About the Artist
My name is Sonja Gaffer and I was born and live in Norwich Norfolk on the east side of the UK.
I suppose my love of creating things came from my mother who always has some art/craft project on the go. Sometimes several at once.
I like to go to craft shows and like to try something new when I see it.
About 9 years ago I went to the Royal Norfolk showground to check out a craft fair and came accross Barry Moultons trade stand. Barry was demonstrating encaustic art.
I was hooked from that moment. I couldn't leave the stand. I was amazed at how, with the swipe of the iron, he had made a sky. With a backward and forward motion he had made hills. With a few dabs of the iron he had made forground and a few flicks had grasses. I was at that stall for hours, couldnt get myself away!
I bought a starter kit and that night had a go.
I was very pleased with what I made straight away. All my friends and family got the cards I made for special occasions and soon I found myself at craft shows making pictures to sell. Encaustic art is very viewer friendly as it is fascinating to watch, so as I demonstrate I always seem to gather a crowd.
Having a young family limits the mount of time I can put into this as I have an awful lot of other hobbies and I work full time as a dog groomer.
I am a keen gardener and also have my own horse. A large part of my life before being a mother was competing in dog obedience competitions all over the UK. Quite successfully I might add. I have also shown Guernsey cattle, at county shows, for the last 22 years, and continue to do so.
But the arty hobbies were always there for the winter evenings.
I may go several months between sessions of encaustic picture making but the ideas are always in my mind. When I do pick up the iron and have another go I am straight back into it again, as hooked as ever.
I particulary like the fantasy pictures that encaustic art lends itself to very well. You can just let your imagination run riot, nothing looks out of place.
The hardest thing is knowing when to stop. The old saying 'less is more' is never more apparent than with encaustic. I am always tempted to do just a bit more to a picture but have to force myself to leave it at that.
Recently I have been selling some of my pictures on eBay, an online auction site. My ebay ID is proudpaws.
Others are available off this site.I am updating the site all the time. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
