Artist Spotlight: Joanna Barnum

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the watercolors and illustrations of Joanna Barnum and immediately wanted to know more about her process of working and background as an artist. Here is an excerpt about the artist straight from her website:

"Joanna Barnum is a Baltimore, MD based illustrator whose expressive watercolor style stretches across several genres, including conceptual portraiture, narrative illustration for children and adults, and wildlife and culinary illustration.

She also paints fine art watercolor portraits of people, pets, and homes for private clients, occasionally paints energetic murals in private homes and businesses, and exhibits her work locally and nationally."

Below are examples of her paintings and some questions that she was kind enough to answer for me. Enjoy!

(Mycologist Mary Banning)

1. Explain what type of art you do in 100 words or less.

 I work mostly in watercolor and pen and ink, and portraits are my favorite. I paint portraits for private clients and I do illustrative/conceptual portraits for print and also other kinds of illustration. Sometimes I do murals, and I exhibit my work in galleries when I can.


2. How long have you been doing what you do?

 I graduated from art school in 2006 and have been working professionally since then, although I've been painting my whole life.


3. Do you make a living off your art? If not, what job(s) do you have or have you done in the past?

 Mostly. I'm in the fortunate position of being married to someone with a more traditional job, so between the two of us, I'm able to freelance full time without having to do anything else right now. I've worked as a framing assistant in a gallery, and as a student, I did some administrative work, museum internships, and worked as a camp councilor. I've never really had a 9-5 job. I recently resigned from a volunteer position as the Secretary for the board of directors for an arts nonprofit I cared deeply about, but needed to take a break and put that energy back into my own work.

(Louis Comfort Tiffany - glass artist and designer  
and Stephen Jay Gould - paleontologist and evolutionary biologist)

4. Did you have any formal training?

Yes, I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where I majored in illustration and minored in art history.


5. What's the most indispensable item in your studio?

A pencil, perhaps? Or my laptop, even though I don't really work digitally, since it's the heartbeat of my business.

(Gregor Mendel - scientist and Augustinian friar)

6. What inspired you to paint different historical figures, such as your watercolors for different scientists, authors and poets? Or your inspiration for the portrait of mycologist Mary Banning and your series of fungi paintings?

When I first graduated from college and was working on building a freelance career, some of my most immediate success was in doing privately commissioned fairly traditional portrait paintings in watercolor. Things like pets, wedding photos, babies. I still do a lot of them. At first it was just a way to make some money, but eventually I realized it was some of my best work, and where my skills shined the most.

I've been trying to evolve that focus into a portfolio of portrait illustrations that aren't just nice paintings, but conceptual pieces that convey key information or tell a story about the person depicted. I do a lot of research when I'm doing a piece about a historical figure or a celebrity, and learn a lot in the process, so when it's a piece for my portfolio where I get to choose the focus, I gravitate toward people and topics that interest me or that I'd like to know more about. Lately, that's been biologists. I'm aesthetically attracted to the natural world, and drawing attention to the need to protect the environment is important to me.


7. What project are you working on now?

I'm working on a portrait of a Magpie queen for the "Seven Deadly Sins" show being produced by Artistique Theater (http://www.artistiquetheatre.com/). I'm illustrating the Queen song "Killer Queen" for the 10 Paces and Draw blog's mixtape feature (http://ten-paces.blogspot.com/). I have a series of tattoo style illustrations inspired by Maryland landmarks and symbolism in progress. I've also been painting some landscapes in preparation for a long road trip I'm about to take, because I want to be able to do some work during and about the trip.


8. Who's your favorite living artist?

That's really tough. Lisbeth Zwerger and Maira Kalman are two of my favorites. I'm probably forgetting others I should mention.

(Alfred Wallace - naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist)

9. What under-appreciated artist, gallery, or work do you think people should know about?

My friend Brian Truax just opened a new little gallery and framing shop in Baltimore: http://www.truaxframes.com/frames/Welcome.htmlActually, in general, Baltimore is filled with really cool art, galleries, and creative groups but I think we're a little under-appreciated as far as art-centric cities go.


10. What's the last artwork you purchased?

I bought an illustrated letterpress print of Poe's "The Raven" by Val Lucas/Bowerbox Press (http://bowerbox.com)

(Barnums own rendering of poet Edgar Allen Poe)

11. Do you have set hours that you paint each day or only when you are inspired to work?

Hypothetically, I try to work from 9-5 during the week, because I like to hang out with my husband and pursue other hobbies during the evenings and weekends. In reality my day also includes a lot of administrative type work for my business, household chores, reading the internet, etc. etc...not just painting. I like that my hours are flexible.


12. What style of art do you most identify with?

Illustration? That's not really a style, I guess, but it's a way of working and thinking. I was actually thinking the other day about how I seem to have had more success as a portrait painter and an exhibiting artist than I have as a commercial illustrator in the past few years, but I still think of myself as an illustrator. I probably always will, regardless of where my career heads. It's about making work that tells a story or conveys information, and thinking about how that work can and should be used in the world, beyond a single original that can only hang on one person's wall.


13. Out of all the pieces you have painted, do you have personal favorite?

Charles Darwin. I think it's one of the best pieces I've done in the past few years, and represents a turning point for me stylistically I think. Other people also seem to like it a lot and I've sold a ton of prints of it. (http://www.joannabarnum.com/gallery/portraits/darwin)

(Charles Darwin - Naturalist)

14. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

"You never arrive in life."- Warren Linn (one of my illustration instructors at MICA)

Artist Spotlight: Dawn Schreiner

It's no secret that I've been a fan of artist Dawn Schreiner for awhile now. Her work is always bright, energetic and a bit tongue-in-cheek. Her subject matter ranges from portraits of movie stars and religious figures, to children's illustrations and now even sci-fi influenced acrylic paintings.

