Judy Elias- artist statement

I am in a very exciting time in my art career right now.  It seems that I have come full circle from when I began my formal training.  I have  been creating art since I was old enough to hold a  crayon,  and it has just taken over my life at this point.  I think I realized in the 6^th grade that I wanted to study art and make it my career.  The art teacher at Sidney Lanier Jr. High school in Houston, Texas,  encouraged me to enter a contest which had to do with illustrating what we were studying in history class at the time.  The subject was slavery,  and I drew and painted slaves with their faces and arms raised to the sky crying for freedom.  I won the contest and have been in the process of studying art to this day.  

 When I mentioned coming full Circle earlier, I meant that I started in transparent watercolor and then decided to try oil paints and now I am experimenting with transparent oils.   I have tried  encaustic, pastels, and collage.  I have experimented  with  many other styles of art from abstract realism to traditional ,  trying to find what was the perfect medium and style for me.  About four years ago, I  decided to paint everyday  and have seen a huge change in my art since then.  It is, at times, a frustrating process, but also a hugely successful and rewarding one.

For a couple of years I  concentrated on painting in plein air street scenes with architecture,  then I added people going about there daily routines to these   paintings.  Next came series of related paintings.  I recently completed a series of
“Tables for Two”.   These were based on photos I took all over the world,  from NYC to Paris and back.  ”    I have a lot more series planned.   I love to travel, so most of my paintings have been done in France,  Italy, Ireland,Czech Republic and anywhere I have had the chance to visit. 

I have always painted using lots of color, but now I am working on developing that color to another level.  My future work is going to be based on using transparent color.  This has always been a thought in the back of my head since I began using watercolor.  I want to create oil paintings that have the luminosity of water color.  See what you think when you view my latest work.