Sandra Henderson

Sandra's earlier work was largely inspired by flowers but she then broadened her subject matter to include birds, animals and landscapes.

Her art journey has included watercolour with the addition of gouache, acrylics and inks on paper and canvas. She has also explored painting miniatures with watercolour and airbrushed inks on Claybord. She very much enjoys exploring new media and techniques and this led to her excursion into the world of encaustic. 

Encaustic is a Greek work meaning 'to heat' or 'burn in' (enkaustikos). This technique has been around for centuries - it dates back to the Ancient Greeks who used it to decorate their warships.

Encaustic painting involves the use of melted beeswax with the addition of a hardening agent. It is usually painted onto a wooden board and the wax is fused with a heat gun. A wide range of different materials and techniques can be incorporated into the encaustic painting - collage, stenciling, texturing, inks, oil pastels, engraving, shellac burning - the use of techniques is limited only by the imagination. 

Sandra has recently recognised that she is 'process driven' ie she enjoys the exploration of new techniques and media above all and this approach led her to explore alcohol inks on yupo paper and then canvas. Her current work is extending on the skills she has developed with inks and she is using texture paste, inks and acrylics to create vibrant, highly textured works on canvas.