About Me

Raulaniesa is an Encaustic and Mixed Media artist living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A transplant to the U.P., she's made the area home for over 30 years.

Raulaniesa is a self-taught artist, who fell in love with the process of creating and using colors to express thoughts and ideas at a young age. As an adult, she set forth to explore more of her creative side and began learning various brush strokes and techniques using resources such as television painting programs, library reference books, and worksheets and videos from the internet. She continued painting as a hobby, producing many painted décor items and simple landscapes for friends & family.

In 2015, she stumbled across an article that referenced the ancient technique of encaustic painting. Intrigued by the idea of the quick 'drying' time and layered approach, she purchased her first pigments, a bag each of beeswax and resin, and a few inexpensive supplies and set out to explore this new world.

Several years later, Raulaniesa continues to enjoy the process of creating with pigmented beeswax and fire. Because the artist is a firm believer in supporting fellow creatives and lifting up local entrepreneurs, she opts to source her beeswax and substrates from local U.P. and Michigan sources as often as possible. Doing so, also allows her to create art that goes beyond the visual. Each piece indulges the senses with the cinnamon-honey aroma of local beeswax, the smoky scent of freshly laser cut wood, and the textured surfaces created from layers of built up wax.

Getting to know the artist

"Art became a way for me to reconnect with my authentic self."

I've been creative my entire life and have always been inspired by color and ethereal patterns. As a self-taught artist, I've 'dabbled' in a variety of mediums including pencil, acrylic, and ink. Over the years, no matter the medium, I always enjoyed the process of creating. With encaustic, there’s an added elemental feel learning to paint with fire and making the torch - used to fuse wax layers to one another - an extension of my paintbrush. The process of laying paint and fusing it with heat allows me to build up layer upon layer of beeswax and pigment. Working with encaustic paint (a mixture of beeswax, pigment and tree resin), I've had to learn to 'go with the flow' - literally! While fusing, pigment may lift and float across the wax or the wax might flow in a direction I hadn't planned on. I've learned the more I trust this process and 'go with the flow', the more I end up liking the outcome!

Look closely at my work and you'll see slight imperfections and natural inclusions from the resin I use to harden the beeswax. While I could remove these, I choose to leave them as a reminder of how beautiful natural elements can be. I feel it adds a human element to my work. After all, I’m certainly not perfect and I think my work should be a true reflection of myself.

Creating each piece becomes meditation where I'm able to explore the richness of colors, texture and even the various scents in my studio (warm beeswax has such a delectable aroma!). It is an experience like no other. We are all drawn to certain things that help calm and center our souls.

In addition to flexing my creative muscle, I also enjoy spending time walking in the woods with my family and my two canine companions (who tend to make appearances, and steal the spotlight, on my Facebook and Instagram feeds), and near the edges of the Great Lakes. You'll definitely find energy imprints from the natural world in many of my paintings. When you do, I hope it brings you as much calm and joy as it does me.

- Raulaniesa

About Me

Getting to know the artist

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