VIRGINIA SLOAN, ARTIST
Growing up in an environment immersed in music and art, I was always experimenting in one way or another with both. Pencils and pastels were my preferred form of applied creativity in my younger years. I grew up surrounded by musicians and listening to the sounds of guitar, violin, mandolin and piano in the background. I have spent most of my life playing violin professionally and teaching. In my post-raising-children-years, I have come back to my love for creating art and have now found my true passion with paints and brushes.
When I start a painting I go through a process of layering, adding and subtracting color and texture, simplifying and complicating, then fine-tuning until the work is complete. I enjoy mixing colors to the exact hue and then experimenting with applications until I produce a piece of work that I find pleasing to the eye, much like a composer mixing different notes and rhythms to create a beautiful melody. I like to describe my work as abstract expressionism and was surprised to find abstracts to be the most enjoyable way for me to express myself. This genre allows improvisation and freedom much like the jazz music I love to listen to.
Currently I am working on a series entitled “Blumensterne” (German for “Flower stars”). The application is similar to watercolor, but instead of applying the paint to paper….. I pour, drop, and brush acrylic paint, diluted with water, onto raw linen and see where it takes me. It’s never predictable and that’s what I enjoy most about this medium.