Hayley’s  work explores the subjective quality of memory and cultural experience.She works with collage, textiles, found materials and wax. By using an intuitive process of mark making she builds up layers of encaustic wax paint then scrape into the surface to reveal the underlying textures and colours of previous layers. In her work she is attempting to create an intuitive language that represents or visually expresses the innate or the instinctual.

Encaustic wax paint has many appealing qualities: there is both a satisfying solidity to the paintings combined with a visual liquidity and transparency to the surface.

Encaustic or hot wax painting originated in ancient Greece. The technique was lost during the middle ages and only rediscovered in the eighteenth century. It was mainly used for wall or mural painting due to its resistance to moisture. Using molten wax combined with resins and pigment, opaque or translucent layers can be built up. A final heat treatment, or “burning in”, by passing a heat source over the surface, fuses and bonds the painting into a permanent form.