Jolie Guillebeau

I’ve been thinking for a few weeks about fate. The Fates were three women in Greek mythology who decided the destiny of mortals. I remember seeing a carving depicting them on a vase in the Louvre a few years ago. They looked as if they were dancing.

And I’ve been thinking about genetics. And the connection to fate. Does our family determine our fate? It’s the old question of Nature vs. Nurture, I suppose.

Thankfully, I did listen in Biology class– I wasn’t much of doodler there. I even won an award for my model of a DNA molecule made from marshmallows. So I let my brush float towards my thoughts about fate and genetics and discovered that they intertwined. At first glance, I’m looking at the double helix of DNA, but later they reminded me of those three ladies dancing on the vase in the Louvre.

Does my DNA determine my destiny? I doubt it. But it might be worth a second glance.

When I paint, I have an idea in my head. It comes from my own experiences and maybe from something I’ve read recently, or a memory, or a story that I hold.

When you look at my painting you bring different experiences, different memories, and different stories. It’s fascinating and sometimes pretty funny.

For example, a couple of years ago, someone emailed me to tell me all about the theme of despair and death he was seeing in one of my recent paintings. I was gobsmacked. I was thinking about a lot while painting the apple painting here, but none of it related to death or despair. The painting is called Happy Apple, after all.

But with this painting I wonder. Maybe you see a landscape, or beads on a string, or a group of faces. Maybe I’ll just keep my story of this painting tucked away, so that you’ll have space to create your own story with it. I’d love to hear it.

I’ve talked before about how values matter in paintings. And I thought I’d play with the same idea here.

A few days ago I painted the layer of yellow and blue– then gradually blended them together. I let that dry, then layered several colors on top over the next few days. I love the way the same colors look completely different against a different background.

Context 4x12 Oil on Canvas.