Gabriela begins each of her paintings on Moulin du Roy French watercolor paper, applying graphite, ink and pencil until her idea comes alive. To bring in color, the artist then uses gouache paint, which both penetrates into the paper and sits on the surface in a chalky way that interacts with the molten wax to be dragged and moved. She then attaches the painting to a cradled wooden panel made of a birch front and walnut sides for added richness and value before adding pigmented beeswax.

When she feels the image has been worked enough for the last step, Gabriela builds a dam and puts her panel on a perfectly level table. The artist then heats pharmaceutical-grade beeswax with 10% resin that acts as a stabilizer, preventing the wax from ever melting when finished or overheating in a home. She pours the wax in stages and in an artistic manner — to both seal the image and to add magical dreaminess and mystery to the work — without touching the wax with any tool so as to leave the beautiful surface that is unique to Gabriela’s work.

An inert material in that it has no bacteria, wax ensures that each of Gabriela’s paintings lasts for thousands of years, never changing. Thus Gabriela’s work is truly eternal.