The Encaustic and Calligraphy Portfolio of Michele Barnes
Virginia Beach artist Michele Barnes is trained in encaustic and calligraphy techniques. Her portfolio encompasses these, and other artistic techniques, such as plein air painting and bookmaking.
Blue and Red Jellyfish, encaustic
I’m taken by the incredibly vibrant colors that Michele achieves through her encaustic works. The artist tends to favor plant and animal subject matter, and scenes from nature – some of the artist’s recent wax artworks depict underwater landscapes, and creatures such as crabs and jellyfish. I enjoy the way Michele toes the line between realism and surrealism, rendering forms in mostly realistic detail, but taking colors just outside the realm of the real and natural.
There’s an experimental edge to much of the work in Michele’s portfolio, like in her drawings and prints, where a variety of different techniques produce an equal variety of different aesthetics. Abstractions that flow across the entirety of the substrate appear frequently, created via different processes.
