Celebrating the Art of Bridgette Meinhold
Nature Through an Encaustic Lens
Bridgette Meinhold is a conceptual artist, naturalist, and writer based in Park City, Utah. Creating art from her studio housed within a converted shipping container, perched high in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, Bridgette beautifully chronicles the majesty and mystery of her surroundings. Her unending inspiration stems from the natural wonders located just beyond her doorstep.
Employing an ancient medium composed of heated beeswax, damar resin, and pigments, Bridgette's encaustic paintings depict atmospheric landscapes with an ethereal, three-dimensional allure within a two-dimensional space. The swift drying of the hot wax captures each brush stroke and drip, enabling the creation of rich layers and textures. This technique is easily distinguishable in Bridgette’s works by its distinctively hazy and saturated appearance.
"I don't strive to craft picture-perfect landscapes," she remarks. "My focus lies in capturing transient moments – clouds suspended in the sky, the wind blowing snow off a tree, the interplay of light upon the earth."
Bridgette works from memory, her own photographs and en plein air to capture the way the atmosphere interacts with landscapes. She even uses Instagram to compose potential paintings on the fly.
Her art, as she likes to say, is equal parts adventure, experiment, release and retrospection.
"My focus lies in capturing transient moments – clouds suspended in the sky, the wind blowing snow off a tree, the interplay of light upon the earth."
The Process of Encaustic For anyone unfamiliar with encaustic, it is an ancient medium that is made from heated beeswax, damar resin and pigments. Because the hot wax dries quickly, it captures brush strokes and drips and allows rich layers and textures. Sometimes known as hot wax painting, it is recognizable in Bridgette’s works by its hazy, saturated appearance.
"Encaustic acts the part of the atmosphere," she explains, "creating depth, space and even time in which to create my ethereal landscapes."
"Each painting is a series of experiments to get closer and closer to capturing a memory, a sensation or a thrilling moment."
Care of Encaustic Paintings Encaustic paintings have been found that date back to the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Thus when properly taken care of – like you would with any fine artwork – encaustic paintings can last for a long, long time.
Such care is not difficult. Encaustic likes conditions that we humans like – not too hot and not too cold. By avoiding temperature extremes, direct UV light and excessive handling, an encaustic painting will not degrade over time.
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Bridgette Meinhold
Encaustic Painter
The paintings of Bridgette Meinhold are inspired by the majestic landscape around her Park City, Utah, studio – a converted shipping container set in a remote aspen grove. She works largely in encaustic, mixing heated beeswax and pigments to capture the moody fogs and clouds, the mountains' sculptural forms, and the groves of fir and quaking aspen. As she says, "Each painting is a series of experiments to get closer and closer to capturing a memory, a sensation or a thrilling moment."
