J O Y C E   G E H L              Padded Feet on Misty Shadows encaustic, mixed media, 36"x68", $6,500.00

The gallery is proud to introduce the work of Joyce Gehl.  Working primarily in encaustic, Gehl begins with drawings from life in order to record her visions, usually bending the boundaries of photography by capturing a precise moment and then masking the resulting image or subject by layers of pigment and wax.  The resulting imagery is complex, lyrical, and rhythmic and is informed not only by her Northwest environment, but by keen observation of the simple beauty she finds in common elements, whether they be plant, human or object.  She delights in a most basic way to her subject and through her subject back to her environment.  Just as the beauty of the flower is shaped by the environment as it grows, Gehl’s paintings emerge from a complex history. The layers of textured wax and pigment are testimony to both the finished product and the process of creating it.  Her goal is to create work that is simultaneously sensual and contemplative.