The Path is Through, Not Around Painting

I am a creative spirit, who loves to express myself through many different mediums. My art falls into two categories but is is always a celebration of the human experience and the natural world, particularly botanical. I love all things tropical, botanical, oceanic and historical. Humour, and interaction with the natural world is infused in everything I do. One body of work focuses on botanical subjects and I use my photos and encaustic medium in their treatment. I have been taking tree and plant "portraits" for the past 5 years and try to capture each tree or plant's unique personality in my pieces. I work with encaustic medium, and also manipulate and enhance photos by experimenting with various types of paper, pushed colours and contrasts, and play with layering inks, oil pigments, organic or found objects, graphite, charcoal, watercolours, pencil....anything that inspires in the moment actually. I am moved by the intrinsic stillness of the photography of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The finished work has a distressed patina and evokes a strong sense of time and place, while at the same time, creating an "otherworldly" quality, always with the subject standing out strong against the backdrop. It's as if the man-made world just melts away... My second body of work is entirely different! It is my commitment to creative play and self expression. This work is big loud and free! I paint abstract paintings with acrylic, oil pastels, graphite and also like to work with oils and cold wax, I see colour combinations prior to starting a painting, but other than that, there is a sort of free flow process with a loose idea of composition and colour...but then half way through I'm taken by surprise at the direction the painting seems to want to go. About 3/4s of the way through the process its personality grabs hold and the title becomes obvious at that point! I try to be a conservationist in all areas of my life and will use reclaimed, reused and repurpose where possible. I am also a mindfulness and meditation coach and teacher. My years of sitting in nature are what inspired me to return to the creative process. I currently live in a gorgeous little glamping tent in the back of my property in L.A., which also serves as my meditation spot and my art studio.