Michelle Venable’s Watercolor Batik paintings are meticulously created by layering watercolor paints and hot beeswax on handmade rice paper. Michelle begins each painting by sketching out the fine details in black ink and then blocking out the white spaces with beeswax. She continues this process by painting the lightest colors first and then blocking out each color with a layer of wax until the painting is complete. Michelle then adds one last layer of wax and then crackles the wax and adds a layer of black watercolor paint to ooze through the cracks. Finally, she irons away the layers of wax, revealing a beautiful scene accentuated by the delicate textures of the plant fibers in the paper. Each painting can take anywhere from 6 to 50 hours to complete, depending on the size and intricacies of the art.