Valerie Storey, Author - Artist
A Selection of My Drawings, Ceramics, Paintings, and Beadwork
I've been fascinated by art my entire life, starting with my favorite childhood picture books and later attending lectures at London's National Gallery for two years. However, I'm still a relative newcomer when it comes to expressing my own artistic voice. Right now my strongest inspiration and influence comes from a trip I took to Taiwan where I discovered ways to merge my Western art history education with Asian techniques. I call it "Asian Expressionism" and it's the direction I'm following in both my visual art as well as my new ceramic work.
Besides working with clay and beads, my favorite mediums include oil pastels, sumi ink and drawing pens, watercolors, and water-soluble pencils. I particularly enjoy painting abstract backgrounds for my work before I start a piece, using either watercolor washes, or acrylic paint on a Gelli printing plate. The resulting (and often very intriguing) images left by the paint help me choose my subject matter in much the same way I like to write using random word prompts. Enjoy the show!