N i n a J o o b
Abstract Painter
My grandma used to pick four leaf clovers and put them on a piece of paper and cover them with clear tape. She would then mark the date and give it to me. I find myself looking for clovers to bring myself closer to her.
I don’t think creating art is about luck, it’s about trusting yourself and that is what my grandma taught me. There is a flow that needs to happen and sometimes your thoughts can get too loud, the inner critic comes out, and you are no longer able to trust yourself. So I carry that clover with me to remind myself to trust myself, so those wonderful times where it does flow, it makes me keep going back.
I am really proud of this collection. It has been accumulating for years.
It started after I had kids. It was time for me. A space for me. A space that I could feel free and safe. My life has come with challenges, just like all of ours have, and my work comes from my story. There are some paintings I can look back on and know exactly where I was and what was going through my mind. There are pieces that remind me of my first house or a time in my life that was peaceful. Paintings that remind me of how hard it is to be a mother and how wonderful it is at the same time. Pieces that take me back to a time in my life when mentally I was having a hard time and had to keep pushing through it. Painting comes from what I feel. If I follow that feeling and trust myself, great things can happen.