I use individually cut paper paint swatches in a collage form to create pixilated images of landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, and famous works of art.  From a distance, the colors blend to create a photo-realistic quality, with the individual ‘pixels’ becoming more distinguishable the closer the viewer moves to the piece. When viewed up close, the meticulous arrangement of the paper is awe-inspiring, and the volume of colors used to create each palette is visually mesmerizing. When viewed through a cell phone or at a distance, the images become clear and details seem to jump off of the viewing plane displaying Gestalt psychology and how your brain connects the dots (or squares in this case) based on experience.  The cell phone acts as a filter, and this unique way to view my art creates a fun and interactive experience for the viewer.

As part of my artistic process, there is something about collecting that I love. The trip to the hardware store, to gather my materials whets the appetite to create. The time I spend organizing and cataloguing the swatches is meditative.  The exploration of the subject matter and the scrutiny with which I discern the slightest subtleties of colour and tone challenges me. Each small piece of paper with an identifier of its colour source is specifically cut to create for the viewer a digital-age impressionistic reference to a paint-by-number - my adult version of a puzzle.

-Jennifer Lashbrook