Her encaustic pieces are created by using computer illustrated drawings layered into beeswax with etched drawings on top. Since the surface is smoothed with the flame of a propane torch, Amy Ruppel describes her process as “painting with scissors and fire instead of a brush.” These works represent snapped moments in time, captured and taken from one simple slice of a digital photograph, to create a field of pure and lucid color. Simple imagery of birds and nests are a recurring motif in this series.
Amy Ruppel is constantly exploring new ways to bring the digital realm into the hands-on world and is constantly reworking encaustic methods into fresh contemporary forms. Amy states, “To me, feeling the completion of a piece is like reaching that ethereal finish line, and you feel the way that you do when you see the ocean from the shore, or when you exit a matinee and squint into the sudden light, knowing all along it was there.” Which is very much how one feels when experiencing Amy Ruppel’s paintings.
