One Northern Michigan artist has found inspiration from not only her travels around the globe – but from a passion to create works of art that inspires others. We learn more about in this Artist Profile.
Who are you?
“I am Joan Richmond. I live in Traverse City in Northern Michigan, and I’m a visual artist in this area. I have a studio right in town in Traverse City.
I was by myself a lot as a child and I think my mom just stuck me at a table and said here’s some crayons make yourself happy, you know, and so it just took off. I ended up going for my undergraduate degrees in fine arts, and I went to graduate school for fine arts. And, at one point – I also taught locally at NMC and I still teach workshops at some of the local art associations.”
What is your favorite medium?
“At this point in my life, I really like water-based paints. I use acrylic, but I also use something called “gouache”, which is an opaque watercolor. I primarily do a lot of landscape painting so it’s something I can travel with, I can pack them easily. I don’t have to worry about oil drying or bring solvents with me. Which leads me to – I really like sketching. I have a sketchbook, that when I travel, I always bring with me. It’s really helpful if I want to work on images back in the studio when I come home. I’ve got my sketchbook as a reference as well as any small paintings.”
What was your inspiration?
“I find my inspiration from the process of creating art. It’s like one thing leads to another leads to another. You create one painting and then you say, Well, what if I did that instead or what if the light was different that day, what if my mood’s different. So, I just think it builds on itself.”
What do you want people to take away from your art?
“Part of why I create art is to calm myself down. And, so I want my images to maybe help other people come down too. There’s some translation of my mood that then goes out to who’s looking at the art.”
For more information about Joan, .
© 2023 - 910 Media Group
