Jamie Cook Simon

Artist Statement

Since moving back to the northeast in 2022, I have been building a series of landscapes based on the four seasons, as well as a figurative series exploring women’s relationships.
My landscape series explores the sounds and impressions of the seasons in the Northeast. I obsessively paint the landscape in Connecticut, particularly trees, as I revere their strength, and their ability to provide comfort and a sense of place during all seasons. Their quiet resilience is a quality I embody as a woman and delve into in my of series of figurative works about women. In my figurative series, I am interested in connection versus isolation, freedom from old expectations and the healing powers of nature.
I use mainly oil paint and oil sticks in a mix of thick and layered strokes and thin veils of color to capture the depth of feeling the landscape gives me. My process involves applying loose spontaneous ink marks on paper without editing to keep the piece as alive as possible, or massive scraping and redrawing in oil paint on canvas to achieve the freshest lyrical effect the landscape or moving figure gives me. I will not stop until I can stand in front of my piece, take a deep breath and feel like I am there in that world, feeling those emotions. Colors are meant to reflect sounds from nature: bird song, waves of crickets, wind, or in the case of the dancing girl, music and fabric moving.
Trees have always been a mentor for me, the energy coming off of them, the life they give, their endurance and growth. Love, friendship and a sense of freedom in nature are also very important to me, and trees gently remind me that quiet resilience can coexist with a connection to all living things.