Jacqueline Turner, who has been a vendor for Street Sense Media since 2010, uses watercolors to paint scenes of whatever she imagines. Turner’s art was featured in an art show on Sept. 29.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What do you feel like you’ve learned while you were making art?
How to express myself and how to be relevant. I try not to worry about what it looks like, or what other people are going to think of it. I use it to express myself. And if people like it, cool. And if they don’t, well, I’ve learned something. I also learned a lot about matching colors: What colors are opposite, what colors blend together well. What colors brighten up other colors, things like that. For example, if you put dark blue and say yellow together, or green and yellow together it’s going to shout out. The green is going to be the undertone for the yellow.
How does painting make you feel?
It’s relaxing, and calming. For at least one hour of the day, you can have your mind set on one thing and be calm. And you ain’t got to do no talking. You ain’t got to do no worrying. You just think about what you’re doing and how calming it is. That’s what I really like. That’s why I got into it. I do a lot of hectic things and I’ve had a lot on my mind. That little one hour a week, it really helps. This is kind of like a stepping stone. I’ve found things that I can do to make me feel calm and express myself.
How long have you been painting?
About three months.
What do you like to paint?
I painted a dog yesterday. I’m not really good at abstract, but I like to paint regular things like flowers, dogs, houses. Things that you’d do when you were in elementary school. A house, a dog, a cat, things like that. Ordinary things. I’m not really fancy.
Where do you get your ideas?
I thought about that dog yesterday because I watch cartoons. On the kids channel they had this black and white dog. And I said, “I’m going to draw that dog.” I like some of the things I paint. And other times, I don’t even want anybody to see it. I’ve had some disasters.
Do you feel like you’ve improved?
Oh, I know I have become a whole lot better. I’m not afraid to try though. A lot of people have really good talent. I may not be one of them, but a lot of (people here) have really good talent.
