Yearning for Clarity
Featured on the cover of The Pen Woman, Spring 2024
By Jana Millstone, Sarasota Branch
“Currents,”oil over acrylic on panel (30 x 30)
My “Clarity Series” emerged after I’d spent years working on a group of deeply serious paintings called “Veil” that explored the fate of women living within fundamentalist regimes. As I envisioned a new body of work, I wanted to create imagery that was lighter in color and content. I approached these paintings by building layer upon layer of color in an effort to merge organic forms within loosely abstracted environments.
Creating these paintings helped me through the time of COVID-19, which was complicated by family heath issues and my frustration with political turbulence. With them, I am imagining atmospheric gardens, sometimes layering them with human forms. They express my yearning for integration with a natural world that is now under siege. These are visual prayers for a lush calm to settle over all.
“Resolve,” oil over acrylic on canvas (24 x 30).
Jana Millstone uses a number of stylistically distinct series to explore themes of power, inequity, and transition. Her primary practice is painting and her work is notable in its use of humor and poetry. Winner of the Society of Illustrators scholarship, she has received numerous awards. Learn more at janamillstone.com.