Bridgette Meinhold worked in sustainability for many years, dabbling in watercolor when she had the time. But when she took a workshop on encaustic painting in 2010, something clicked, and by 2015, she was a full-time artist. This month, Meinhold will show her encaustic paintings alongside works from Nina Tichava in Thresholds and Dawns at Gallery Wild in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 
Winding Snake, encaustic and milk paint, 40 x 60”“The painting process for me starts in nature,” Meinhold says. “My husband and I go backcountry skiing as well as hiking and biking and camping, so I’m always taking photos.”
After she’s decided on her subject matter, she doesn’t start with encaustic right away. Instead, she does a watercolor study to help her decide on the composition and colors of the painting. “There’s not a lot of opportunity to fix mistakes in encaustic painting, so I really need to have everything laid out before I start,” she says. “In a way, it’s kind of like performance art. I have a very clear map of what I’m supposed to do, and then I just have to execute it.” 
A New Reality Takes Hold, encaustic and milk paint, 40 x 40”
One of Meinhold’s new paintings is the diptych Winding Snake. In it, Wyoming’s Snake River winds across both panels, the Tetons in the distance. “In Jackson, those mountains are the skyline, but I think a lot of people forget that there’s a river because they are looking up the whole time. So I wanted to explore the contrast between the mountains and the river.” 
Where Are You, encaustic and milk paint, 30 x 30”
Eventide shows the Tetons from a different vantage point. Meinhold says that she’s not necessarily aiming for a painting that is totally realistic, but a painting that still feels real nonetheless. “With this painting, I was trying to make the sky glow so that someone could immerse themselves in the scene and experience what it would be like at that time of day,” she says. 
Eventide, encaustic and milk paint, 40 x 40”
Gallery owner Carrie Wild says, “Bridgette’s work feels like a window peering into a wilderness wonderland. Her layers of encaustic wax and paint pair into soft subtle blankets of color that invite the light of day to dance through the trees in her paintings just as it would within a natural landscape.”
Thresholds and Dawns opens on February 17 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and remains on view through February 27. —
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