Painting mainly in acrylic, Jodi Kitto-Ward's work is strongly influenced by line, colour and expression. Her style is representational, vibrant and simplified in form, evoking influences of Pop Art and Art Deco. Repeating within her body of work are landscapes and urban views, many inspired by Hamilton, Ontario. where Jodi resides and works from her home studio. We interviewed Jodi to learn more about her practice, inspirations, and what she is working on today.
1. How does your creative day look like and what inspires you to make art?
Each day doesn’t always look the same for me, as much as I like routine, I also like to go with the flow of life, changing from day to day. On most days I try to get my essential tasks out of the way first thing in the morning, working towards maximizing my time painting while there's sunlight and sometimes continuing into the night, but also in the evening putting together submissions, doing my planning, organizing my reference photos and writing about my future compositions.
In response to what inspires me to make art, I would have to say everything. I have always wanted to create art, so much so that as a young child I just enjoyed walking down the aisles of the local art supply store. I love to stare at shadows and imagine, to see how tones slightly change on objects explaining the form, to think about how the colours make me feel or what they remind me of. I go through life happily distracted.
2. Tell us more about your art studio. If someone walked into your space, what would they learn about you?
My studio space is white, which for me inspires colour. Also, I love windows, these are very important to me. They allow the sunlight to shine on the hardwood floor and through the stained glass making a prism effect, they allow me to hear the birds singing outside and to see the trees and rooftops against the sky when I look through the main window or the transom. For me it's a beautiful space to paint in.
3. Do you prefer a minimalist or maximalist set-up and why?
I prefer a minimalist setup; my brain is less cluttered if my surroundings are less cluttered. I like a quick setup and a quick cleanup with everything in its place. After saying that though, my studio doubles as an office, and so I have more desk essentials in there than I would if it was only my art studio. It's a very convenient setup though for when I need to switch modes of work.
4. How did you get interested in your medium?
After first experimenting in watercolor and loving its transparent vibrancy, I became inspired to create larger works that could be displayed without framing and seen from a distance. Acrylic painting on canvas seemed the next logical step. It took a while to develop a technique, but I appreciated the immediacy of this medium and the bold colours that could be achieved.
5. Describe your style in one sentence.
My artwork is vibrant and simplified in form evoking influences of Pop Art and Art Deco.
6. Has your style changed over time?
The style of my work has remained fairly consistent in regards to my colour palette, hard edges and simplified approach. Though, my choice of subject matter and compositional design continues to become more refined and specific.
7. What are your main artistic tools?
Inside my drawers of art supplies you will find: Liquitex and Golden heavy body acrylics; airbrush medium which helps me block in and layer colour; gloss medium for final layers of colour; round brushes for ironically painting a straight line, they hold lots of paint for getting a nice clean edge; a square brush for dipping in water for when my lines are not nice and clean, this works for cleaning up a not so straight edge; a white acrylic palette covered with press and seal Glad wrap; spray bottle of water; matte varnish.
8. Do you experience creativity blocks and how do you stay positive and inspired? What elements in your studio inspire creativity?
I don't seem to suffer from creative blocks often, as long as I'm taking notes when the ideas fly in, I seem to get more ideas than time to execute them. Outside of my studio I feel inspired in nature, on walks, watching movies, reading books, going to art galleries, and having good conversations. Inside my studio I'm inspired by music, podcasts, silence, sunlight, looking out the windows seeing sky, and you may find some tarot decks around :)
9. What artists – either contemporary or from history – have had an impact on you and your art practice?
Three artists that have had a huge impact on me and my art practice are Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe and Lawren Harris, with their reverence of nature, bold use of colour and abstracted simplification. They have all shown an authentic evolution in their art.
10. What project are you working on right now? What would you like to do next?
I'm continuing with my collection that focuses on themes of hope, nature and home. In the future I intend to experiment further with unexpected compositional elements within the landscape/cityscape, allowing my art to evolve.
