Linda Shepard

Artist's statement

Being an artist is a never-ending journey of discovery, learning to let go, slogging on with resilience, and a tiny bit of audacity. Making art is a lot of work. To get any good at it, you have to do a lot. Many times that means showing up when there’s no inspiration and doing it anyway.

Sometimes (rarely) a painting will “paint itself” with a clear vision from start to finish without much preparation or planning. At completion the heavens open up, angels sing, and the work goes on to win accolades while the artist basks in the afterglow. That almost never happens, for anyone, even so-called “famous” artists. There’s a lot of thinking, often at odds with sleep, before hands get involved. Putting paint to canvas may take hours or days, but all the things that had to happen prior is often disjointed and stretch much, much longer. It could involve taking photos, digital manipulation, sketching, focusing on memory, color studies, or even having learned something new.

I don’t always accomplish it, but I like aspects of tonalism, impressionism, and minimalism. I hope to create art that feels more like human perception and less like mechanical reproduction. I aim to make art that nourishes the spirit, honors our Creator, and intrinsically connects us through shared human experiences in ways mass-produced artwork and digital slop can’t.