Today we’d like to introduce you to Meg Warnock.
Hi Meg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I have been drawing for as long as I can remember and received awards for my drawings in elementary, middle, and high school. I began painting in high school and quickly fell in love with oil paint. The vibrancy of color and slow drying time allowed me to work in a larger scale than I had before. I started college in 2017 at the University of Utah with a major in Fine Arts. My program had a heavy emphasis on live figure drawing and painting which I loved because my own work is primarily figure based. I graduated in the Spring of 2022 and have been working as a waitress during the day and painting at night.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In 2018, I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 and Borderline Personality Disorder. My mental health has been an ongoing battle since I was a child and remains one of the biggest challenges in my life. I use art as a tool to help me work though pent-up emotions and get them out of my system in a healthy way. Memory loss, childhood, and dissociation are common themes that I use in many of my paintings. Art school proved to be very stressful and creatively demanding. Some of the lowest moments in my life were spent in the classroom because I had to put my own mental well-being on the back burner in order to get my work done. After graduating, I felt extremely burnt out and couldn’t bring myself to paint again for nearly 5 months.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Painting has always been my medium of choice because the process reflects the artist in such a vulnerable way. Being made by hand means there will be flaws, quirks, and evidence of emotion in the work. This allows the viewer to look directly into the artist’s conscience and subconscious mind. I use painting as an outlet to recall blurry memories and unpack emotions I have a hard time understanding in my daily life. Memory blocking and dissociation are my main trauma responses, so I have always used art as a way to ground myself. Painting memories gives me a space to self-reflect and the freedom to go back and forth between representational and abstraction in one work.
My process includes layering multiple images and drawings on top of each other. I usually make a sketch of my reference and use my drawing as a reference rather than the photograph, but I will use a projector if I really need it. Most of the time, I only use aspects of a picture whether it be a pattern, color palette, a figure, or an object. By using fragments of many sources, I can create a fractured, entirely unique reality within a painting.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I’ve found that my most successful paintings are the ones I’ve made without the intent to sell. When I’m painting with the consumer in mind, I put my artistic expression in a box and the paintings are missing that intimate touch that makes it great. When I create a piece without worrying about who will see it or if someone would want to pay for it, I can really put my soul into the work without any anxiety.
Pricing:
- Cognizance of Spring- $1700
- Rising Water- $500
- Rocky Knoll- $1500
- Canyon- $100
Contact Info:
- Instagram: meg.warnock
