In her abstract and representational encaustic paintings, Atlanta mixed-media artist Deborah Llewellyn draws on her 20-plus years as a professional photographer.
Artist: Born in Montreal, raised in Connecticut, Llewellyn attended SUNY Purchase in New York as a dance major.
After a semester at SUNY, she received a full scholarship to the Alvin Ailey School (Dance Theater in NYC), where she studied for a few years before leaving to study at Fordham University.
She left college after answering an ad for a sales rep for a commercial photography studio in Stamford, CT. Llewellyn soon began doing her own commercial photography.
In 1993, Llewellyn moved to Atlanta and built her own freelance commercial photography business.
For more than 25 years, she photographed interiors, food and people for 100-plus books, magazines and corporate clients.
In the beginning: While on a photo assignment for a local magazine, Llewellyn met Georgia husband and wife artists, Tom Swanston and Gail Foster. At their home, Llewellyn watched Tom work with encaustic medium.
In 2010, Swanston held an encaustic workshop, which Llewellyn took, and was hooked. (Note: Encaustic painting is a technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax).
Art & materials: Mostly abstract and colorful paintings using diverse materials, including encaustics, oil, dry pigments, shellac, cold wax and photos. Her most recent body of work includes inks and resins on different surfaces. ($250 to $11,000 for a large (73” x 48”) work.
Inspirations/influences:
- Artists, including: Georgia O’Keeffe, Irving Penn, Michael David, Alan Katz, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lawrence Carroll, Betsy Eby and Joyce Tenneson.
- Color play and patterns.
- Aerial views of waters, rivers and open lands.
- Nature, particularly flowers.
Favorite tools: A blowtorch, of course! She has two types:
- Propane, the hardware store variety.
- Butane, a larger one, like the tool chefs use.
Unusual commission: Two paintings for the living room (she never saw) for a Florida buyer she never met.
The Sarasota buyer saw Llewellyn’s work on a stopover at the St. Francisville Inn, a boutique hotel in Louisiana, and contacted the artist.
“I worked off cellphone photos, plus her color palettes and the dimensions for the custom panels,” said Llewellyn. “Then shipped them.”
Awards/honors
- One of her pieces was selected in June for the Cold Wax International: A Juried Exhibition, which is dedicated to showcasing the many ways artists work with cold wax medium.
The selected artists will have their work displayed for two months on The Cold Wax Academy website (coldwaxacademy.com).
- In 2020, “Into the Vortex,” a 36-inch by 36-inch encaustic and shellac painting on wood panel, was selected for a National Juried Exhibition with the Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM.
Where to buy:
- Reinike Gallery, Atlanta, GA. reinkegallery.com
- River Gallery in Chattanooga, TN. https://river-gallery.com
- Directly from her studio in Atlanta.
What’s next:
- A “self-assignment” of painting a large panel for her living room.
- Preparing to sell stretched canvas prints in different sizes of some of her original paintings. “I want to offer more affordable art,” she said.
. Get social:
- Artist website: deborahllewellynartist.com
- Photo website: dwlphoto.com
- Instagram: @deborahllewellyn
