Painted Tapestries by Lisa Marie Kindley
"I think of my paintings as poems, evoking a mood, a memory, a dream, that is too magical to be captured in any literal way".
Inspired by the ancient frescoes and faded tapestries of old Europe, Lisa began creating painted canvas wall hangings in 2010. Both romantic and rustic in feeling, they evolved naturally from her past experience painting murals and decorative finishes for homes. Working on a large scale allows her artwork to become a "glimpse of serenity" that invites the viewer to wander into a timeless world... quiet and lushly overgrown, like a forgotten garden, or a place yet to be discovered.
In her studio among the trees, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, she begins her painting by stapling raw canvas to the wall. Both sides are then gessoed, with edges often left frayed for a timeworn effect. Using matte acrylic paints, dry pigments, glazes, and pastels, she brushes, sands, scrapes, spatters... letting the images grow naturally. Stencils that she makes from pressed leaves and flowers, her nature sketches, or historical designs, are used to build layers of organic pattern and texture. When the painting is done, it is finished to hang simply from a wooden dowel, or a decorative iron rod.
Lisa studied illustration at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. But, her gentle dreamscape imagery, and soft antiquing effects have developed while working as a muralist and decorative painter in northern California. Travel has also been an inspiration and an education, with journeys over the years to Europe, the British Isles, and Japan.
Her painted tapestries are shown at galleries and juried art festivals.
"I think of my paintings as poems, evoking a mood, a memory, a dream, that is too magical to be captured in any literal way".
Inspired by the ancient frescoes and faded tapestries of old Europe, Lisa began creating painted canvas wall hangings in 2010. Both romantic and rustic in feeling, they evolved naturally from her past experience painting murals and decorative finishes for homes. Working on a large scale allows her artwork to become a "glimpse of serenity" that invites the viewer to wander into a timeless world... quiet and lushly overgrown, like a forgotten garden, or a place yet to be discovered.
In her studio among the trees, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, she begins her painting by stapling raw canvas to the wall. Both sides are then gessoed, with edges often left frayed for a timeworn effect. Using matte acrylic paints, dry pigments, glazes, and pastels, she brushes, sands, scrapes, spatters... letting the images grow naturally. Stencils that she makes from pressed leaves and flowers, her nature sketches, or historical designs, are used to build layers of organic pattern and texture. When the painting is done, it is finished to hang simply from a wooden dowel, or a decorative iron rod.
Lisa studied illustration at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. But, her gentle dreamscape imagery, and soft antiquing effects have developed while working as a muralist and decorative painter in northern California. Travel has also been an inspiration and an education, with journeys over the years to Europe, the British Isles, and Japan.
Her painted tapestries are shown at galleries and juried art festivals.
