About Joan Findley-Perls Artist

I’m a lifelong resident of Corrales, New Mexico, where I raised my children and now live with my husband, Bob Perls. My childhood here was idyllic – roaming the village with our family dogs and my horse, Frodo, while soaking up the creative atmosphere of my mother Tommie Findley’s art studio and the gentle biology lessons my father Jim Findley shared about the plants, animals, and ecosystems around us. I always loved to draw. In school, where I struggled to stay focused, my notebook margins became galleries of doodles and illustrations – little works of art in themselves. I looked at the world as if I was constantly planning a painting, always thinking someday I’ll paint. That someday finally came when I was fifty, after my children had grown. I took an oil painting class from a neighbor, and it felt like finding something that had been missing from my life for decades. My first paintings were still lifes inspired by the old masters like Vermeer. When Bob joined the American Foreign Service, we moved to Germany, where I continued painting. I was invited to exhibit at the American Consulate with other American artists. The response was overwhelming – the crowds loved my work and I sold every painting except Still Life I, which wasn’t for sale. But I hadn’t photographed any of them. The sudden absence of my work sent me into a depression, and what followed can only be described as artist’s block. For months, I hated everything I painted and lost all confidence. Then I remembered how effortless art felt when I doodled in those notebook margins. I got out a clean piece of paper and drew Big Eared Calubious in that same spontaneous style. The joy I felt creating it led to an entire series I call Graphite Glyphs, followed by my Graphite Realism drawings. Eventually, I grew weary of working only in grey. I began experimenting with color, introducing watercolor with pen and ink – and fell in love. This technique, which you see in my Cranes and Herons, Crows & Roosters and, Little Birds series, allows me to loosen up with abstract backgrounds while indulging my love of intricate detail in the pen and ink work. Each series I create leads me somewhere unexpected. My work is a constant dance – sometimes a battle – between my right and left brain, between spontaneity and precision. Both are essential to what I do: the loose, intuitive washes of color and the meticulous detail of pen and ink. When they’re in harmony, magic happens. I’m excited to see where this push and pull takes me next, and to continue exploring the balance between letting go and holding on.