About Elsa Lioneye:
I'm a lifelong Houston resident. I loved art in school and went on to be an award-winning artist in high school. Aside from those few semesters in general art classes, I am self-taught. I've worked as an assistant to a local artist and as a professional designer of custom pressed floral art. Currently, I study Graphic Communications at the University of Houston. My style is as eclectic as the media I choose to use and definitely considered Outsider. I recently painted some psychedelic rock-style posters as well as some fine art animal studies.
Artist's Statement:
I create art because I am constantly seeking new ways of both reaching and expressing the part of me which desires and rages and dances and shouts for no reason but to hear herself echoing back. I currently work in several different but related media. I thought that one day I would find one that more easily facilitates the blending of Public Elsa with Artist Elsa. That may never happen so I will content myself with the journey and hope that my creations reach at least one person who will say, "I know exactly how she feels."
When I first rediscovered my art in 2007, I moved from medium to medium searching for bolder and brighter. Today, I routinely move between pastel, watercolor, acrylic and fiber. Since most of my work is portraits and I take liberty with color choices, I choose media based on the mood with which I want to invest the piece. I do prefer bold, bright colors and strong contrasts between light and dark.
Most of my portraits are of celebrities I have crushes on. It's my way of having a little bit of them for myself. All my life, I have danced from obsession to obsession. I also do portraits of some of my more striking-looking friends because hot pink hair is more fun to draw than brown. The fiber/wearable art I do is me creating what I'd like to see in stores. I like to wear my crazy on the outside. And that's mostly what my creative expression is about: bringing out the richly-hued bouncing ball thoughts in my head to the outside. I'm exploring myself. I feel like a kid in a candy store in my studio, there's so much possibility in all those tubes of paint and pencils and pots of pigment.
When I first rediscovered my art in 2007, I moved from medium to medium searching for bolder and brighter. Today, I routinely move between pastel, watercolor, acrylic and fiber. Since most of my work is portraits and I take liberty with color choices, I choose media based on the mood with which I want to invest the piece. I do prefer bold, bright colors and strong contrasts between light and dark.
Most of my portraits are of celebrities I have crushes on. It's my way of having a little bit of them for myself. All my life, I have danced from obsession to obsession. I also do portraits of some of my more striking-looking friends because hot pink hair is more fun to draw than brown. The fiber/wearable art I do is me creating what I'd like to see in stores. I like to wear my crazy on the outside. And that's mostly what my creative expression is about: bringing out the richly-hued bouncing ball thoughts in my head to the outside. I'm exploring myself. I feel like a kid in a candy store in my studio, there's so much possibility in all those tubes of paint and pencils and pots of pigment.
Past Exhibitions:
Elder Street Gallery, Houston, Texas: "Small World" Oct. 2009
Continental Club, Houston, Texas: "Fiesta on the Island" May 2010
Continental Club, Houston, Texas: "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Living Dead" Oct. 2010
Watson Gallery, Houston, Texas: "Artist Freedom" Nov. 2011
Watson Gallery, Houston, Texas: "Artist Freedom" Nov. 2011
