Julia Kay- Art and Meaning

"Sun Dances with Monstera and Me", Acrylic paint on canvas.
49" X 49"

"What meaning does doing art have for you?"

"Let the beauty we love be what we do." Rumi as translated by
Coleman Barks

Sometimes I think my visual cortex is tied more strongly than
usual to the pleasure centers in my brain. Looking - at rich color
combinations, warm low light on autumn afternoons or cool light
on late winter mornings, multiple reflections on glasses at the dinner
table, or layers of peeling paint on an old wall, makes me really
happy. The process of seeing enriches me. I can get stopped still
at odd moments, staring at a slice of light down a narrow alley
between buildings or the accidental juxtaposition of colors as strangers
pass each other on the street.

At the same time, I feel like I haven't really seen something until I've
drawn or painted it, so making art is a way of seeing better, and thus
making myself happier since the seeing itself jazzes me. I also feel the
pull of what the photographer Eldred Davis referred to as a 'visual call
and response' similar to some traditional dances and certain kinds of
jazz music. I see beauty and it thrums in me and I need to respond, my
response is the art-making process. It's my way of dancing with the
universe.

Of course I love it when other people like what I've made, but what
really pleases me is when I like it, and I have something new to look at,
thrumming and humming with the rhythms of the world.

For more of Julia Kay's work go to http://studiojuliakay.com/art
Her blog is: http://studiojuliakay.com/dailyArt/
Her email is: julia@studiojuliakay.com

Julia Kay is the instigator of the Julia Kay Portrait Party. The Portrait Party
currently has more than 250 artists from around the world who are about to
top 2900 portraits of each other in less than 4 months. Here's a link to a slide
show of the party: http://www.flickr.com/groups/portraitparty/pool/show/