13 years of working in a hospice clarified for Val that the fleeting nature of our lives make it vital to value every moment.

Looking at her paintings side by side it's clear that recurring themes have grown from this awareness.  Her flowers are always dying; her seas have shifting tides that over time will transform her rocky beaches to sand; her more abstract works show layer upon layer hiding depths of personal history.
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Ultimately Val's paintings say 'Be aware life is short.'

Encaustic painting
Encaustic painting is a repetitive dance that involves adding layers of hot coloured wax to a wooden surface before scraping back and incising time and again. Experience brings intentionality to the creation of a range of textures from lustrous glass to more rough and aged textures. Colour comes from added oil or powder pigment and depth from the layering of different translucencies.