Bridgette Meinhold says, “I really think there’s such amazing beauty in inclement weather. I love being out in it. The weather and light takes a scene you see every day in your life and transforms it.”
Delight in the Day, encaustic and milk paint, 30 x 47"
She and her husband live in an A-frame outside Park City, Utah, that is only accessible by snow mobile in the winter months. They are avid outdoor people and revel in the landscape in all its moods. From their front porch they set out backcountry skiing, biking and hiking. 
Holding Pattern, encaustic and milk paint, 47 x 30"
With a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from San Diego State University and a master’s in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University, she now identifies as an artist, naturalist and writer. She is also training as a Utah Master Naturalist—“volunteers and professionals who promote stewardship of natural resources within their communities by providing education, outreach and service.” She says, “By showcasing beautiful places, we draw attention to lands we love and by loving them, we can inspire others to protect them.”
Bide Our Time, encaustic and milk paint, 25 x 40"
Her ethereal landscapes are created with bee’s wax and milk paint. Her engineer’s brain came into play as she experimented with materials. She applies the wax and resin to a panel with a torch and works the dry pigment into it, building up layers that give the pieces a feeling of depth from the background sky and mountains to the trees in the foreground. She likens the experience to “walking into the fog.” She says, “I work from memory and my own photographs and use encaustic as a way to capture and preserve those moments. And just like my memory, the re-creation is not picture perfect—it is hazy, saturated and highlighted in the way that I can best recall.”
A Singular Time, encaustic and milk paint, 40 x 25"
She often makes a watercolor study and sketches out her composition so she knows what will go into each layer. Confident in the process, she is looking to letting go of some of the control. “I have to remind myself that you don’t build a new paradigm overnight,” she says. “New things take time.”
An exhibition of her new work, New Things Take Time, will be a Gallery Wild in Jackson, Wyoming, February 18 through 28. —
Upcoming Show
Up to 12 works
February 18-28, 2022
Gallery Wild
80 W. Broadway Avenue, Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 203-2322, www.gallerywild.com
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