A Conversation With March Featured Artist Lisa Goesling

Your work seems to be becoming more and more abstract. Can you talk about how your work has progressed over time?

I love being able to push myself as an artist. Having studied the myriad patterns in nature, I decided to see how I can expand on the idea of recreating the leaf or flower and use them as a jumping off place for my abstract art. By working spontaneously, I share the element of surprise that I feel with the person that stands before my art. My abstracts give people the chance to get completely lost in my process. 

How do you decide whether to add color to a piece or not? 

Since my creations are completely fluid, I make my decisions to add color on ‘the fly’. It is all about editing, does this piece need another element on the page or is it better with less? Will color enhance the art or is it stronger without it? Sometimes nature demands that a brilliant color be added. My graphic design experience has really helped me know how to compose a ‘page’, which is a big part of what makes a piece of art successful. 

You do a mix of commissions and your own work. How do you balance these?

Ah, the balance of commissions and work for shows, I know how lucky I am to have this problem! When I accept a commission, I make it clear that I also have my own work that I must attend to along with theirs. In most instances my buyers are happy to wait. If they cannot, I decide whether or not I have the time to execute their art along with other commitments. Most everyone who approaches me for a custom work fully understands how much time goes into creating my art. If I need to create art for a show, that takes precedent. 

Many of your pieces in your show are smaller. What are the opportunities and challenges are there to creating smaller and larger works?

Scratchbord® art is incredibly detail oriented. I want the viewer to become intimate with my art, to feel as if they can just climb right into my boards. That is much easier if the art is smaller than larger. If the board is too large, you miss every little nuance and can’t appreciate the whole ‘story’. Given the fact that my creations are so complex on a small scale, larger panels take an incredible amount of time. While the trend has been to fill a large wall with a piece of art, large art does not necessarily mean good art. A grouping of smaller pieces can have even more impact if they are quality driven. 

You just appeared in a show at the Arts Club of Chicago and have recently completed several commissions. Where do you see your work going from here?

I want to continue to have my art seen by new eyes. It is exciting to hear from art lovers across the world through social media. Nowadays it takes very little to have art collected by people across the world. In terms of venues closer to home, I hope to be able to show in some of the better Art Fairs in Chicago, Miami, NYC, LA, maybe some day museums. My goals are forever evolving and expanding. I am loyal to those who have found me already, and to those who have about to.