“I’ve drawn, painted, written, spoken—in other words expressed myself—with many methods my whole life,” says artist Tanya Roland, who lives in Falls Church, Virginia. “For some of us it’s just something we have to do.”
Paradox, oil on canvas, 48 x 30"While Roland was talked out of going to art school in college, she ended up receiving a degree in art history anyway, taking as many studio classes as she could. That drive to learn and create art continued well after graduation, even while she held two careers as a colorist and co-owner of a top film/video post production house, and as a teacher and co-owner of a popular yoga studio. “[Making art] always emerged when the conditions were right and I would just pick up where I’d left off,” Roland reflects.
The Next Wave, mixed media on canvas, 44 x 36"
Playing in the Sky Garden, mixed media on canvas, 34 x 30"She quit her other jobs at age 40 to focus more deeply on her artwork, as well as her meditation practice, and has been exhibiting regularly in the Washington, D.C., area for the past eight years now. The artist works in abstraction, still life, figures and more, utilizing mediums like oil, gouache and mixed media.
Tanya Roland in her studio.
Victory, mixed media on canvas, 35 x 29"
Her mixed media on canvas, Playing in the Sky Garden, is like looking up at a magnificent celestial body in the night sky. “I’d dabbled in abstract in different periods of my life, yet it had been some time before a patron of mine encouraged me to get back to it,” says Roland. “I’m exceptionally glad I listened, as I’d forgotten how much I’d enjoyed it. As a long time meditator and dreamer, I’m used to inner visions coming in quite strongly. This was the case for this painting. I knew the dark background would be a wonderful foundation for color. I’d also been playing with pouring and splattering so this was a perfect context in which to explore all these things together. The sky is a metaphor used often in a tradition I practice, and as the piece developed it looked like a garden to me. Playing in the sky, as one can in dreams, is a traditional symbol of freedom for me, so this is an homage to liberated beings everywhere.” —
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