For one of her newest series involving Star Wars circus-themed imagery, she combines her quirky sense of humor with a dash of nerdiness, and a whole lot of fun.

I wanted to learn a little more about her as an artist and what inspires her work, and Dawn was lovely enough to answer some of my questions through email.

Q:  Explain what you do in 100 words or less.

A: I am a visual artist and commercial illustrator. In the big wide world those things seem very different, but in my little world they overlap.I work with acrylics, watercolor, pen and ink and pencils. I paint on recycled materials, when possible. Mainly cereal boxes and the like.For watercolors I use left over art paper from my kids art work.

Q: How long have you been doing what you do?

A: I've been drawing all my life. I started painting, seriously, in 2008. In 2009 I decided to dedicate myself to a painting a day, which I'm proud to report, I have done for the majority of the time. I finally gave up weekends, as I wanted a little time to focus only on my family and friends.

Q: What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

A: Once I was a very inept Girl Friday. Otherwise, I've always worked under the art umbrella. Photography assistant, graphic designer, sculptor, sketch artist and once I did portraits of people as their favorite monster or scary character, for a haunted house on Church Street in Orlando.

Q: What made you choose to pursue a career in art?

A: It presented itself as my only option. The older I get, it seems that art chose me, not the opposite. There have been deep moments of inner turmoil, especially during times experiencing the typical "starving artist" problems.

Q: Did you have any formal training?

A: I went to two universities, to get "well rounded," taking graphic design on as my major discipline. My parents are conservative, and felt it was of vital importance that I have a skill in something other than just painting/drawing. I graduated with a BA in Graphic Design from the University of North Florida. My first two years of study were at Northern Kentucky University, where I had the opportunity to draw wild buffalo in a field in an art class, among other things.

Q: Who or what has been the biggest influence on what you paint?

A: The media, popular culture, followed closely by friends and family. I often ask people to make suggestions on what they'd like to see doodled. That has proved to be an endless stream of inspiration.

Q: Can you recall a real-life situation that inspired you?

A: I have a story I am working on based on experience with a wood duck who was... stuck. It's my goal to make the story into a book. It's one of those "you can't make this stuff up" experiences.

Q: Do you have set hours that you paint each day or only when you are inspired to work?

A: On a good day, I take my son to school in the early morning, work out,then come home, clean up and get to work by 9. Then work until it's time to get my son, around 2:30. Mostly, I work when I can, there always seems to be something that throws a wrench in the day. I often work late into the night, and yes, (still) some weekends.

Q: What style of art do you most identify with?

A: Whimsical and folk art.

Q: Out of all the pieces you have painted, do you have personal favorite?

A: That's a tough question. I have favorites, just because those pieces turned out just like the image I had in my mind. I like my Harry Potter piece, because I think I captured the spirit I was hoping for.There are several pieces that I sold, that I had a really hard time parting with. Seems ridiculous, but it's true. Edgar Allan Poe,Charlie Chaplin and Annie Lennox pieces come to mind.

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
A: Don't ever give up, be kind and work, work, work.

Q: Anything else you'd like to say?
A: "Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take awhile.It's normal to take awhile. You've just gotta fight your way through."-- Ira Glass

(While I loved her Star Wars themed pieces, it was the mammoth painting above that had my heart skipping a beat at the Orlando Fok Festival Feb. 11th, and I'm happy to say it has joined my collection of original artwork)

Artist Spotlight: Melissa Menzer

Yesterday I went to The Menello Museum to check out the Orlando Folk Festival. I saw new work and talked with many new artists I'd never seen before, but the treat of the day was the very last booth I came across.

The artists name is Melissa Menzer, and you better watch out because she's going to become very popular, very soon. When I walked up to her table, I spotted a steampunk sculpture that I just knew had to be mine. I immediately took him home for a little photoshoot and haven't stopped staring at him yet.


Meet Eugene, train conductor of the birdie railways.








He is a hand sculpted and hand painted bird, perched on an old model railroad light, and is affixed with trinkets galore. His wings are made of vintage silverware and he's covered with buttons, clock-workings, and a salt shaker hat sits atop his regal head.


















Melissa had other sculpture work featuring robots, bee creatures, and metalwork-men, but she has just branched out into bird sculptures and only had a few to sell. I believe she mentioned that the bird I purchased was the very first one she completed, and I am tinkled pink to be it's new owner.


My mother was also at the festival with me and fell in love with her own little treasure by Ms. Menzer. She has yet to name this gorgeous bird, but it is sitting in the spotlight for us to admire even as I type.









This amazing piece is bejeweled with dozens of sparkling (and even some dangling) rhinestones, old keys, emerald eyes, spoon backs for wings, silverware handles for tail feathers, matching vintage lizard pins, clock faces, pearls, and even pen nibs!


















If you would like to view Melissa Menzer's work in person, you can check it out in Sanford, FL at 211 East First Street at the Jeanine Taylor Folk Art gallery.

I will definitely be keeping track of this artists work and hope to add to my collection of bird sculptures in the future. We currently have four pieces by artist Jim Mullan that our new Menzer pieces should get along with very nicely :)