Front and Centre with 

Joanne Gervais

http://www.joannegervais.com

Jaywalker asked local artist Joanne Gervais to scare up a few pieces for October's "Front and Centre", knowing full well that Joanne quite prefers lively, happy scenes, such as her popular oils of playing children or her memorable street vignettes. She promptly volunteered to paint an original ("Girlz in the 'Hood"; cover), and offered us free range of her extensive collection of existing artworks.

Joanne easily found the skeleton study, then the pirate, then the angry man (who, actually only looks angry in this case, and is otherwise quite amiable in person). She'd already provided us with the dark "Eve on the Rocks", and was primed for the cover. But it took some deep digging to find the last three pieces - pieces that speak volumes about the feelings of the artist.

"Media Trap" reflects on Joanne's very active lifestyle - her involvement with sports, gardening, family and, of course - the arts. The image, seen to the left, demonstrates her aversion to idle, unproductive time. For her, occupying one of the empty seats is a shuddering thought.

Joanne coordinates the Kingston Life Drawing Group at Artillery Park and must, on unhappy occasions, draw a model whose ego is - to put it mildly - frightful.  Try to see if her feelings have come through in her pen-and-ink study titled, appropriately: "Vanity" (a.k.a. - "Look At Me"), on page 18.

Jaywalker would like to thank Joanne Gervais for her tasty take on the modern day Ms. Riding Hood ("Girlz In the 'Hood") and for openly sharing her work with us. You'll find many more of her works by visiting her online gallery at:

www.joannegervais.com

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