SHIMA SHANTI paints with beeswax and fire, the ancient art form called encaustic. Her impressionistic paintings of water in motion are inspired by the natural elements.

She patiently applies as many as 30 layers of molten wax, pigment, and resin onto wood; each layer is fused with heat. Combining bold and rough-yet-refined texture with satin-smooth finishes that appear both translucent and opaque. This creates a depth of luminosity that draws the viewer into her art.

Shima’s conventional upbringing in Big Sky Montana forever connected her with the natural environment, giving her an innate sense of color and composition. She never expected to become a successful, collected abstract impressionist painter. However, years after moving to the coast of California, and after a successful career in the corporate world, Shima felt that burning creativity that all artists have and learned the 5000-year-old art of encaustic.

She is both humbled and inspired by the patrons who have acquired her paintings as well as the many galleries across the country who carry her work.

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