Encaustic painting method in Dunedin Fine Art Center show

RIVERVIEW, Fla. — Everyday Leslie Neumann looks out on 15,000 protected acres of coastal wilderness in Aripeka.

And she helped save these brackish waters from development.
“Of course, I have the perfect motivation for having done land conservation for 30 years,” said Neumann, looking out on her back porch.
It’s on this that she has based her work –encaustic painting.
She employs molten, pigmented wax.
She applies it to a wooden panel, reheats it with various tools and then removes part of it.
“And now you can see that whatever I had painted underneath is going to show through and that’s exactly the idea,” said Neumann.
The unique works resonates with her audience—it sells.
“It’s fantastic- you know it’s not so much about the money. Of course everyone wants the money. But it’s about the affirmation,” said Neumann.
Affirmation that her art—it matters.
“My work is informed by this because it’s so incredibly beautiful,” she said. “And then when I’m not painting, I go and fight with the people who want to develop it,” said Neumann, “so that’s my contribution.”
A contribution that’s kept this coast wild, and she can continue to paint it.