Emotional Connections
Jeannie Dolan’s paintings reflect the emotion she felt upon finding her subject matter
Jeannie Dolan’s paintings reflect the emotion she felt upon finding her subject matter
As a self-taught artist, art has always captivated and fascinated me since early childhood, from the moment I started to draw, it helped me express how I was feeling or ideas I couldn’t quite articulate. The constant challenge of updating and improving techniques and styles as well as continuously finding new inspirations has always brought me a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. “I feel that art can speak to us, whether it be a memory it might trigger or perhaps it resonates deep with our own experiences.” Attracting emotion from the viewers is a main element of my artwork, drawing and inviting the viewers into the painting. I love to use my brush, palette knife and paints to creatively capture a likeness and apply expressive strokes to my painting, rather than try for a photographic smoothness. Probably the most inspiring and captivating aspect that draws me into painting a particular subject is when something grasps my attention, something that evokes an emotional response within me or sparks a narrative in my mind. It provokes a compelling desire to bring this creative vision into reality. Feeling driven to capture the way light falls on a subject and how it creates an emotional connection, light not only gives form but creates atmosphere and mood around the subject.
Once a subject has motivated me to paint and bring life to the vision I see in my mind, I like to work quite quickly while the subject is fresh in the forefront of my mind. This I find helps ensure I can capture the emotion I felt in that moment and hope that the emotions evoked within me are then portrayed into the artwork. I feel that art can speak to us, whether it be a memory it might trigger or perhaps it resonates deep with our own experiences. I paint a wide variety of subjects in many different ways depending on the subject and how I feel it will do it justice. I will approach a floral subject very differently to a landscape where I feel that a landscape might need to be painted in oils and sometimes with a palette knife. While I enjoy working with most media, loving all the different elements and depth within each media, I seem to have most fun experimenting with acrylics and all the new techniques I have learnt over my lifetime particularly using this medium painting my florals. Painting has captivated and fascinated me since early childhood, from the moment I started to draw as child it helped me express how I was feeling or ideas I couldn’t quite articulate. The constant challenge of updating and improving techniques and styles as well as continuously finding new inspirations has always brought me a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. I believe art can open our eyes to the intricacy and beauty of the natural world and expressing our complex human connection to nature, helping us to become conscious of our true relationship with nature. Attracting emotion from the viewers is another main part of my work, drawing in the viewers and inviting them into the painting. I’m dedicated to practicing my craft, creating works for my international and Australian collectors.