I often etch into the wax and use oil pastels to fill in the spaces created. I add more oil paint to create more depth, more color, a sense of light, and texture. I may also embed a round piece of copper that has a lovely sulfur patina that has also been flame painted. I then embed the photographs into the wax. Once that is done, I add encaustic wax medium to protect the paint.

I paint in a dark sky and the dark colors for the mountains and the shadows. I paint a dark background layer for the sky, mid-ground and foreground. Once the printing is done, the oil painting begins. I begin printing out the photographs that have inspired the piece on archival paper. I then build a wooden frame to support the painting. I begin by drawing quick sketches of new ideas garnered from my recent travels, working out the compositional components of the painting. My work begins with the photographs I take exploring the beautiful, often hidden, sometimes forgotten, homesteads and farms across both countries. I gather inspiration for my work from my travels across Canada and the United States. For example, I use clay, oil paint, oil pastels, text and photographs on archival paper, metal (usually sulfur patinaed and fire painted copper), indian ink, hot encaustic wax (beeswax mixed with Damar resin) and amber shellac. A mixed media painting is simply a painting that uses more than one medium. I am a mixed media oil paint and encaustic wax painter.

Flame painter crack