Featured Artist Judith Eisinger

Judith Eisinger shares a colorful portfolio of landscapes and figurative work with a delightful contemporary style. Visit her website to see more.

 

 

It started with a fourth grade class art project. A historical mural on a roll of brown packing paper taped to the class wall. Having just arrived in the United States with my family a couple of years prior as a young Hungarian refugee, I was still not comfortable with my new language and environment. Then there was art. I loved it.

 

 

That passion continued throughout junior and high school. My design for the annual school holiday card took first place. Later, my poster design for the City of Cleveland Heights Annual Report was chosen from a call to artists. With high school graduation near, I applied for a number of art scholarships. Kent State University provided a full 4-year art scholarship — graduating with a BFA with honors. It was at Kent I experimented with oil (discovered I was allergic to turpentine), acrylic and watercolor.

 

 

I remember my frustration during my first year painting class. My paintings didn’t look like everyone else’s lifelike paintings. A wise professor set me straight, “Your paintings not only reflect what you see, but how you perceive what you see. Don’t change.”

 

 

I soon discovered not every art judge felt that way. My watercolor paintings were continually rejected for shows. My work didn’t follow the unwritten rules of what a “traditional” watercolor should be. Yet, my first one-woman show at the Artist Cooperative Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio was nearly a sold out show.

 

 

My art background was instrumental in my securing a position as an illustrator for a trade magazine publisher in Cleveland. It also gave me the opportunity to learn the business of graphic design.

 

 

Life was busy. I got married, had two children and a full time job as a graphic artist. I continued to paint. Our family moved to Florida and I worked as a graphic artist and eventually as the Creative Director of a South Florida advertising agency. I continued to paint. My first Florida commission, 24 paintings, was for the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Other commissions followed.

 

 

A new challenge. Computers with their graphic software came on the scene. Some artists saw the computer as a threat. I chose to incorporate the digital with the fine art. A hybrid. I sold and received awards for many of my “mixed media” work.

 

 

Now, I’ve come full circle in my art. I found my way back to what I love the most — watercolor, acrylic and the line.

 

 

My paintings have always evolved from impressions of life, rather than a strict rendering of a given subject. In every new painting, I relish the ebb and flow of the lines and colors. The power of less is more and the ways simplicity and boldness can magically evoke a sensation — a “rush” when art happens.

Judith Eisinger invites you to follow on Instagram.

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