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My Artist Statement

I began painting in 2006 with watercolor. My reason for changing mediums was purely financial. The frames and glass had gotten so expensive, so in 2010, I started painting with acrylic. I was too afraid of oil to try it. In 2014, my mentor and good friend, Rosemary Cantrell, introduced me to painting with oil. Once I learned colors and techniques, I knew I'd found my medium. I love the layers you can get with oil and the fact that it doesn't dry while you're working on it. I'm a slow and meticulous painter. With oil, I can revisit the painting the next day and make changes easily. I do paint with acrylic when I don't have time for the oil to dry and it's a good medium when a painting isn't too detailed or layered. I can't paint in watercolor anymore. Once I got used to painting dark to light, my brain wouldn't let me save the white space.

I visited Paris in 2012 and went straight to the Impressionist exhibits at the Louvre. That's when I started painting in a more impressionistic style. I love making an impression of something without painting every small detail. It leaves room for the viewer to fill in the blanks with their own story. I visited New York City in 2014 and fell in love with the Art Deco style buildings. I have embraced everything Art Deco. I've painted three series from the 1920s and 1930s, reliefs from Art Deco buildings in NYC, hood ornaments from 1930s automobiles, black and white paintings of 1920's fashions from Vogue covers. The shapes in most of my paintings have an Art Deco vibe, even vehicles and landscapes.  Could I be called an Art Deco Impressionist Painter? 

Janet Lay

janetlayfineart.com