About Harmony Thiessen

I have never been a big believer in perfection. I find it boring. Some people want life to be perfect, people to behave perfectly, and art to look like something they know and understand. I get it. Life is easier when we can understand what is going on.

But since I was five years old, I have longed to know the whys of life. What goes on underneath it all? The cause and effect. I am especially intrigued by perspectives. Not the typical mindset of a picture, but the viewpoints of people.

I am endlessly curious about how life looks from the ant’s point of view, a seagull, an eagle, and people who live in entirely unfamiliar cultural norms from my own.

It challenges my sensibilities.

So, I try to create art that is pretty. Sometimes that works. Other times it is an abstract jumble of curious adventure.

However it evolves, the art I offer comes from a spirit of love for people, animals, and life in general. I am so fortunate to have witnessed life in over twenty developing countries. And, no doubt, the people and places of those African, Asian, Central American, and Eastern Europe have profoundly affected how I see the world.

My work usually is quite textured. Again, an abstract way of creating depth and variety. I paint and remove paint. Scrape and draw or paint them over again. Change the colors. Use some glazes and do something that ruins the painting! That somehow leads me to discover a doorway to something more meaningful than the last. I never know when to stop as each artwork takes me on a journey, and I am not honestly seeking a destination. 

I do eventually stop because I make a living with my art. At some point and time, I must call it finished. (smile)

But the work is not finished until you see it. Once you see it and it triggers the meanings you have buried within you, it becomes – a painting.

 “You see the world through the beauty in you.” Harmony Thiessen