To kick off our first meeting of the new year, our member and secretary/newsletter guru, Joana Rocha, will present: “How I leveraged my passion to stay afloat, to stay sane, and to achieve success.” She is an amazing pastel artist, a wife and and working scientist at Texas A&M. She will be talking about her art journey and discuss her style, techniques and give time-lapse examples of her art.
“My name is Joana Rocha. I have the intellect of a scientist and the heart of an artist. Couple that with my love for animals, and you’ve got *me* in a nutshell. These 3 guiding lights of mine have helped me through forks in the road; they’ve given me resilience, joy, and connection. Ever since I can remember, I doodled. I always doodled animals. Animals fascinate me. Life fascinates me. Science fascinates me. But when life gets hard, when science gets hard, I find solace knowing there will always be art. Through my art, I forget the complexities of life and focus on the simple things that bring me joy. Like, painting a dog’s expressive eyes, or painting the warmth of a bright cheery sunlit morning.
My medium of choice is pastels. I find them to be very forgiving and intuitive. This therapeutic hobby of mine once helped me through a time when I had no other financial options. I know now it is something I can fall back on, and I am very grateful for it. But it takes more than good art. It takes a community you share common ground with; people who resonate with you. If you find your people, you’ll find your support. I paint for me, and I paint for those who see the world like me.”
You can find out more and see her work HERE.
Doors open at DEGALLERY at 5:30pm. There will be light refreshments. Our Social Chair, Renee Richards, always does a great job providing us with tasty treats! Come by a bit early, chat and catch up.
