About JJ Doyle
I am passionate for detail! I’m hardwired to pay attention to minute things and always want to know how things work. This quality makes me a very observant artist. Whether it’s the glint in the eye of a treasured pet, or subtle changes in color, shadows and highlights, I embrace parts of things as surely as I embrace the whole.
Much of what I paint is representational. Animal portraits, fruit, flowers, each time seeing how close I could get to what I saw! Having always admired the work of illustrators, three years ago, I tasked myself to get in touch with my illustrative side by creating The Crows of Union Level and painting a subject that was not based in reality.
Whether it’s my laughable crows or my work as a realist, I have discovered that I can challenge myself and still embrace my need for all the little things in life! Over the years I have had a host of wonderful careers…advertising director in the shoe industry, shoe store owner, bed and breakfast owner. At 43 I went back to Suffolk University to study Graphic Design and worked in that field as both a designer and professor.
Fifty years ago when I graduated from high school, I wanted to go be an artist. Accepted at Mass Art, but unable to start in the Fall and being an impatient 18 year old, I went to Chamberlayne Junior College and pursued other things.
Retirement and a move to Virginia have now opened that door that was closed fifty years ago. I do not regret leaving my dressy clothes behind and trading them for Converse sneakers and jeans…the payback is time to work on my art, and appreciate the incredible beauty that plays itself out every day on our fifty acres. I take pleasure in little things that become concepts for my crow illustrations, and also provide me with inspiration for my animal portraits.
My husband and I live in Union Level with a family of Tennessee Walking Horses, bird dogs, chickens, guinea fowl, endangered Hog Island Sheep, rescue dogs and a found cat…and of course our Pug, Kristian.
Dare to dream, because only by dreaming will you discover who you are, what you want, and what you can be (author unknown)…