At the age of 23, Kathleen O’Bryan took her first art class. After that, she never looked back!

After working exclusively in the soft pastel medium, Kathleen decided to explore the ancient encaustic medium. Encaustic is Greek, meaning “to burn on,” which refers to the technique used to melt layers together using heat or flame. The encaustic medium is beeswax cooked with damar varnish crystals to create a harder finished product. Adding pigment creates paint that is kept warm on a heated palette.

“I love the medium!” she says. “It’s all I work in now, and it has completely changed my art, although I can already see my unique style coming through in the techniques and imagery.”