*****
As a watercolorist, I take my inspiration from the places I've lived and visited. Many of my paintings were done while living in Florida. Now that I'm living in North Carolina, I can hopefully expand my base to more of the native species of flowers and animals here.
Ever since I was a small girl, I have always loved, nature - felt a part of the beauty and order which surrounds us everyday. The intricacies of colors in nature astounded me. I remember a starling that had been shot and I found alive back when I would nurse animals back to health. Starlings are known as ugly birds but as I looked at it in the sunlight, I was amazed with the myriad of colors reflected back at me. Blues, purples, reds all invaded my senses and truly opened my eyes to the beauty in everything our world had to offer, if we just looked hard enough.
When I went to college, I learned my skill as a writer and studied Journalism but got away from that. However, even when I was little, I was always drawing, sketching and coloring animals, especially horses since all girls love horses but I loved the musculature and flow of proportion, the intricacy. Much later, I decided to try my hand at acrylics and painted wall murals from landscapes to fantasy/cartoon figures. Then, about 7 or 8 years ago, I decided acrylics were too easy and I wanted to challenge myself. I took a watercolor class but I hate to say it, the results were just too tepid for me. I stopped for a while and started watching Terry Madden's watercolor classes on PBS and that's when the inspiration hit. I started painting and after working on 'Serenity' (which took me 5 times), I felt like I was energized. I also took a watercolor workshop in Jacksonville, FL over a weekend. After that, the sky was the limit. I knew I had to take what I had learned from the tepid class and the workshop and paint MY way. Bold, brash colors dominate my works and I love nature scenes. It's pretty easy to know one of my paintings when you see it because It will be 'in your face'. If you love bright, strong expressionistic art and extreme contrasts in your paintings, my watercolors are for you. I find the strongest pigments possible and there are times I use it like acrylics with actual textures so I don't water it all the way out. My painting doesn't follow the rules and I'm proud of that. I want to be different and I've learned it's best to follow my own heart without worrying about what others think.
Paint on!!!
Sincerely,
Lil Taylor
Lil Taylor joined Pixels.com Licensing on February 26th, 2010.
