Featured Artist Terri Lloyd

Artist Terri Lloyd presents a quirky collection of figurative paintings created in her distinctive contemporary style. Find more of her portfolio by visiting her website.

 

 

I have both digital and traditional art making skills. For the longest time I avoided painting. I felt my traditional work wouldn’t measure up to my digital work. The death of my father in 2017 was the catalyst that returned me to painting.

 

 

I spent a year unlearning all I knew about painting. The first step was to switch hands and paint with my non-dominant hand. This would suspend my inner critic and give me the freedom to develop an authentic voice. The next step was to only paint on paper so my inner artist wouldn’t get in the way of the process.

 

 

When the left-handed works became good, I returned my brush to my dominant hand. And I returned to painting on canvas.

 

 

At this point, I began exploiting old family photos for content. The photos are quirky and lack composition. This pushed me to take risks of my own, often pealing away what or who isn’t necessary. I’m no longer interested in the arthritic pain of technical excellence. Telling a story with as little noise as possible provides clarity. A clarity of feeling rather than photographic or historic accuracy.

 

 

It was through my series, In The Court Of The Easter Queen, that I found a new voice.

 

 

But, it’s not enough for me to only paint. This past year, I realized that behind each body of work, behind each painting is a story that needs telling.

 

 

It doesn’t do the work justice to not include the stories, the characters, the events that inform the painting. So, I took the stories and the paintings to video for a more three dimensional experience.

 

 

Video not only allows me to tell a story, it allows me to set the tone and cadence for our journey together. I use both original visual content and stock video and music content. I write and edit all the stories myself. Editing seems to be a never-ending process.

 

 

Themes that influence both my visual art and storytelling are: Grief and loss; The Hero’s Journey and archetypes; humor and absurdity; and zeitgeist. Once in a while, I let banality slip in.

 

 

For me, the act of telling a story creates connection. A deeper connection than looking at a painting. It opens up liminal space. In that space I give you a piece of me and I remember who I am.

 

Terri Lloyd invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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