The variety of styles present in Liz Jardine's artwork speaks volumes of this artist's natural curiosity and dynamic perspective. As a child, Jardine was raised on and artistically shaped by the sights and sounds of New York City. Jardine would journey to a different museum every Sunday with her father, who is also a painter. In an engrossed effort to study and learn from the master painters, Jardine would blur her eyes one at a time in order to change her perspective and fully appreciate the compositions and the brushstrokes. Broadway shows also heightened young Jardine's senses to the endless combinations of color and light, fantasy and whimsy that would eventually be incorporated into her work.
Jardine gravitated toward the tactile and, as an undergraduate student at the State University of New York in Buffalo, she concentrated on textile design and clay forms. There she developed an interest in incorporating fibers into porcelain wall pieces. The resulting series was displayed in an exceptional solo exhibition granted her before graduation by the University.
Upon graduation, Jardine began apprenticeship at various textile and design studios in the New York City area. Many of her raw silk garment designs were sold through Horton Studio at several designer boutiques including Henri Bendel.
In a conscientious effort to return to more traditional media, Jardine began an apprenticeship with a graphic design studio and developed skills in various advertising art and production techniques. Eventually, she began working free-lance and built a strong reputation as a skilled concept illustrator and art director. This work paved her return to watercolors in various genre as florals, landscapes, still life and abstracts. Today, Jardine flourishes in varied media but especially favors acrylics for their texturing and form-building abilities.
A self-professed coffee-holic, Jardine's tastes run the gamut from the cool, blue sounds of Joni Mitchell to the manic, wacky humor of the movie Beetlejuice. Gustav Klimt is her idol; the master artist's style and flavor is preeminent in Jardine's work, especially in the gilded palette, rich patterns, and exotic textures. Jardine's art is at once uncomplicated, vibrant, powerful but capricious.
Although Jardine credits much of her inspiration to her fascination with fashion and the 1920's, her love of travel unquestionably fuels her creativity and stimulates her artwork. Wanderlust has swept her to exotic countries both near and far. She has toured extensively throughout Asia and been on safari in Kenya. Ultimately, her travel has revealed itself in many of her pieces in the primitive patterning and Serengeti-inspired colors. At one memorable moment on a visit to a Masai village, all the women came out to greet Jardine and her traveling party with a tribal welcoming song, an especially lasting and touching experience for the artist.
