Encaustic Painting
Mary O’Neal
A Shreveport-based artist creating bold, textural works wtih molten beeswax, tree resin, and oil pigment. Rooted in emotion and layered with meaning, each piece reflects Mary’s passion for color, depth, and organic form.
Portfolio
Untamed Blooms
This series captures the raw energy and organic beauty of nature in motion. Layers of molten beeswax (tree resin), vibrant pigments, and delicate shellac burns create a luminous floral form that seems to bloom before your eyes.
Wanderlust
A journey through color, texture, and emotion inspired by landscapes and natural scenes. Each piece is crafted with passion and precision, forged and scraped to build multidimensional works mirroring the true essence of nature.
About the Artist
My desire to paint more freely led me to encaustic painting, a bold and expressive medium made from melted beeswax, tree resin, and oil pigments. I combine these with alcohol inks and shellac to create layered, textural works full of depth and movement.
As a Shreveport encaustic artist, I’m especially inspired by floral forms, which emerge as vivid energetic botanical encaustic paintings. My encaustic landscapes are influenced by waterways and rendered in an impressionistic style.
Each piece evolves through a complex layering process, where the addition of more encaustic wax, shellac, and ink forces spontaneous design choices. The unexpected reactions – and the use of fire – make this mediume both challenging and deeply rewarding.