Among the Whisperings Painting

Once an advertising art director, Jessica has amassed a collection of vintage printed ephemera which she revives in her artwork. She paints predominantly in oils but her art is rooted in collage. Her collection of 1940’s and 1950’s wallpaper is the inspiration for her series of work “Wallflower”. The series is an exploration into feminine identity: in particular, how appearances relate to the inner self. It started with a question: What happens to a woman’s identity when you strip away the male gaze? Is a wall flower the one who shrinks into the background and becomes invisible...Or is she something that emerges from the wall, opening, blossoming, divulging her secrets? "Like meditative chanting, Watts’ paintings evoke mindfulness. Each artwork has a harmonic and sensory value that parallels the stillness of a garden. The artist’s repetitive working and re-working of her themes of wallpaper, the female body, flowers, and birds is like a personal mantra. I have found an awakening in these paintings that I think others will recognise". Richard Blundell October 2015 Richard Blundell FDIA Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University