Artworks Features Encaustics by Holm

Marilee Holm

From the Orcas Island Artworks

Encaustic paintings by Marilee Whitehouse Holm will be on exhibit at the Orcas Island Artworks through the month of June.

“The encaustic material is so beautiful, I feel the wax does some of the work for me,” Marilee says. She applies multiple layers of melted pigmented beeswax onto a prepared ground with bristle and goat’s hair brushes, fusing each layer with a propane blowtorch. Then she works the material with “knives, forks, ceramic tools, scrapers, scratchers, wire brushes, baker’s tools, and scrap metal found on the road.”

Marilee earned her BFA at the University of Washington in 1975 and studied encaustic painting with Hamid Zavareei at Gage Academy in Seattle. The current exhibit celebrates the theme of “Home.” She has lived on Orcas Island since 1993.

The Artworks is open daily from 10 to 6.