Nila Jane Autry

Finding my way in this world in which we are all interconnected, woven together with the heavens and the earth and all that lies between, I feel an urgency to paint ‘a visual love letter to the world’ before I pass through the veil.  

In addition to many other hats and hobbies, I love being a wife, a mother, a grandmother and an Art Teacher of 30 years in the public school system. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a balanced life.  It’s controlled chaos all around me and inside of me.  Sometimes chaos reigns, then control must step up to the plate. Control is diving into the realm of focus, all other cares flee and the creation of the current painting, or project is all consuming.  I love being in the zone, that addictive place where I long to stay.   

Visual imagery is a language all its own, a method of communication that transcends all language barriers, but has some barriers of its own.  What I am trying to communicate with my artistic expressions isn't necessarily what the viewer will feel.  Each artwork being observed is understood by a unique individual with your own set of interpreters and carries a different message, perhaps even at different crossroads for the same viewer, like rereading a book and understanding it differently on the reread. 

My work is highly idealistic, much like the old masters with an emphasis on eternal themes, using age old techniques, but employing modern tools and supplies.  This includes a much brighter color palette, with an old fashioned twist, which I love! I admit, I am an idealist to the core, an artist who cherishes high and noble principles.