Day light savings has ended and I have more time to write….or rearrange furniture because what I’m feeling is “ants-in-my-pants” instead of creativity. I was furniture shopping on-line yesterday. I imagined how a white leather sofa could brighten things up. How would my eclectic taste for Danish and Japanese furnishings, accented by large-scale cat castles, do with a high-tech, low profile leather sofa injected into it? Then I glanced up at one of my favorite paintings and started thinking of my Mom. She was a master at mixing things up; artwork, interior design, colors…I’ve been meaning to write more artist features. Why not start by covering my own Mom? This feature is about her.

The Artist

Jacqueline Berger Stubbs, a Seattle, WA native best known for her enormous and vivid water colors, attended the Cornish School of Art and the University of Washington. She married Raymond Cooper Stubbs, a Naval officer from California, and became a prolific artist and teacher. While stationed in Japan in the late 50’s and early 70’s, she studied various Asian art forms.  She started blending her skill in Western and Asian styles to create contemporary mixed media presentations of flowers, landscapes, and animals. Her water-color and mixed media paintings have hung in homes and galleries in Japan, California, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, Washington, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Most recently, her work has been showcased in Spring, TX at Spring Cottage Gallery.

What’s Being Torn?

Jacqueline studied three Asian art forms while in Japan; Chigiri-e, Hari-e and Sumi-e. Chigiri-e and Hari-e both involve the use of paper, instead of paint, to depict subjects. While Hari-e is bits of pasted paper (sort of a cross between mosaic and collage), Chigiri-e is actually torn shapes. In Japanese, “chigiru” means “to tear.” “Washi”, Japanese Paper, is used in the Chigiri-e art form. Washi is made of the inner bark of various plants and creates a soft three-dimensional effect. Jacqueline loved the art form because it appeared to be water-color, but using much different media.  As her venture into mixed media progressed, other things were torn or shredded, like bits of yarn, string, playing cards, wrapping paper or envelopes. She made it all work. She even experimented with dying her own paper in order to create colors that were unavailable on the market. While living in Michigan, Jacqueline taught classes in these art forms at the Midland Center for the Arts for over 30 years.

This custom died washi shows the fibrous content and color variation that added to the dimensions of Stubbs’ work.

Rolls of custom died washi.

What the Art Looks Like

Jacqueline incorporated the art of sumi-e, black ink wash painting, along with water-color in her Chigiri-e and Hari-e creations to highlight minuscule details. Her mixed media pieces are very unique and misleading. Most people think they are water-color paintings until they get up close and see the textures. Below are some pieces that currently hang in my home. The one immediately below was one of my high school graduation presents from my Mom.

These poppies were created exclusively with washi, using only a bit of water-color to create white dots on the stamen.

These tiger lilies are enhanced with sumi-e to create the black dots on the otherwise washi based flowers.

These dogwood blossoms and the yellow bird are made of washi, enhanced with a bit of water-color.

It’s been two years since my Mom has passed away. In this time I’ve gone through her studio inventory and portfolios many times, always finding something new and always amazed at how she could tear things up and achieve beauty. I’m surrounded by her art and it always brightens my days. I won’t be needing that white leather sofa.

What brightens your days when there is less daylight?

Jacqueline Stubbs Art

Edited by Tawny Lara @ Tawny Lara.