The

commission

for the Am Weinberg Hotel, Namibia

“It started with a phone call.”

It felt more like an invitation than a request. The architects behind the newly developed Am Weinberg Hotel in Windhoek were searching for something specific. Not decoration, but presence. They wanted artwork that could hold its own against clean architectural lines and soft modern luxury.

The comission

I said yes

The brief came through a design agency representing the architects. They’d seen my work with oils and cold wax and wanted three large-scale paintings for the hotel’s entrance foyer. Each piece would become part of the guests’ first impression of the space. That moment when you step inside and instinctively decide how a place feels.

No embroidery this time, just the tactile play of layered pigment and wax. Surface meeting light. Emotion embedded in material.

The space

building something that breathes

The space itself was stunning. Marble floors. Expanses of glass that framed the Namibian sky. High ceilings, stunning natural light.

I wanted the paintings to feel like they belonged there — like they’d grown out of the light.

I started sketching large color fields, imagining how morning and evening light would hit each wall. In a desert city like Windhoek, light has personality. It doesn’t just illuminate, it defines.

collaboration that worked

The AM Weinberg Hotel in Windhoek, Namibia, was designed by the architectural firm H&C Architects and Africa by Design. The project involved multiple companies for different aspects, such as Aluglass Bautech for construction and Emcon Consulting Group for electrical engineering.
Architecture: H&C Architects
Design: Africa by Design
Engineering: Emcon Consulting Group
Construction: Aluglass Bautech

constant dialogue

collaboration with me

The agency team was exceptional, not just in professionalism, but in presence. From the outset, they immersed me in the project’s visual language: detailed interior photographs, curated color swatches, and architectural mood boards that spoke in tones of stone, glass, and light. Every element felt intentional, and that intentionality shaped my response.

In return, I offered weekly updates from the studio — raw footage, close-up texture shots, wide-angle views of the evolving canvases.
We built a rhythm of exchange: images, questions, lighting tests, palette comparisons. Some weeks we’d zoom in on the subtle shift between warm grey and desert gold under different bulbs. Other times, we’d step back and ask how the work felt in relation to the space.

It was a true collaboration. They didn’t just approve progress — they engaged with it. That trust gave me room to experiment, to push the medium, to let the paintings breathe into being rather than force them into shape. We weren’t just installing art. We were shaping atmosphere.

storytelling through materials

The Technique: Oil and Cold Wax

The technique I used — oil combined with cold wax — is as much about intuition as it is about process. Cold wax medium transforms oil paint into something sculptural. It thickens, resists, responds. You don’t brush it on — you build with it. I layered pigment with palette knives, scrapers, and soft cloths, embedding texture and light into the surface. Each mark was a negotiation between control and surrender.
The wax allows for translucency and depth, so I worked in stages: laying down color fields, then excavating them. Scraping back, reapplying, polishing until the surface held memory. It’s a physical process — tactile, slow, and deeply responsive to light. In a space like Am Weinberg, where architecture and sunlight are in constant dialogue, that mattered. I wanted the paintings to shift with the day, to echo the rhythm of the building itself.

The Making

My Story of Cold Wax

Cold wax was an artist’s form of alchemy, transforming the very nature of paint from glossy and slick to something richer, thicker, and more substantial. Unlike the molten wax used for encaustics, there was no need for heat or special ventilation. Just oil pigments bound by the creamy, opaque paste.

It remins me of finger-painting as a child, digging into that soft, yielding medium with unabashed joy.

As I worked the wax into the oils, I found myself mesmerised by the textures blooming beneath her tools—the buttery striations left by a squeegee, the whorls carved by the tapered tip of a palette knife, the velvety washes achieved by simply dragging her fingertips through the viscous paint. Each new layer seemed to hold memories of the one before it, with colours peeking through like ghosts from a previous life.

art that meets architecture

When the pieces were finally crated and shipped to Namibia, I felt that familiar mix of pride and anxiety that comes with letting your work leave the studio. Paintings are like people: they look different in every light, they adapt to their environment, they sometimes surprise you.
Installation day photos arrived a week later. There they were — three luminous surfaces anchoring the hotel’s glass-and-stone foyer. Suddenly, the entire space felt complete. Balanced. Human.

Large abstract cold wax paintings by Leonie E. Brown installed in the Am Weinberg Hotel foyer, Namibia

Luxury isn’t price tags or marble. It’s intention. It’s how every element in a space feels like it’s been chosen with care. These paintings weren’t designed to shout, they were built to breathe. To absorb sound, light, and emotion until they became part of the building’s rhythm.
Am Weinberg charges over R5000 a night, but what guests really buy is an experience. They walk into a story made of stone, glass, and paint. And for a moment, they pause. That pause is where art lives.

About me

Berlin-based gallerist Irina Rusinovich describes my work as “fearless and emotionally charged,” noting that my paintings “don’t just take up space physically, but energetically.” She recognizes my “bold and instinctive” use of color, praising how “reds, blues, and flashes of unexpected hues carry weight—they feel like emotion in motion.” My compositions, she observes, maintain “a sense of chaos being held just barely in balance,” while the “raw, tactile quality” of layered materials creates works that are “physical, almost sculptural.”

Each painting becomes a mirror, inviting viewers to find themselves within its translucent layers. My hope is that you don’t just see paint and materials—you see a reflection of your own journey, a visual prompt to explore the beautiful, intricate tapestry of your own life and the memories that make you, you.

Available for exhibitions, commissions, and gallery representation.

"Remnants and Remembering"Size: 101.5 × 120 cm (39.96 × 47.24 in)$2,300.00 Orientation: PortraitMedium: Oil, Cold Wax, Resin, Threadsa, Stitching©Leonie.e.Brown, Artist – Original Artwork

Unveil the Layers

Join the Leonie.e. Brown Community

Step beyond the surface of creation and into a world where art meets soul. As a valued member, you’ll receive:

Exclusive Studio Unfoldings

instagram

Peek behind the easel and witness the alchemy of encaustic and mixed media as new layers of meaning emerge.

Philosophical Art Insights

Dive into reflections on creativity, healing, and life’s layered tapestry. Discover techniques, inspirations, and the quiet wisdom woven into every piece.