Daily Paintworks Interviews: Joy Campbell

Artist Joy Campbell has been painting for over 30 years. From her DPW gallery page:

I work in oil now, after many years of working in pastel and acrylic.  My favorite subject matter is animals of every kind. Even though I also paint landscapes, still life and portraits I always seem to return to animals.  

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I started painting when I as in high school. A friend invited me to a painting class for adults and I loved it.

What sort of art do you love to do?

I love story telling, I love color and strong images. I also love plein aire landscapes, though I haven’t found a market for them yet.

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Your art is so whimsical and imaginative. How do you arrive at your ideas?

I’ve developed an antenna after all of these years. I see finished art in my head in flashes. Sometimes my own animals inspire and sometimes it’s a story or even a single photo that starts an idea.

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Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

Not really, though I’ve had to change how I sell a number of times. I sold in galleries and taught painting for a number of years then I began doing indoor and outdoor art fairs and now I sell mostly online and that is so much easier.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have stuck and which ones have fallen away? Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I’ve worked with most of the popular mediums and now I love oil so much that I don’t see myself ever leaving it. I’d love to have more time to spend on landscape painting. It’s so much more freeing than figures.

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What does procrastination look like for you? What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

Sometimes when I’m at the beginning stages of a large and involved painting I have trouble staying with it. I usually work on something else for awhile. I work at night a lot because there are less interruptions. Also, needing to sell keeps me working.

Whose art inspires you?

My number one inspiration is Norman Rockwell.

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

More planning and willingness to scrap things that aren’t working no matter how many hours into it I am.

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What makes you happiest about you art?

I’m always excited to see an idea take shape and especially excited to see the finished painting. I’m also very grateful to be able to stay home and be my own boss.

Thanks, Joy!

© 2012 Jennifer Newcomb Marine

Jennifer Newcomb Marine is an author and blogging and marketing coach. She's the new Marketing and Community Manager of Daily Paintworks.