Emily Jung Miller

My encaustic work focuses on abstract landscapes and nature studies with collaged natural elements. The encaustic painting process uses layers of colored wax melted together with heat, creating a velvety, luminous surface. I love the medium because it pushes me to create emotional work centered on color, gesture and form.

Series:

River to Sea

cascadia winter

ocean

autumn

winter

cosmos

garden

Beginning with the freshwater marshes that inspired Cascadia Winter, River to Sea follows the water through brackish estuaries, out to the open ocean, and back again over tidal shallows up to a sandy coastline. River to Sea is the first in a planned series of "progression" pieces, exploring transition environments and natural cycles of change.

In December 2016 I participated in a nine-day artist residency in Vancouver, Washington, where I created a series of larger format encaustic paintings directly inspired by the Pacific Northwest winter landscape, incorporating locally found objects.

The paintings were completed in the studio immediately after hours spent exploring local creeks and marshes in rain, snow and sun, collecting details and debris.

Some of the paintings express a specific moment, others are an accumulated memory of the landscape.