xiolajensen

Follow me on instagram: xiolathefairy

Growing up in a family of artists and musicians, I have always been encouraged to explore my creativity and passion within. Although I enjoy working with digital and traditional media of all sorts, I have developed a preference for watercolors, adding details with my trusty sharpie pen to create simple portraits of women. Most recently I have been creating self-portraits as a way of healing and processing emotion and to clarify who I am, to myself. My other work explores important topics such as love, heartbreak, introspection, and cats.
Throughout my lifetime I have habitually created works that examine women and femininity, although this was not always a conscious effort. As a young girl, I drew pictures without any significant thought. A common theme came to my attention when people began to ask why my work focused on exclusively female individuals, and why they often reflected my own physical appearance in one way or another. At first I was self-conscious about these observations because they were initially unintentional. Over time, I began to question why I felt embarrassed to explore subject matter that is so clearly awesome! In the past year I have grown immensely as both a woman and an artist, and I am examining how these two parts of me interrelate and overlap. I have come to understand that I specialize in female portraiture simply because I love and understand women more than other beings. I see myself in all women and find beauty in the feminine energy and she-power that I strive to display within my work.