Fine Art (Jessica Flores Design)

My batik watercolor paintings employ a wax resist technique to create the cracked, mottled texture you see in the pieces below. The process involves applying hot, liquid wax to watercolor paper, allowing it to cool and dry, then carefully wadding the paper up into a ball so that some of the wax cracks and flakes off. Then I apply a wash of watercolor paint that settles into the lost wax areas. Next I smooth the paper out and remove the wax with a household iron and newsprint. The final painting is worked on top of the texture that remains.

The result is always so exciting, and, of course, no two paintings can ever come out the same. This process is another way to incorporate chance and surrender into my work - characteristics which are already inherent to the traditional areas of watercolor movement in each piece. Conceptually, the texture represents the passage of time and the brokenness of a world awaiting redemption.