know what is just beyond, yet unable to see it.