Artist's Statement and Bio
“My goal is to convey my perceptions of nature in a personal language of paint,” says Jolyn. She believes that she does that best through plein air (outdoor) painting in oils. Jolyn often uses those plein air studies, memory and sometimes photographs to enlarge upon a plein air piece, or to develop it further, in the studio. She generally paints in the northwestern United States and Baja Sur, Mexico, with occasional excursions elsewhere.
When Jolyn is outside painting, she tends to first complete one to three small sketches, including a notan (black and white) study, and then paint two or more very small, or thumbnail, color studies -- as needed to plan for the results she seeks. She frequently tones the canvas or gessoed panel, draws in the composition with a thin brush, and then rubs out the light areas of the painting surface. Her next step is to lay down the values with hues, within the masses of the composition, working dark to light. She says she tries to paint in the values and hues to show the outdoor light as closely as possible. She paints most thinly the parts of the composition that are darker and those that are furthest away. She alternately uses palettes of earth (naturalistic), expressionistic or impressionistic (complimentary) colors. Her palette is limited for plein air work to keep the process as simple as possible, making a finished painting manageable before losing the light, and creating a color harmonized work. She was recently juried in to the Paint the Peninsula plein air competition and exhibition, and was named a finalist in the Artist's Magazine's Annual Art Competition.