Liz Jardine grew up in New York City, which is, as she says, “The best possible place on the planet for a budding young artist.” Her mother was a docent at an art museum, and kept her enrolled in a steady stream of “every manner of art class.” Her earliest art memory was being instructed to blur her eyes in front of a John Singer Sargent canvas so that she could begin to see and the composition more clearly. She also remembers being amazed by the restored Pompeiian room at the Natural History Museum in New York City.
In addition to her childhood exposure to art and museums, Liz found that New York City’s Broadway shows heightened her creative senses to the endless combinations of color and light, fantasy and whimsy that would eventually be incorporated into her work.
As an undergraduate student at the State University of New York in Buffalo, Liz concentrated on textile design and clay forms. There, she developed an interest in incorporating fibers into porcelain wall pieces. The resulting series was displayed in an exceptional solo exhibition granted her before graduation by the University.
Upon graduation, Jardine began apprenticeship at various textile and design studios in the New York City area. Many of her raw silk garment designs were sold through Horton Studio at several designer boutiques including Henri Bendel.
In a conscientious effort to return to more traditional media, Jardine began an apprenticeship with a graphic design studio and developed skills in advertising art and production techniques. Eventually, she began working freelance and built a strong reputation as a skilled concept illustrator and art director. This work paved her return to watercolors in various genre as florals, landscapes, still life and abstracts. Today, Jardine flourishes in varied media but especially favors acrylics for their texturing and form-building abilities.
Liz’s deep love and appreciation for nature inspire her creativity and inform her artwork. Nature’s beauty and infinite color palettes are an endless source of inspiration and ideas for her work. Early in her career, Liz reveled in exploring the glory and diversity of flowers. Currently, the sky and ocean with their endless color combinations and layers of transparent color are her inspiration for her vivid, elegant abstractions.
Liz’s favorite medium is collage of transparent imagery, combined with translucent water-based mediums. She paints from the heart, and she believes her collectors can feel her love of the pigments and the composition; and the enthusiasm and passion that illuminates her works. Says Liz, “When people meet me, they say that they knew I’d be a happy person from the way they experience my work—and I am!” In the future, Liz would love to explore photography, and integrate it into her canvases. She is constantly experimenting and buying new art supplies and mediums that she can use in her work.
While she’s working, Liz insists on spontaneity. “I ask the canvas what it wants to be and then I listen for answer,” she says. “If I plan too much the piece looks stiff, and then no one is happy.”
Liz’s joy in her artistic calling is evident and inspiring. When asked how she deals with artist’s block, Liz says, “I have never experienced that. I get up and practically run into my studio each morning, and I have for 20 years.” Liz’s hope is that viewers will feel the bliss that she felt while creating the work. “My collectors and their appreciation have allowed me to have a fascinating, fulfilling life.” Currently, her favorite artist is Tamara de Lempika; Liz loves de Lempika’s bold brushstrokes and monumental figures.
At her home and in her studio, Liz’s walls are overflowing with her collection of her artist friends’ works. She believes strongly in supporting living artists, and purchases pieces at each and every show she attends. When asked if she was Felix Unger or Oscar Madison in the studio, she quips humorously,“Well, I will tell you I think we have ruined the beautiful hardwood floors in the studio; they are hopelessly caked and covered in paint along with every imaginable surface. Even my shoes are a work of art!”
In talking about her work environment, Liz says, “The most important element in work environment is the women that assist me. Teaching young women what I have learned about painting and the art business gives me immense satisfaction at this point in my career. The ideas, techniques and color palettes that we create are a result of our collective experience, and that is very exciting.” But Liz says that her favorite time to work is late in the evening when everyone has gone home and the phone has stopped ringing. “I crank up the music and let go.”
Liz makes no distinctions between her art and her life. She is always open to receiving inspiration, and on a deeper level she believes her life as an artist has allowed her to explore and fully realize her potential. When she’s not creating her rich, glorious works of art, Liz enjoys life to the fullest in the fine climate and beautiful coast of Southern California. She practices yoga and enjoys a vibrant art community and her friends as much as she possibly can; and very much appreciates the progressive people and politics of California.
Wanderlust has swept Liz to exotic countries both near and far. She has toured extensively throughout Asia and been on safari in Kenya. Says Liz, “I am a world traveler, I have been absolutely everywhere! My most recent adventure took me to India and it was fabulous ? a life-changing experience.”