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About Cathy

Baltimore County

 

BRIEF ARTIST BIO

            Cathy Leaycraft was born in New York City and raised mostly in the Philadelphia area.

         Her mother frequently took her to… more

View Cathy's Resume
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Reflected Landscape

When doing a photo shoot, I choose a location that I think will produce intriguing imagery. It could be a garden, a beach, or a friends yard. Once I am there, I set up my “glass studio” on the ground and begin exploring potential images. I move my body and camera around while looking through the viewfinder. In this work, I have shunned computer manipulation in favor of manipulating light and reflection, before it reaches my camera.
I strive for a dreamlike quality, and a sense of timelessness.
  • Side Yard
    Side Yard
    This image was taken in the yard of the house my husband and I were renting on Monhegan Island, Maine.
  • Trees Knees
    Trees Knees
    This image was taken at Adkins Arboretum in Maryland. I was on the ground in a somewhat swampy area that bordered a pond. The dark brown bulges are tree roots.
  • Yellow Dawn
    Yellow Dawn
    This image was taken early in the morning in my backyard. My glass sphere was on a pillow that had been in the seat of an Adirondack chair. The chair is also in the image.
  • Copper Globe
    Copper Globe
    This image was taken on the boat dock in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I was able to get to the area where the boats were tided up because it was December and off season.
  • Tears at Dawn
    Tears at Dawn
    This image was taken in my backyaed. The "tears" were created by condensation on the glass.
  • Mouth to Mouth
    Mouth to Mouth
    This image was taken in the fenced in deck surrounding a friends cottage in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The "mouths" are really one life preserver reflected twice in my sphere.
  • Vortex
    Vortex
    This image was taken on the dunes along the Ceader Woods Trail in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I particularly like the way the stick figure appears to be drawn by some spiritual force toward the womb like vortex.
  • Lobster's View
    Lobster's View
    This image was taken at the water's edge amoung the rocks on the shoreline at Fish Beach on Mongegan Island, Maine. The ball was in a puddle of water amoung the rocks. I am visable along the rocks on the right.
  • Eye Lash
    Eye Lash
    This image was taken at Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore. The "lashes" across the "eye" shape were created by the pattern in a cut glass bowl placed under my glass sphere.
  • Enter the Wreck
    Enter the Wreck
    This image was taken inside a boat wreck at Lobster Cove on Monhegan Island. I crawled inside with my camera and sphere.
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    • Encaustic and Photography

              About five years ago I began experimenting with the hot wax medium Encaustic. Encaustic gives my photographs the texture and depth I have long admired in paintings. In addition, I can manipulate the surface with traditional and non-traditional objects, like brushes, hammers, dental tools etc. I can also scrape out areas revealing more of the photograph underneath.
     
    The process:
                A mixture of beeswax and damar resin is heated to about 200 degrees and applied to a surface. In my case, the surface is one of my photographs printed on watercolor paper and mounted on board. After each layer of wax cools, it is “fixed” by reheating the wax with a heat gun. Additional layers are added in a similar fashion. I use three or four layers before making textural patterns in the wax surface, carving out elements, or adding pastel pigments. 

    • First Light
      First Light

      12" x 12" Encaustic, Photograph, and Pastel mounted on board. 

      Available for Purchase
    • Sky Light # 3
      Sky Light # 3

      14" x 11" Encaustic, Photograph, and Pastel mounted on board.

      Available for Purchase
    • Planetary Lines: Earth # 18
      Planetary Lines: Earth # 18

      11" x 14" Encaustic, Photograph, and Pastel mounted on board. 

      Available for Purchase
    • Planetary Lines-Earth # 15
      Planetary Lines-Earth # 15

      12" x 16" Encaustic, Photograph and Pastel mounted on board.

    • Earth Angles #6-72-3000.jpg
      Earth Angles #6-72-3000.jpg

      Encaustic on mounted Photograph. View of clouds, water, and rock jetty.

      Available for Purchase
    • View from Rt 6
      View from Rt 6

      12" x 12" Encaustic and Photograph mounted on board. 

      Available for Purchase
    • Cape Light
      Cape Light

      12" x 12" Encaustic, and Photograph  mounted on board. $300.00

      Available for Purchase
    • Planetary Lines-Earth #4
      Planetary Lines-Earth #4

      12" x 12" Encaustic, Photograph, and Pastel, mounted on board. 

    • Planetary Lines-Earth # 5
      Planetary Lines-Earth # 5

      12" x 12" Encaustic, and Photograph mounted on board. $300.00

    • Shore Line # 2
      Shore Line # 2

      12" x 12" Encaustic and Photograph mounted on board. 

      Available for Purchase
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