A humble place setting of emptied aluminum cans, refilled with an assortment of brushes and oddities and dripped with a rainbow of slowly solidifying waxes, waits on the tabletop. With a spark, artist Theresa Stirling ignites a small blowtorch. The sweet aroma of honey fills the room as the whirring flame touches her canvas. 

An encaustic painter, Stirling builds a two-dimensional image upon a digital photograph on a wooden canvas, applying approximately 30 layers of colored beeswax and resins. Using an assortment of tools – from paintbrushes to nails – she applies each layer and then uses heat to fuse the wax. The process is slow and deliberate.

Stirling plans to demonstrate her work in this medium from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, at Artisans on Taylor, 911 Water St., in Port Townsend. The public is invited to attend and watch the process.

A Northwest native, Stirling spent her childhood steeped in nature, and those experiences continue to influence and inspire her work. Pieces range in size from 1 square foot to 13 square feet and can take several days to complete. 

Today, Stirling lives on a small farm along Hood Canal with her husband, raising their two young children along with a gaggle of chickens and rabbits. 

This life is a far cry from her day-to-day life of 15 years ago, when Stirling was immersed in a career in the biotechnology industry, traveling regularly and living in the “fast lane.” 

Stirling said it was around the time she met her husband and the two relocated to the Olympic Peninsula that she made the deliberate choice to start “doing things for all the right feeling rather than all of the right reasons.”

Her appreciation for the medium ever growing, Stirling said she keeps her approach loose, playing to the versatility of encaustic to slowly and deliberately create her art.