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About Jolie, the Artist

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My
Story

As a painter I paint and draw whatever catches my fancy, though I mostly paint colorful non-representational abstracts using acrylic paint, a painting knife, and on occasion a paintbrush and/or paint roller.  Inspiration and influences on my work include the Bible, photography, printmaking, dancing, music, art history, nature, and animation & cartoons.
 

ABSTRACT PAINTINGS
"Adventures in Abstract", my art series of non-representational acrylic paintings started as an artistic challenge I gave myself in late 2018 to paint every day.  This challenge happily turned into a refreshing journey of creative discovery.  These small but colorful pieces are created by applying paint directly to the canvas and moving it with dynamic strokes of the painting knife or paintbrush. The pieces reflected the energy, boldness and vibrancy of color that I hope will bring joy to the viewer.  I also enjoyed working to create a piece spontaneously in the moment.

 

With "Playful Palette" & "Playful Palette II", I continued this exploration of color, but in addition to my nonrepresentational abstracts, I included my mixed media works that focused on nature.  These mixed media pieces combined paint, paper, sand, textures and image transfers of flowers or plants to create the idea or moment I was aiming to visually convey. 

 

MIXED MEDIA

At times, I use mixed media as a fun challenge to see what I can make or as a secondary project that takes more time to make.  Previous artistic challenges included making a piece with a broken mug and coffee beans and another used wood ashes and dried rose petals.  My favorite added materials are sand and image transfers.  I love adding image transfers to a canvas because it allows me to combine my photography with my painting. 
 

DRAWINGS: OIL PASTEL, CHARCOAL AND PEN
I love to draw.  I enjoy making my pen drawings feel sketchy, like a rough gestural drawing or doodle.  I love the process of finding the edges of a shape when I draw, and seeing the pen lines peeking through the marker colors.  Another of my favorite drawing mediums is oil pastel.  I enjoy combining it with charcoal, Conte crayon, paints or odorless mineral spirits to create painterly style drawings.  I desire to make my works feel like an emotive or joyfully dance. 

 

PHOTOGRAPHY
I find nature inspiring and enjoy going on nature walks with a camera, where I find inspiration in the wonders of life.  The landscape surrounding my home town is often the subject of my camera lens. I have pointed my camera at the various birds, trees, flowers and water views in the area.  I have used the photos from my walks as references for artwork, but most are printed for use as image transfers in my mixed media pieces.  

 
ART THAT WARMS THE HEART  
The name, Happy Heart Arts, comes from Proverbs 15:13: "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the soul."  The term, musical hug, I got from my friend, Karen, who is a singer.  I was feeling down about my art and she encouragingly reminded me about how we don't know the impact of what art has on another person and how it can touch them emotionally.  She told me the story of how her singing provided a musical hug to a couple.  Just like Karen, I, too, now hope that my art will move people both spiritually and emotionally. That no matter what the subject matter is that they will be uplifted by it
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Contact the Artist

To contact me about my artwork, please fill out the contact form.

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