Featured Artist Linda Laino

Surreal, dreamlike watercolor and mixed media paintings by artist Linda Laino are filled with organic elements, patterns and color. Visit her website to learn more about this artist.

 

 

For me, there is no greater feeling than being in the studio and having hours pass unnoticed because I have fallen into a painting. It is the most present way I can show up for my life.

 

 

With an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, I have been making art for over three decades and this practice informs almost everything I do.

 

 

My paintings combine watercolor, ink and prisma color with a distinctive surface. Years ago, I developed a way of working that is somewhat unique. My background is in textiles and greatly influenced my love of texture and structure.

 

 

My “canvasses” consist of hand-felted wool which I then cover in many layers of very thin rice paper. The felt lends the surface a texture and dimension that informs the imagery. The rice paper takes the watercolor beautifully, and I build up the surfaces in thin glazes. Recently, I have discarded the felt however, and now use a base of watercolor paper mounted on wooden frames to accept the rice paper.

 

 

The intimate size of my paintings reflects, I think, the intimacy of the elements that interest me. I am enamored with biology systems (plant, animal, human) and the intricate forms and patterns which can be found there.

 

 

My process is organic, and I follow the lead of the elements and color to determine where I go. I never do sketches. Because I am also a writer, words, particularly poetry, can often contain a seed for a painting. Poetry is a condensed language and I think visual artists, like poets, develop a vocabulary that helps the viewer extend the narrative as they make their own connections.

 

 

Since 2012, I have resided in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a, surreal, colorful town that has a thriving art community. As a teenager, when I first realized my desire to be an artist, the surrealists were who I found first.

 

 

My images have always ridden the border between reality and dream and being in a country that celebrates that condition has been good for my work. Travel, in the form of art residencies, is something I have focused on for the last few years. Becoming immersed in the nature of other places keeps me curious.

 

 

I recently asked patrons who have purchased my work to give me one word that prompted them to do so. A buyer from last year said, “Magic.” This delighted me as I believe creating something that is completely unique to the individual maker renders the art process magical.

 

 

To be “in” that magical space of experience and to come out of it with something to give to the world is both the artist’s gift and reward.

 

Artist Linda Laino invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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