As you know, every seasonal scent is inspired by something greater.
Lauren’s oil painted portraiture stood out on first, second and third glance. And still today, it haunts me. I am not sure why or how.
Lauren is also a fundamentally deep and honest person, which in this day and in respect to the connection mediums we have available to us, is rare and valuable and heart-warming.
The limited edition print for our Winter season is an offering from the magical world of Lauren Jones. A supporting visual to the winter scent ‘Sonder’. They sing so beautifully together. Which is why Lauren has graciously allowed a small print to be included in every Rewild Co order – but only for the shortest time.
I encourage you to read through Lauren’s answers to the questions I posed. Take your time. She offers you her wisdom in a gentle way.
[Amanda]: “Lauren Jones, you are such an incredible talent. What mentally pushes you to be better each and every day?”
[Lauren]: “I love learning and exploring the medium of oil paint. I genuinely enjoy the process of painting and creating something from nothing. Each painting session I aim at achieving a “flow state”. Sometimes I get it and sometimes I don’t. I never can quite tell if I’m going to have a great painting day or not. In my style of Alla Prima painting, I paint quite fast. So, there’s a fine balance or tipping scale of things turning out nicely or not at all.
With this style, using oil paint, you can hit a mucky and messy state quite quickly, where things often don’t work out. It’s a practice of knowing when to stop and not to overthink, overwork or get too upset with the piece if it doesn’t turn out. I usually start my painting day by creating a fast and fun study painting. This puts me mentally in the right mode for the rest of the day of painting.
I’m inspired by the new places my technique and paintings take me each session. And while it’s not fun when work doesn’t turn out right, I do feel inspired by unsuccessful pieces, to challenge myself to get back into the studio and do better next time.
I also feel motivated when work sells, not that this is a measure of worth of the artwork or the purpose, but it feels encouraging and rewarding when others are cheering you on and receive joy from something you create.”
Work by Lauren Jones
[A:] “I read recently that “business is a creative act” – what are your thoughts on this?”
[L:] “I’ve been thinking about how a creative act can be a business, and how they translate to one another. What one can do as a passion or for play and make that financially viable is a complex thing. I think that business and creativity can go hand in hand with problem solving, discipline and dedication; but I also think they are very different. Strength in one area often belies of a weakness in the other. That’s true in my case.”
Work by Lauren Jones
[A:] “Risk is a necessary component of progress. What risks have you taken in your life that has played a pivotal role in the artist you are today?”
[L:] While I have been painting for over 15 years now, only a few years ago, I chose to pursue it full time. It’s a risk stepping out of a secure 9 – 5 job and taking on the unknown and unpredictability of the being an artist. Being vulnerable is a risk and I believe that all artists are bravely vulnerable by putting pieces of themselves out into the world.”
[A:] “Many in our community mutter of the busy-ness of life, seemingly compounded by multiple roles and responsibilities. How do you manage being over-scheduled?”
[L:] It’s a juggle being a mum and an artist.
I am quite disciplined with the hours I spend in the studio. As a mum of a four-year old, I have only three days a week in which I can spend painting, so I use the time I have wisely and rarely schedule anything else to do in that time. My life is quite simple. I’m a mum and I paint. Everything revolves around that. I think it really helps having a separate dedicated space to create and having regular time set aside that I spend in the studio. I need the space to get my head into creating and while some can juggle quite well a more flexible day to day way of creating, I need this structure to work.”
[A:] “When admiring or assessing any piece of art, what do you hope that people look for in the work?”
[L:] “I hope that people have an emotional response to an artwork. That there’s a connection there that’s more than an admiration of skill, that’s more than the subject of the painting. I hope that they see something that moves them. And not in a dramatic way even. Just a small sense of wonder or beauty or movement. I like pieces to have a sense of beauty and embody a mood. They’re two points for me when I look at an artwork.”
[A:] “Paint a picture of your studio for our readers. Take them there…”
[L:] “I work from a studio in the Noosa hinterland. In a country town laneway, nestled between factories and an agriculture shop. It’s a narrow black painted shed with an unsigned black door.
I unlock the door and step into my studio. It’s a small space that is essentially two narrow rooms adjoining each other. From the laneway, the door opens into the first space, a warm grey walled room which has my desk and a shelf of books and objects; a little cabinet with a kettle and cups and my tea. An open doorway leads in the second space with old latch pioneer windows that open out into the gravelled laneway. From some angles I can see the Pomona Mountain that shadows the town with its steep peak.
The floor is splattered with tiny spots of oil paint and my easel sits at the end of the room against the wall and basked in the best natural light of the studio. I take my oil paints from the makeshift shelves on the wall which are filled with paints, jars, tins and still life objects. I top up my wooden painter’s palette with oil paints from the tiered trolley, next to my easel. Put on my headphones to drown out the truck and car noise from the main road and connect my latest Irish murder mystery audiobook. I adjust my little cushioned seat at my easel and ready my brushes and paint.
Lauren Jones is an incredible artist based in Queensland. You can see her work online here, follow her art life here or learn from her through one of her workshops here. SONDER Eau de Parfum was inspired by Lauren’s art. Find ‘Sonder’ here, for just a little while longer.
