Shelley Gilchrist

Patterns of Flight
encaustic, oil, transfer on ply
20 x 15 in.

In my current painting series, I explore bird flight, which has inspired human efforts to take to the air for centuries. The complexity of human designs contrasts with the apparent simplicity and graceful ease of avian flight.

The encaustic medium invites exploration of the painting’s surface: images can be embedded under the wax, oil-painted on top of the surface, or carved through layers of different pigments.