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Photo courtesy Barb Campbell
Lynne Rolls with her work at Studio 11. |
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Though an observer would never know, Lynne Rolls starts each piece of artwork with an affirmation, literally and mystically. The first mark she makes on her canvas is a painted symbol -- a peace or infinity sign, a heart or yin yang -- and then she begins building her mixed media layers.Nine such pieces are currently exhibited at Studio 11 in downtown Frederick through Oct. 29. "Some positive affirmations are stored in them," she said, sitting on a plush leather sofa in the gallery. "I didn't always do that, but then I just had the idea to start the process that way." Painting takes Rolls into a meditative space, where she sometimes focuses specifically on her original symbol. After earning a BA from Ithaca College, traveling and then living overseas for five years, Rolls is now based in Poolesville with her husband. She teaches private art lessons there at her studio and creates her own work, lately primarily mixed media pieces. "Crayons, chalk, ink, gesso, sand ... I've been known to put food in some of my paintings," she said. "And glitter. I literally hurl it into the painting." Textures vary in her abstract pieces, from the sleek shimmer of "Lumiere" (French for "light") to the earthy, rugged blues in "Tree." In several of the pieces, however, is her signature coiled lines -- big, loose swirls that give "a lot of dynamic and movement," she said. "What I try to achieve in every painting is a certain vibe or emotion." Though she experiences a spectrum of emotions like the rest of us, she said she's centered and happy when she paints, which results in centered, happy pieces. She'd rather not bring a morose painting into the world. "I think if we give out good vibrations -- and this is sort of my spiritual side coming out -- it kind of goes out into the universe, and people resonate with these vibrations," she said, "as opposed to dissonant ones," which she could just as easily express if she wanted. Rolls looks at the completed pieces before naming them things like "Third Eye," "Vortex," "Labyrinth" and "Fresh." "Pilgrimage" was so named because Rolls saw in it an aerial view of a sacred city, in glittery shades of pink and purple. "It feels spiritual to me," she said. Studying "Lumiere," she realized the fragile lines of gold among the gray could be compared to silver linings in clouds. "I called it 'Light' because it's kind of the opposite of light, like the yin and the yang," she said, standing in front of the piece. "OK, I'm showing my spiritual side again." — — — www.lynnerollsstudio.com
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