My work explores how color, texture, and contrast shape emotion. Through layered compositions and intuitive mark-making, I seek harmony—inviting viewers into the way I experience nature and the quiet narratives that unfold on the canvas.

My artistic path began in childhood, sketching the delicate branches of winter trees during a third-grade art lesson. In that moment, I recognized how naturally creativity lived in me. When I wasn’t reading, I was drawing, painting, or piecing together small mosaics. My mother, an artist herself, nurtured this early passion by keeping my world filled with art supplies and encouragement. My father, with his knack for discovering beauty in discarded objects, taught me to see potential where others saw none. Inspired by him, I began weaving found materials into my work—one of my favorite memories is creating mosaics from candy-wrapper foil, mesmerized by its shifting light.

As I studied art more formally, university expanded my practice to include black-and-white photography and the meditative craft of film development. Over time, I blended these interests with encaustic wax, embedding vintage photographs, postcards, and found objects into translucent layers, then carving back through them to reveal unexpected textures and forms.

My studio today is a balance of calm and creative disorder. Though I’m tidy by nature, this is the one place where I allow things to sprawl. When building a collage or mixed-media piece, I like every possibility in view. What may look chaotic is actually the beginning of clarity. Sunlight fills the space, and my eyes often drift to the world outside—distant mountains, a spiderweb jeweled with droplets—small moments that quietly shape my process.

Layer by layer, my work reflects my love of material exploration and my fascination with shape, repetition, and color. Each piece becomes its own story—an invitation to feel, to wonder, and to see the world through a more textured, luminous lens.

Watercolor

Watercolor travels with me like an old friend—ready to capture the shimmer of light on water, the shadow of a passing cloud, or the curve of a distant shoreline. Its translucent washes feel like memory itself, layered and shifting, revealing new depths with each stroke.

I keep a small travel kit tucked in my bag, along with a camera (often just my phone) to catch those fleeting moments the eye alone can’t hold. Later, in my studio, these sketches and photographs become the seeds of larger works—dreamscapes shaped by places I’ve been and the quiet magic I’ve witnessed.

If you’d like to create a travel watercolor kit like mine, you’ll find simple, step-by-step instructions on my blog here.

Oil Painting

Oil paint is where I slow down. Its richness invites me to linger—blending colors until they hum in harmony, building layers that seem to hold light within them. The process feels almost tidal: each stroke a wave that moves forward, then retreats, revealing something unexpected beneath. Whether I’m painting a windswept coastline or the glimmer of a mythic figure, oil allows me to explore depth, atmosphere, and the quiet pull of emotion.

Encaustics

Working in encaustic is like painting with memory—beeswax and pigment fused by heat, layered onto gessoed wood panels until light seems to rest within the surface. Depending on the application, the wax can become a soft, translucent veil or build into rich opacity. Pigmented wax and collage materials—vintage photographs, postcards, handwritten letters—can be embedded within, each layer scraped, textured, or polished to reveal hidden depths.

My journey with encaustic began in a workshop that unlocked its possibilities. I was instantly captivated by how wax could cradle a photograph, suspending it in luminous depth. During long, cold winters, the process itself became a quiet joy—the warmth radiating through the studio, the air perfumed with the sweet scent of honey, and each brushstroke a conversation between history, texture, and light.

Media Art

Media art is created using electronic tools and techniques, blending technology with traditional artistic vision. This series grew out of my weekly hikes along mountain trails, where shifting light and color mark the passage of the seasons. Each piece captures a moment from those walks—translated into prints that reflect both the natural world and a contemporary artistic lens. Prints

Most of my artwork is available as a giclée print, even if the original has found a new home. If you don’t see the piece you love in the ‘Prints’ section of my Etsy shop, just send me a message with the size you have in mind—I’ll be happy to create it for you.

Etsy Ocean Themed

Website: www.loreenpitchford.com

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