Marilee creates abstract paintings using the centuries old encaustic technique. This involves melting dammar resin crystals in bees wax and adding dry pigments. She applies the hot wax to birch plywood, and finishes the work with heat from a blow torch which fuses the pigmented wax. Encaustic paintings are extremely durable outlasting other forms of paintings by hundreds of years due to their resistance to moisture, acid and mold.
Marilee has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Washington. She studied encaustic painting with Hamid Zavareei at the Gage Art Academy in Seattle. While painting is her first joy, she also loves to sew, garden, ride her bike, hike, enjoy the ballet, opera and fine dining
