I enjoy painting the political. I was raised by a mother who ran campaigns for fun, including her own. She felt knowing what happens in the world is important and instilled in me a desire to understand the issues and to paint about them.

I suppose these paintings are my diary, a place where one can see my interests and the current events of the time. But one never knows where inspiration will come. Here I was, happily painting about global warming, and then I moved into the Workhouse Arts Center. My studio used to be part of a prison that once held Suffragists imprisoned for picketing the White House. Thus began my Feminism Series, where I try to tell the stories of these brave women and attempt to pull their issues into the modern day.

The majority of my paintings after 2009 are painted with encaustic. Encaustic paint is made from beeswax and color and looks like a big bar of colored soap. I melt the paint on a large metal surface, pick up the color with my brush, and apply it to a prepared board. The paint cools immediately and becomes hard. I then use a heat gun or torch to burn in the color or to smooth the surface. It’s hard to tell online, but in person the painted surfaces can mimic stained glass. Other times, I paint out thin sheets of it and construct wax flowers. The beauty of this medium is its versatility.