Freshwater

20” x 16” | acrylic on panel | 2024

This piece is the first of three in which I used layers and layers of acrylic to create an encaustic effect over imagery of a crackled dry lakebed. Stenciled images and acrylic skins are imbedded into the layers to create depth and a sense of time. I found these shells on the bottom of a mostly dried up reservoir in Oregon’s high desert. They made me think about the history of the plant and animals this reservoir has supported. It is a different sense of time tied to the rhythm of birth and death, procreation and seasons. Freshwater snails have filtered this lake and kept it clean for all life.