shilojackson.com

Painting gives me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that I’ve not found elsewhere in life. My current focus is trompe l'oeil painting. I love the trickery and the responses that I hear when it's discovered that a cork board is indeed a 2-D painting and not a 3-D object. My work allows viewers to question what they are actually seeing. As in life, things are not always what they seem upon first inspection. It's important to take a closer look.

To recreate what I see as accurately and precisely as I can on canvas is very challenging and rewarding. The items used in each piece usually have some personal meaning to me, or they simply make me smile. I use items found during my travels, souvenirs, work from other artists whom I admire or aspire to their greatness, and little random things that speak to me. The fortune cookie sayings can be so profound and strange, I am compelled to use them in each piece. The end result is an introspective painting that reflects what I was going through at the time the painting was set up. A sort of self-portrait. Most are whimsical. Some have hidden meaning. I leave it up to the viewer to interpret what that meaning is. In doing so, they become part of the experience, extolling their own experiences with what they are viewing.