Painter Lynn Colwell on Sharing Her Gifts

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Hi, I’m Lynn Colwell. I live outside of Seattle, Washington, with my husband of 51-and-a-half years. And I’m a mixed-media artist, having become such about six-and-a-half years ago.

Prior to that, I had never picked up a paint brush because I had been told when I was in school, “Uh, find something else to do. Art is not your thing.” However, the last six-and-a-half years have been filled with joy and fun and everything great because of art. It really has brought me to a new place in my life and I’m really bathed in gratitude for that.

A lot of my paintings are different from one another in kind of the style because I have a very short attention span. The idea of painting the same style over and over and over again is totally unappealing to me. So I love to try. I love to experiment. I love to come out in the morning and just pick up my paintbrush and give it a go and see where it takes me. To me, the discovery is probably the best part of art.

Mixed-media artists use all kinds of paint. We use paper, we use fabric, we use all kinds of things in our paintings and all of my paintings have words on them that I write. I used to be a writer. When I figured out that I could combine my writing with my art, that was a sweet spot for me. They’re my words. And so every painting is very personal to me. Every painting comes from me.

It’s just so amazing to me to know that my paintings are in homes really all over the world and that they inspire people because that’s one of the things that I’m most pleased with at this stage of my life, to be able to inspire people. To me, it’s what brings me huge joy and the giving-away part doubles the joy. The fact that people get the paintings, they love the paintings and also nonprofits benefit, what could be better? I’m one lucky gal.