Location: United States
Jolyn Wells-Moran is a plein air and studio painter who lives in the Pacific Northwest and also travels to paint. She studied at the Institute for American Universities, School of Drawing and Painting, Aix-en-Provence, France; Gage Academy of Fine Art , Seattle, WA; and with many well-known masters. She has shown her work in galleries and other juried venues for the past 10 years, winning awards and certificates.
She completed college art courses in Design, several in Painting, Drawing and Art History. She taught drawing and watercolor courses for a community college in her twenties. In 2004, she began painting in oils and attended the Marchutz School of Drawing and Painting, Institute for American Universities, Aix-en-Provence, France, in 2004. Her instructors since then have included such teaching artists as Michael Situ, Kathryn Stats, Eric Jacobsen, Mitch Albala, Slava Koralenkov, Russian impressionist, Kathryn Townsend and Jill Carver.
Wells-Moran has shown in many juried shows, including; those run by the California Art Club, the annual PAWA juried show at the American Art Co. in Tacoma, the Port Angeles Center for the Arts’ Plein Air Competition, the Edmonds Arts Festival and galleries in the Pacific Northwest and Mexico, and other venues. Her work has been presented in six solo shows in Seattle, including ArtsWest in West Seattle and she has won awards in several local, national and international exhibitions.
She is a Signature Member and President of the Puget Sound Group of Northwest Artists (PSGNA) – a professional artists’ juried group operating since 1928 -- Women Artists of the West (WAOW), and Plein Air Washington Artists (PAWA).
See Jolyn’s website at https://jwellsmoran.com. Upcoming in-person and online shows are listed there too. In-person studio visits may be arranged by contacting her through email at jowellsmoran@gmail.com.
Here are some of my paintings from the year of COVID.
This one of the memorable mountains in northern Washington, Here, I've painted it at the end of the ridge which is partly in shadow.
Winter sunsets in the Pacific northwest can be stunning. This one spilled its apricot syrup all over the beach grasses.
...is the mountain that isn't, for the most part. This volcano blew in the early eighties, but the old highway outlook still provides a wide valley view and sky typical in spring.
Waterfalls can also be found underground. This one is just a foot or so down. I love painting natural vignettes like this one.
What an impressive mountain range, maybe especially when covered in tons of snow and ice.This painting two feet by three feet, larger than I usually paint, but the subject called for it.
This shows some determined trees growing from disintegrating rock on a very hot day in hills near Tucson. The light is hot on the stone and the four trees are backlit.
Coming through the year of Covid and into the spring of 2021, the artist felt compelled to create this still life series, both for the opportunities of using pure colors as a way to express joy, and depicting snapshots describing the diversity of circumstances, stages and moods of humanity. Still primarily studio-bound, Wells-Moran felt freed towards more expressionism with this series than in most of her other works, usually landscapes. She hopes to expand upon her use of expressionism to say more of what she wants to convey, next in her landscapes.
Some people have a propensity towards the arts, whether by nature, nurture or both. The idea of white roses, and the colors here, give rise to ideas of a life passed enjoying plays, concerts, art museums, book readings or, perhaps, performance.
The artist experiences a sense of fullness and tranquillity in this still life. Most of us hope for a satisfying life, however differently we may interpret what that entails. This is often thought to be, in fact, experiencing meaning from our efforts. A more eastern viewpoint is acceptance -- of ourselves, others and the inevitability of change, and our recognition of how our thoughts and actions effect others.
A busy life can be rewarding and joyful, depending on the natural rhythm of the individual and love of the activity comprising that "busyness." This still life depicts just such a life, full, busy and joyful. Most of us keep ourselves very busy and experience at least some stress from being so busy that we feel overwhelmed. Some of that might have been changed by our sheltering in place this past year, by the experience of having fewer places to go, less in-person human contact and, for many, fewer immediate demands. Hopefully, many of will have learned what we need for better balance.
The artist conveys a moodiness or melancholia, but tranquillity here, through use of color, contrast and softened edges. Every stage of life has its challenges and rewards, but we sometimes think of late life as a time that we experience pleasant memories, can rest and may feel some sweet sense of melancholy. It's a stereotype to think this of all or even most older people, yet we carry these subtle definitions of later life and hardly know that we do.
“Mt Shuksan”
“Apricot Sky”
“Mt. St. Helens”
“Flow”
“North Cascades in Winter”
“Four Trees”
“A Life of Drama”
“A Satisfying Life”
“A Busy Life”
“Late Life”
