Janet Hyland
Place defines my landscape, surroundings, and psyche. The quality of light morphs as the clock ticks, the clouds pass by, and seasons change. Focused, patient observations. Inspired by nature, scenes imprinted in my mind’s eye are edited and abstracted into thin layers of pigmented wax to create a place the viewer imagines having visited.
Two heartstrings tugged when first discovering encaustics: Translucence and mystery. As a pastel painter, I reveled in light layers of complementary colors optically shimmering into one. Vibrant and immediate. Encaustic painting proved even more compelling. Luminosity. Depth. Carving in and scraping back to reveal what’s hidden beneath, unseen. Embedding objects, fibers, and ephemera. Creating texture. Mark making at all layers. Illuminating the magical. I continue to explore the endless possibilities of this ancient medium that, quite literally, warms my heart.