Artist Bio

 Originally from the Midwest, Deb now lives in the heart of the Arizona mountains - Rim Country. She has studied Commercial Art and has a Web Design degree but considers herself to be a self-taught artist.  Deb has a background in graphic design, mural painting and photography.  Her art is featured in galleries and has won numerous awards. 

  Deb Schwalm loves the journey for the next inspiring image and how she can interpret, embellish and re-invent it for batik. 

Capturing the light is everything. The final results of the textures and transparency is amazing. She likes to incorporate a sense of magic, whimsy and GLOW her art. 

 Watercolor Batik Process: Hot wax is used as a resist on paper or (in my case) mulberry paper. Using watercolors, a light to dark paint technique is used to layer watercolor and wax. The hot wax reserves the areas already painted so that additional layers of watercolors can be added. This process takes planning, preparation, patience and practice. With this method, there will be permanent ink lines, unintentional wax drips, wax splatters, spreading watercolor – Happy Accidents.