PAINTINGS THAT ENERGISE AND HEAL; HER POWERFUL ARTWORKS FILL THE MIND WITH RENEWED CONVICTION.
WE SIT DOWN FOR A CHAT WITH JUDY AIZUSS, NUMBER 5 ON OUR LIST OF 25 RECOMMENDED ARTISTS FOR 2019.
Tell us about yourself and background.
As a child, I was always drawing. Wherever there was blank paper I filled it with my drawings. Recognizing me as “artistic,” my parents enrolled me in art classes. However, they discouraged me from pursuing art in college, persuading me that I couldn’t make a living that way. So I dutifully left art behind, eventually becoming a psychotherapist, alternative healer and spiritual teacher. My passion for painting was reawakened in the mid 1990’s, but by that time, the chronic physical symptoms I’d had since I was 21 worsened and I couldn’t attend many art classes. So I learned mostly by reading many art books and magazines, and of course, experimenting on my own.
Tell us about your work.
My paintings are about discovering Light, both literally and spiritually. I like to think that my artwork speaks of realities and truths that lie beyond our physical senses. As a landscape artist, I use physical tools such as brilliantly colored pastels organized into carefully designed images, in an attempt to communicate those truths as I understand them.
In addition, I use landscapes and cloudscapes to reawaken our reverence for nature. Nature has a restorative, life-giving energy which I seek to infuse into my work. My originals are done mostly in pastels applied in many layers with frequent blending of colors. I work from a combination of photos and my imagination. The colors I use are not necessarily realistic, but are chosen for how they complement each other and for how well they express my feelings about the scene and the message I want to communicate.
WE SIT DOWN FOR A CHAT WITH JUDY AIZUSS, NUMBER 5 ON OUR LIST OF 25 RECOMMENDED ARTISTS FOR 2019.
Tell us about yourself and background.
As a child, I was always drawing. Wherever there was blank paper I filled it with my drawings. Recognizing me as “artistic,” my parents enrolled me in art classes. However, they discouraged me from pursuing art in college, persuading me that I couldn’t make a living that way. So I dutifully left art behind, eventually becoming a psychotherapist, alternative healer and spiritual teacher. My passion for painting was reawakened in the mid 1990’s, but by that time, the chronic physical symptoms I’d had since I was 21 worsened and I couldn’t attend many art classes. So I learned mostly by reading many art books and magazines, and of course, experimenting on my own.
Tell us about your work.
My paintings are about discovering Light, both literally and spiritually. I like to think that my artwork speaks of realities and truths that lie beyond our physical senses. As a landscape artist, I use physical tools such as brilliantly colored pastels organized into carefully designed images, in an attempt to communicate those truths as I understand them.
In addition, I use landscapes and cloudscapes to reawaken our reverence for nature. Nature has a restorative, life-giving energy which I seek to infuse into my work. My originals are done mostly in pastels applied in many layers with frequent blending of colors. I work from a combination of photos and my imagination. The colors I use are not necessarily realistic, but are chosen for how they complement each other and for how well they express my feelings about the scene and the message I want to communicate.
"I like to think that my artwork speaks of realities and truths that lie beyond our physical senses."
What makes your work unique?
My work is unique because while I admire and learn from other artists, I don’t try to emulate anyone. Instead, I work intuitively from my heart and soul. In addition, experiences with recurring illnesses have compelled me to dive below surface values and into life’s meaning and purpose. I believe that my art reflects this through the basic themes I paint, and may well be what draws people to my paintings.
Why is your work a good investment?
I believe that my paintings are an excellent investment… in yourself. My paintings are meant to lift your spirit, to inspire you to move with greater ease through the challenging times in your life, and to be all that you can be. I can think of no better investment than that. When placed in a corporate setting, these paintings are bound to lift the spirits of employees, thereby helping to increase productivity. These images may also communicate to your customers that your company adheres to higher human values, which may in turn engender trust in your company.
"We can learn a lot from the darkness while we are in it."
