Brazilian painter Cristina Jaco isn’t into labels.
“I think my style is impressionistic or maybe expressionistic, but I’m not affiliated to any school or art tradition,” she says. “The only things that matters to me are color, light and the love to paint a unique piece each time.”
With a day job as a graphic designer and web designer, Cristina’s whole world revolves around studying, reading and producing art, and she’s not choosy in how she goes about it. Although she does prefer to paint in smaller sizes, she dabbles in watercolor, acrylic and oil on a variety of canvas and paper.
Pequi, for example, is a mixed-media painting on watercolor paper. These two pieces of fruit are boldly displayed against a darkened background, which allows their playfulness to shine through.
White-space scribbles define the outer edges of the fruit and add a blithe, no-nonsense attitude to the still life. These scribbles are mimicked in in the finer details of the fruit, such as were pit meets flesh and along the peel to emphasize its spherical shape.
This is a laid back painting that I think well-represents Cristina’s easy, expressionistic style.
In this next painting (an acrylic piece done on a gesso-based panel) Cristina’s brush strokes are breathtaking and steal the show with their thoughtful suggestions of what’s at hand. Not only do her simple, short strokes give shape and dimension to each object in the painting, but they give way to a plethora of feelings, too.
Highlights of yellow and white loosely mix with blush and tangerine hues, adorning each rose petal with magnificent shimmer and endless amounts of romance. In the back, a demure black and red rose exudes sophisticated elegance, subtly rivaling the happy-go-lucky pink ones. Golden paint around the edges of the painting adds even more warmth to the piece and radiantly sets the scene aglow.
Finally, Cristina’s last piece is an oil painting created strictly with a palette knife on stretched cotton canvas.
Looking at the perpendicular lines and rows of color, I am reminded of shifting elevations, like what you would see on a topographical map. The boldness in which warm and cool colors are thickly applied to the canvas shows Cristina’s confidence, and creates a lovely, dynamic flow.
Looking at the bigger picture, I see a rolling hillside on the outskirts of Tuscany, where wild grapes grow with abandon. Magnifico!
I’ll simply end with this: if Cristina ever gets bored painting still lifes, she’ll always have a career in creating seascapes. Make sure to check out her watercolor paintings depicting boats in the harbor on her website. Enjoy!
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