Christin Margaret Zelenka

Describe Your Work in Three Words: Nature-Inspired, Ethereal, Fleeting.
Education: BFA in Studio Art from the University of New Orleans.
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Your work often features insects and birds intertwined with natural elements. What draws you to these subjects, and how do they reflect your connection to Southern Louisiana?

My living in Southern Louisiana brings me in direct communication with diverse wildlife and habitats. My painted subjects are directly reflected by my surroundings. My studio is encircled by old trees and overgrown gardens filled with, yes, insects and birds, but even small mammals and reptiles. Butterflies, bees, birds, etc., are alive around me when I paint and sketch. I try to paint a glimpse of their world.

Christin Zelenka | Treasure Thistle Bee | 2024

Can you walk us through your process of creating an encaustic painting? What are the challenges and rewards of working with this medium?

My encaustic process begins with a detailed drawing and a wood panel. My drawings are traced onto vellum and, depending on the size of the drawing, I will paint the vellum in oil or gouache. The vellum paintings determine my background colors and the amount of encaustic medium layers applied to the wood panels. I fuse the layers with a heat gun, building up to three to five layers. My greatest challenge with working in the encaustic medium is the layering process. Too much encaustic medium, and you lose the integrity of the vellum image or background painting, and not enough means the vellum image is not secure. What I love about the encaustic medium is its flexibility. I can create texture by carving, depth with layering of objects, movement by reheating the encaustic medium, or make the surface of the encaustic painting as smooth as glass.

The writing on the back of your vellum paintings sometimes shows through to the front, adding an extra layer of meaning. What role does this hidden or partially revealed text play in your art?

About the writing, the viewer is drawn in by what looks like readable text behind the vellum painting. However, after close examination, the writings on vellum appear in mirror form. Even if the viewer had a mirror, the graphite gets smudged, and letters by chance are removed due to the heat of the encaustic medium. The text becomes archaic and non-readable, but the viewer recognizes a language. The writing becomes a secret language between nature and the mystical world, something dreamlike that remains a mystery. A mystery that lingers in the viewer’s mind.

Christin Zelenka | Treasure Amber Bee | 2024

You incorporate mica and other mixed media into your paintings. What guides your decision to include these elements, and how do they enhance the overall atmosphere of your work?

Mica and elements on the surface of the paintings create something tangible, something that one can grasp. However, it is an illusion, and we can’t wrap our hands around it. The elements and mica add to the dreamlike quality of the encaustic paintings, creating a glimpse of something, for example, a bird in flight. We register movement and imagery, but it is fleeting.

You mentioned that your paintings have a dreamlike quality due to the multiple layers of encaustic medium. How do you decide on the number of layers, and what effect are you trying to achieve?

To create a dreamlike painting, I layer encaustic medium over the background so the viewer will see glimpses of background color. To create movement, I will build up to three to five layers. But I don’t stop there. I will then burn off layers to show more background and create movement in the encaustic.

Christin Zelenka | Treasure Clover Bee | 2024

How does your background in Southern Louisiana influence the color palette and themes of your artwork?

Rich olive greens, browns, and dark blues are my color palette, which calls to mind the murky swamp water and beautiful bald cypress trees that make up Southern Louisiana. Growing up in Southern Louisiana, you are comfortable being surrounded by water, heat, and humidity. Here, humans are an afterthought. The sidewalks crack because plants are breaking through. Houses bend under the weight of vines. To escape the hot summers, my family would take us out in a small boat to enjoy the breeze and relief of the lake and rivers. It is here that I grew to love the moss that hangs on the bald cypress trees and the beautiful birds that sit and watch. I learned to share the same waters with alligators who move along when they hear loud noises. Even now, when I need inspiration, I will head out to a body of water and breathe in all my surroundings.

Can you share more about your studio, Softly Painted Stories Studio? How does this space contribute to your creative process?

Softly Painted Stories Studio is a shed that I converted into a creative workspace. Having a designated space to paint helps me to have clear intentions about what I am doing in the space. As I open the studio doors, I know what needs to be done and let the wildness of nature in.