Tell us about some of your achievements.
I’m proud of how I continue to grow as an artist. Each time I sit down to work my way through a new piece I can see and feel how I am composing differently, using my colors in a new way, and overall incorporating approaches and techniques that I’ve learned about. But I think that by far my greatest achievement is the extent to which I have grown spiritually and emotionally in my life, through many losses and health challenges. We can learn a lot from the darkness while we
are in it. We learn that Love works. Kindness works. Hope, faith, and joy all work, while hatred and fear do not. And no matter how dark things get in our lives, and no matter for how long, there is always Light awaiting us.
What public recognition have you achieved for your artwork?
Sunset Fantasy was recently chosen to be part of a major new corporate building installation in Silicon Valley, California. Beauty in Darkness was selected for display in the office of the CEO of the Marin County Water District. Three paintings: Misty Morning, Toward the Morning, and Morning Mist were chosen by the President of Marin Conservation League to be displayed in her office. Hailstorm won an award and sold at the Motherlode Art Exhibition in Placerville, California.
“There’s no shortage of ideas I want to try. However, my artwork is a day-to-day, moment to moment thing based on feelings and intuition."
What are you passionate about? I’m passionate about creating art.
The process feeds my soul. I experience many moments of exhilaration as imagined images in my mind flow through my hand to paper. Each piece I do is an adventure. In addition, I’m a passionate lover of animals and the natural world. I view every living creature and plant as sacred and worthy of love. I’m also a spiritual explorer, always striving to live a life of compassion, kindness, and unconditional love toward others.
Tell us the backstory of some of your projects.
“Sunset Fantasy” began with a sweeping gesture of my arms, representing a feeling of bold expansive energy. I wanted strong colors and lots of movement in the painting to express this. I consulted a number of photos, which I combined in the design, employing many layers of soft pastels until the colors were just right. “Beauty in Darkness” is of a scene I encountered at a Lake Bon Tempe, just before a rainstorm. The weather was dark, cold, and windy. I was only out there because my dog needed exercise, and I didn’t expect to see anything worth painting. But suddenly, light came through the clouds and reflected a brilliant silver onto the water, with pink highlights from the sunset. I took it as yet another reminder that even through dark times in life, gifts of beauty are always to be had if we just look for them.
Share with us your upcoming projects.
I have more cloudscapes planned, and I would also like to experiment more with mixed media and perhaps more simplified, semi-abstract designs. There’s no shortage of ideas I want to try. However, my artwork is a day-to-day, moment to moment thing based on feelings and intuition. I do plan my paintings, but I’m also capable of changing my plan midway, or re-doing a painting that isn’t working as I thought it would.
"Each time someone views a painting of mine, I want them to experience a boost of energy and inspiration, and to be imbued with a renewed sense of possibilities for their life."
Tell us about where you are based.
I live in a semi-rural town in Marin County, California, surrounded by forests, hills, and lakes, and anchored by Mt. Tamalpais.
How do you feel about art and its role in the world today?
I think that art at its best aims not to shock, nor even to necessarily be innovative. Rather, the best art - and the art our world most hungers for, is art that communicates meaning, emotions, and connects viewers with their highest and deepest truths, with what they already know and need to be reminded of in their hearts.
How do you want your work to affect the viewer/world?
Each time someone views a painting of mine, I want them to experience a boost of energy and inspiration, and to be imbued with a renewed sense of possibilities for their life. I also want them to be reminded that no matter how difficult their circumstances might be, no matter how long it has gone on, solutions will come if they just keep going.
What are your sources of inspiration?
There is always something I’m wanting to say about my internal feelings at a particular time, perceptions I’m currently experiencing about the world and life. And externally, I am forever inspired by the conversations taking place between Light and Nature: the plants, trees, water, and mountains. And within the ever-shifting cloud panoramas, I receive emotional and spiritual messages that implore me to paint them.
Website: judyspaintings.net
| PDF of the Interview in DESTIG Magazine |