24" x 24" encaustic, shellac, alcohol ink on birch board. An accomplished encaustic artist, Tonya uses the traditional encaustic mixture of beeswax and resin to sculpt exquisite 3D floral “paintings”.  The nature of encaustic, which consists of wholly organic materials found in nature, lends itself to the overall theme of the beauty and fragility of nature.  Her use of wax gives a rich optical effect to the pigment making the finished work startlingly lifelike.