A World of Art – our Winter in-house artist – Lauren Jones
As you know, every seasonal scent is inspired by something greater.
Lauren’s oil painted portraiture stood out on first, second and third glance. And still today, it haunts me. I am not sure why or how.
Lauren is also a fundamentally deep and honest person, which in this day and in respect to the connection mediums we have available to us, is rare and valuable and heart-warming.
The limited edition print for our Winter season is an offering from the magical world of Lauren Jones. A supporting visual to the winter scent ‘Sonder’. They sing so beautifully together. Which is why Lauren has graciously allowed a small print to be included in every Rewild Co order – but only for the shortest time.
I encourage you to read through Lauren’s answers to the questions I posed. Take your time. She offers you her wisdom in a gentle way.
[Amanda]: “Lauren Jones, you are such an incredible talent. What mentally pushes you to be better each and every day?”
[Lauren]: “I love learning and exploring the medium of oil paint. I genuinely enjoy the process of painting and creating something from nothing. Each painting session I aim at achieving a “flow state”. Sometimes I get it and sometimes I don’t. I never can quite tell if I’m going to have a great painting day or not. In my style of Alla Prima painting, I paint quite fast. So, there’s a fine balance or tipping scale of things turning out nicely or not at all.
With this style, using oil paint, you can hit a mucky and messy state quite quickly, where things often don’t work out. It’s a practice of knowing when to stop and not to overthink, overwork or get too upset with the piece if it doesn’t turn out. I usually start my painting day by creating a fast and fun study painting. This puts me mentally in the right mode for the rest of the day of painting.
I’m inspired by the new places my technique and paintings take me each session. And while it’s not fun when work doesn’t turn out right, I do feel inspired by unsuccessful pieces, to challenge myself to get back into the studio and do better next time.
I also feel motivated when work sells, not that this is a measure of worth of the artwork or the purpose, but it feels encouraging and rewarding when others are cheering you on and receive joy from something you create.”
[A:] “I read recently that “business is a creative act” – what are your thoughts on this?”
[L:] “I’ve been thinking about how a creative act can be a business, and how they translate to one another. What one can do as a passion or for play and make that financially viable is a complex thing. I think that business and creativity can go hand in hand with problem solving, discipline and dedication; but I also think they are very different. Strength in one area often belies of a weakness in the other. That’s true in my case.”
[A:] “Risk is a necessary component of progress. What risks have you taken in your life that has played a pivotal role in the artist you are today?”
[L:] While I have been painting for over 15 years now, only a few years ago, I chose to pursue it full time. It’s a risk stepping out of a secure 9 – 5 job and taking on the unknown and unpredictability of the being an artist. Being vulnerable is a risk and I believe that all artists are bravely vulnerable by putting pieces of themselves out into the world.”
[A:] “Many in our community mutter of the busy-ness of life, seemingly compounded by multiple roles and responsibilities. How do you manage being over-scheduled?”
[L:] It’s a juggle being a mum and an artist.
I am quite disciplined with the hours I spend in the studio. As a mum of a four-year old, I have only three days a week in which I can spend painting, so I use the time I have wisely and rarely schedule anything else to do in that time. My life is quite simple. I’m a mum and I paint. Everything revolves around that. I think it really helps having a separate dedicated space to create and having regular time set aside that I spend in the studio. I need the space to get my head into creating and while some can juggle quite well a more flexible day to day way of creating, I need this structure to work.”
[A:] “When admiring or assessing any piece of art, what do you hope that people look for in the work?”
[L:] “I hope that people have an emotional response to an artwork. That there’s a connection there that’s more than an admiration of skill, that’s more than the subject of the painting. I hope that they see something that moves them. And not in a dramatic way even. Just a small sense of wonder or beauty or movement. I like pieces to have a sense of beauty and embody a mood. They’re two points for me when I look at an artwork.”
[A:] “Paint a picture of your studio for our readers. Take them there…”
[L:] “I work from a studio in the Noosa hinterland. In a country town laneway, nestled between factories and an agriculture shop. It’s a narrow black painted shed with an unsigned black door.
I unlock the door and step into my studio. It’s a small space that is essentially two narrow rooms adjoining each other. From the laneway, the door opens into the first space, a warm grey walled room which has my desk and a shelf of books and objects; a little cabinet with a kettle and cups and my tea. An open doorway leads in the second space with old latch pioneer windows that open out into the gravelled laneway. From some angles I can see the Pomona Mountain that shadows the town with its steep peak.
The floor is splattered with tiny spots of oil paint and my easel sits at the end of the room against the wall and basked in the best natural light of the studio. I take my oil paints from the makeshift shelves on the wall which are filled with paints, jars, tins and still life objects. I top up my wooden painter’s palette with oil paints from the tiered trolley, next to my easel. Put on my headphones to drown out the truck and car noise from the main road and connect my latest Irish murder mystery audiobook. I adjust my little cushioned seat at my easel and ready my brushes and paint.