to B. Youngquist Art. This is where you can peer into my world of art. Read about what I am working on. Read about what I am reading. Look at my artwork. Get in touch with me on the Contact page for purchases, commissions, and collaborations. And get a peek into my private art journal where you get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly! I invite you to take a sec and look around.
The three things that drive my art and drive me are to be brave, to be authentic, and to be true.
Be Brave. I have had a lifetime of opportunities to be brave. Perhaps my mother and father knew this intuitively when they named me. Bernadette means “as strong as a bear” or “brave bear”. We all have opportunities in life to be brave and what takes bravery for each person varies but is no less significant in the act of being brave to the individual. For me, putting work that I care about deeply on a canvas and out into the world requires tremendous bravery.
Be Authentic. The only person we can do well is our self. This is true on so many levels and in so many ways. I am a self taught artist with a formal education in Psychology and Sociology. When I started on my artistic journey later in life, I made the intentional choice not to be formally trained and sought out the information I needed as I needed it. I know I am influenced by others and I also know that what was important for me in creating was to be authentic and expressive in only the way that each individual can be. Artwork by artists that have not been formally trained has been referred to as “naiveism”.
Be True. At the end of the day we face ourselves. I try to make decisions that are in alignment with my values. I try to speak words that are thoughtful and true and the truth is my enthusiasm often gets ahead of my words and I wish I had paused longer before speaking. But I strive to be true to myself in the words I speak, and the paintings I paint, and all the other little things I put out into the world.
The artwork you see above is titled “Pursuit”. It is an atmospheric abstract. When I create abstract art I seek to create a permanent moment in space and time. Just as the light of day is constantly changing, so is the unseen, like the emotional energy of pursuit. I create art with various acrylic mediums, pencil, prismacolor pencils, and charcoal. While I hold the emotion in my heart and in my mind’s eye, I apply the paint in an intuitive manner allowing what naturally follows to come. I work in this manner until I reach an acceptable level of contentment with the art. In “Pursuit”, the focal point of the painting is where the blues and greens recede into the depths of the surrounding space. Particles of energy collect and float in areas. For me, drips express stability, weight, and the heaviness of matter. They hold to the earth what might otherwise float away.
