LINDSEY VEIL’S ARTIST STATEMENT

I create acrylic paintings on canvas, wood, or walls that explore the push/pull between natural beauty and intellectual unrest. Often, these paintings are landscapes or moments in nature, distorted by water. My creative process happens all day, every day. I use my own photography, past experiences, emotions, symbolism, and even political/religious debates as sources of inspiration. My sketching process is mostly digital, and I create my compositions in photoshop and Adobe Fresco by drawing on top of my photos, altering colors, and playing with light. My current goals include mastering more intentional brushwork, and blending on the canvas with more richness and clarity.

Although I’ve been creating since 2018, I feel as though I’m just getting started in my creative journey! I will continue exploring the unexpected “windows” of clarity and distortion that water creates. Although I use my own reference photos, I am not trying to simply reproduce them. I want to convey emotions that come from the distortion of reality. I find it oddly fascinating that each photo I take of water captures a moment that exists only once. Once another rain drop falls, it isn’t the same anymore, and never will exist again. AI will never be able to “create” a true version of this reality. The fleeting moment captured existed only once, for a split second, never to be seen again. I enjoy being fully present in that moment.

I want my work to be an invitation to the viewer to pause, reflect, and enter a space where beauty and nature collide with a moment of chaos and existentialism. What is interesting to me is that I don’t usually start a work of art with a specific meaning or something I’m trying to say. I just enjoy creating things that are visually interesting or beautiful. I’ve found that the more I create and look at my body of work as a whole, the more the meanings begin to emerge. I now see patterns and themes throughout my work. I understand why I create and what I’m trying to say and explore because of my past experiences.

I want my work to invite people to question their thoughts, perceptions, and emotions—in hopes of offering even a small piece of clarity along their own journey. Post-creation, I can ironically see clarity in my work that I need for my own path in life, which also means I must continue to create. And if my work can offer that to me, maybe it can help or inspire someone else.