Jessica Ofalt. Details, Month 9 Oil and Charcoal on Canvas 4’X5′

Jessica Ofalt. Month 6- All you do is sleep because when you sleep you disappear and you wonder who this person is inside who is turning your world upside down.”  Oil on Canvas

Jessica Ofalt. Image 8633- Detail, Month 6 Oil on Canvas

Firstly, what are your mediums of creative inspiration?
I prefer to paint in oil-what you love about it you can hate at times. Plus the more layers you put on the deeper and fresher the colors become.

How do you become inspired to create?
This question is a loaded one for me-answering as simply as possible, I think in paint. That being said, I am inspired to create mostly by my son because I am around him all of the time. Watching him learn to say, ‘hi’ or ‘hippopotamus’ is like watching a miracle. As his brain makes connections, mine yearns for a way to express his growth in a visual way. As I learn how to be a mom, with all of the new challenges and joys it brings, my brain uses painting as a way to cope and express how I feel and how I learn. I get inspired by the books I read to him, the way he runs, the way he lays on my shoulder-whatever touches my heart inspires me to create.

Jessica Ofalt. “Month 8- I’m so big, you say, along with I’m so tired and I’m so scared and you look up in the sky for a why and know that soon the answer will be here on Earth.”  Oil on Canvas

Jessica Ofalt. “Month 9″- There is a little boy here now, smaller than you imagined and you don’t feel strong but you will do whatever you have to to surround him with everything beautiful you can think of because you know it will be your life’s honor to be his mother and nothing really matters but that.” Oil and Charcoal on Canvas 4’X5′

Jessica Ofalt. Details, Month 9 Oil and Charcoal on Canvas 4’X5′

 Manet because of his lingering linear quality of ‘Olympia.’
 

Jessica Ofalt. Details, Month 9 Oil and Charcoal on Canvas 4’X5′