Collaborative work between Lynzee Lynx and Flora Bowley
Explain your love affair with color and its similarity to cooking.
Often I find myself obsessed with a color. You know, falling in love with a certain color and unraveling a romance with it. That happens in my world often. So I find that ONE, and then I figure out all the other ones that look really fab with it. It’s like cooking! Finding a new ingredient and figuring out what I can make with it. I usually work with a certain color centrally for a time period, then tire of it and move on. This is a place where I let my multiple love affairs exist. Sometimes, just sometimes, they go together, and then there is some real magic. That color always remains in my work, even if it’s more of a highlight or a lowlight later on.
What if you and a color just can’t get along?
Sometimes I make things or combinations that I do not love at all. That’s perfect! I can always layer over them. It’s important to try things and take risks. Also, it’s important to have some go-to colors that can make all the rest of the paintings look like your own.
In fact, I often choose colors that I don’t like, just to see what I have to learn there. Color combining can be so fun. It takes some bravery and experimentation. This is a practice for me to let go and embrace my own resistance. It’s a great exercise for getting out of a creative rut.
If you love a color, you must see what happens to it when you mix it with other related colors as well as black and white! Often I find an even better color by doing some modification. Mix your own! Don’t just use the colors in the tubes—create your own signature color by color mixing. When you do that, immediately write down what went into it so it can get made again. Don’t copy another artist’s palette. It’s so fun to make your own! Also it sets your work apart in just such an awesome way!
What design element tricks do you use to create your unique artistic style?
When I’m working on a piece, and I come to a stopping point where I may feel stuck, I often jazz the piece up by adding lots of lights or lots of darks. Or adding both! My use of contrast is often adding some black to my favorite color in the piece or adding just a little of a color to a blob of white. This is like adding garlic or salt or lemon juice to my cooking project!
It is my deep soul yearning to share something that is or feels important to voice in the world. And, sometimes it’s about following my aesthetic compass to discover new shapes of beauty and delight. My artwork comes from my deepest place of discovery and joy.
—Lynzee Lynx—