Joy Makon

An Old Pine in the Long Meadow

Medium:

Painting

Artist Statement:

Stand patiently for a few moments and get rewarded with brilliance.

There’s a ten, maybe fifteen minute window most afternoons to catch the waning sunlight shining through the trees in Prospect Park. In late November, when I observed the old Austrian pine with the ballfields in the background, the special witching hour is around 3:45pm. The landscape heats up with fiery colors and the clouds take on deeper rose and gold tones. The tree bark and needles glow with red and rust. Arrive too early and the colors are nice and sunny; arrive too late and shadows and darkness take over. Ah, but stand patiently for a few moments…observe the movement of shadows and the change of light…and get rewarded with brilliance.

As a painter of representational watercolors, Joy Makon creates work that is based on observations of daily life. Landscapes and seascapes, often with figures incorporated into the composition, as well as botanic studies, all come from her neighborhood in Brooklyn, around New York City and from travels domestically and abroad. Joy is a passionate observer of color and light; she explores the relationships between water-based pigment and contemporary reality. Paintings take anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks to complete. She spends several days drawing minimal, yet accurate pencil guides on paper, and then turns to watercolor to take advantage of its fluid magic. The chemistry of water, pigment and gravity on thick, beautiful paper is as integral to the finished work as is the imagery.

Brooklyn-based painter Joy Makon is a 1976 graduate of Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA where she studied art with John Moore, Stanley Whitney, Stanislaw Zagorski and Joseph Scorsone and earned a BFA degree in Graphic Design and Photography. Joy is an active member of artist-run 440 Gallery in Park Slope, Brooklyn and her work has been shown in shows at 440 Gallery, BWAC, Site:Brooklyn and Brooklyn College. She participates in annual open studio events with Arts Gowanus and the Park Slope Windsor Terrace Artists group. Her work is in private collections in New York and Pennsylvania. For over 35 years, Joy worked as a magazine art director and designer, and taught digital art and design at NYU and Parsons. A few years ago she scaled back her design practice and now devotes her time to painting and creating personal artwork.