J.C. (Judy) Björling

jcbjorling@comcast.net

For the past 20 years, J.C. (Judy) Björling has been exploring texture in her paintings. She sometimes drips paint or gesso, throws paint (or water or charcoal), scratches into the surface, prints or collages the surface, and/or rubs various media into it. She may alternatively erase or rub out what she’s painted or drawn. (She has even been known to collage her pencil shavings or fabric strips to a substrate and work on that!) It is on this richly-textured surface that she completes the finished painting, either by drawing or painting subject matter on it. She says she is working to create a push-pull effect between the subject matter and the background. For many years a portrait and figurative painter and sculptor, Björling has in recent years begun a series of non-objective works in red, yellow, and blue. But clearly the element of texture still fascinates her.

A current note: Although I frequently paint or draw from models, Covid 19 forced an end to seeing others except on screens. I decided to use my isolation time to do something I felt was “good for me.” Normally I paint large and tend to work (and obsess) far too long on each piece. By giving myself an arbitrary deadline, a small size, and by posting each piece on social media, I thought I would benefit. At first I limited myself to 2 hours each day. As time wore on and I became more invested in each work, I spent longer. Many works have helped to clean out my flat file labeled: “needs work.” Many, however, have been self-portraits based on iPhone selfies in the style of different famous artists, as well as my own style of abstract coloration. As of this date I have created 269 works in various media #covidart