Carrie Baxter, Painter
I work with encaustic paint, a combination of melted beeswax, damar resin, and pigments. The paint is heated to a molten state and applied with brushes and other tools, then the layers are fused with heat. My compositions are enhanced with additional media such as image transfers, oil pigments, pan pastels, mica powder, shellac burns, paper, and numerous other materials.
Texture is created by carving and scratching out areas of the wax, building layers of natural wax accretion, and embedding other materials within the wax layers. My artwork focuses on the environment, a sense of place, and natural elements, including creatures, plants, and landscapes. One of my ongoing series is titled Horizon Lines, which features the tranquility of landscapes and vibrant skies.
Another series, titled Distorted Places, was first inspired by the realization that my memory of places back home, which were once very familiar, was becoming blurred and fuzzy. Through this series, I express human beings’ efforts to recall a sense of place where inaccurate and distorted recollections are presented with awkwardness and misshapen forms of a flawed memory.