Emerging Artists | Lisa Taylor - Southwest Art Magazine

No place like home

Lisa Taylor, Primm Property, oil, 6 x 6.

This story was featured in the February 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art February 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

NOT ONE TO limit herself to a single genre—and ever careful not to create the same work twice—Lisa Taylor paints it all. Among her diverse oeuvre of oil paintings, you’ll find portrayals of landscapes, still lifes, figures, and animals, including her two cats, Jaxx and Jed, and other felines, too. “I’ll never have a shortage of cats to paint,” jokes the Tennessee native. “I think I have a neon sign over my head that says ‘Sucker!’ and they go and tell other cats. They find me.”

: Lisa Taylor, Jed, oil, 6 x 6.

: Lisa Taylor, Just Beyond, oil, 6 x 6.

: Lisa Taylor, Jaxx, oil, 6 x 6.

You might be surprised to learn that Taylor, an award-winning artist, only recently ventured into painting. She earned her bachelor’s degree in logistics and intermodal transportation, and she’s an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. But ever since she was a child, says Taylor, “I always drew, and my mom would order artistic magazines because she saw the talent there and wanted to nurture it.”

During her military career, Taylor continued to draw, and she even took a few online art classes. Upon turning 30, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in fine art at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA, courtesy of the GI Bill. There, she studied painting with such esteemed artists as Craig Nelson, Paul Kratter, and Zhaoming Wu, whose painterly approaches helped her let go of her “perfectionist” tendencies. In turn, her style grew increasingly impressionistic. “Now I love playing with edges, values, and colors,” she says.

: Lisa Taylor, Rustic Times, oil, 6 x 6.

: Lisa Taylor, Olives, oil, 6 x 6.

: Lisa Taylor, Goosin’, oil, 5 x 7.

Periodically, Taylor exclusively paints with palette knives, building up layers of color on her surfaces. When using brushes, she strives for fresh and lively brushwork; frequently, she creates 6-by-6-inch paintings because they challenge her to work quickly. Small pieces are also easier to fit into her busy schedule: Taylor works full time as a disaster response planner for the state of Tennessee, to which she returned after graduating from the academy. “I’d been gone for 18 years,” says the artist, who finds kinship in the story of Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), a French painter she has long admired. After many years away, he too returned to his hometown and “started painting scenes from around where he grew up,” she says. “I came back here and I’m painting these barns from where I grew up. I’m just drawn to scenic areas I remember seeing as a kid.” —Kim Agricola

representation
Bennett Galleries, Nashville, TN; www.lisataylorart.com.