I am driven by the quest for quiet and solitude. The louder and more thoughtless the nonstop buzz surrounding us becomes, the greater my need to create the opposite. I paint people engaged in quiet and contemplative pursuits, and landscapes that invite a solitary stroll. The vibrancy of my preferred medium, pastel, often magnifies the sense of introspection. I'm continually working to improve my mark making. Each painting has its own story and the better I can make my marks, the more clearly I can convey it. I want my art to stir the soul, to create a connection. I want it to bring back memories and make people smile. Do you remember listening for meadowlarks as you hiked up the trail? Does the figure curled up with a book remind you of someone you love, maybe even yourself? My art is about connecting to people with recognition and emotion, a sense of place and of memory, of simply being human. I hope that sharing my need for quiet encourages others to recognize and embrace their own, to take a deep breath and remember that they can separate themselves from all that noise, if only for a moment.
Jill Storey NPS, PSWC is a national award winning pastellist whose work has been included in numerous juried and curated exhibitions. She has always had a piece of paper and something to draw with in her hands, and though she dabbled in other mediums through the years, nothing ever quite replaced her love of working on paper. Discovering pastels reinforced this love, and the joy of working with such brilliant colors made pastels her medium of choice.
Jill is a Signature Member of the Northwest Pastel Society and Pastel Society of the West Coast, and a member of the Pastel Society of America, New Orleans Drawing Group, Boise Open Studios Collective Organization and Treasure Valley Artists Alliance. She earned her BFA at Saint Mary's College in Indiana and continues to learn and experiment through workshops and online sessions. Living with her husband in Boise, Idaho, Jill continually finds inspiration in the strong, clear light and diverse landscape of the Northwest.
