Artist Statement:

Wax  protects, wax conserves, wax seals everything that is precious to me- and adds light to it.

I paint from memories, burned-in images that are surfacing right before I fall asleep, in my dreams, or while I wait to finally get to work (daily trance). If every artist visits his or her places of childhood then you may say I am very influenced by my European roots. I paint both landscapes and inscapes. Although separate topics, the subjects have a relationship in tone and emotion, both are holding nostalgia, mournful tunes, and lyrics. They are a sentiment. The inscapes are figurative and act as more narrative translations while the landscapes tend toward the abstract, acting more as a sanctuary, a retreat.”

Birgit Huttemann- Holz, 2009

Technique:

I paint with beeswax mixed with pigments, fuse each layer with fire (blowtorch), even paint sometimes with the destroying hungry flame.

I love the physical impact of the blowtorch, the evolving mountains and valleys, possibilities, lost designs in the mixing and melting beeswax. The inner voice - fire is literally the tool.

The use of the razorblade is thoughtful, thorough, controlled. Scratching away the layers, to get to the truth of a feeling, to reveal, finding the history of a painting is my greatest joy.

Encaustic is hailed as one of the most difficult mediums to work with. It is constant loss and restauration. It opens routes of seeing you would have never guessed.

The beauty of an encaustic paintings lies in its luminosity, transparent layers let you see through the surface- and you bounce back with light and awe.

Birgit Hüttemann-Holz thinks of her works as silent poetry.