Originally from Chicago, IL, Carlyn Janus lives and works as an independent artist in Brooklyn, NY, specializing in acrylic and mixed media painting on canvas and paper. Her work is mainly abstracted natural forms and scenes inspired from nature. Carlyn mixes the organic elements of her surroundings into surreal, dream-like textures and layers. What she creates is not a tangible setting or a recognizable place, but more a feeling or distant memory. Carlyn Janus is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago who has been working professionally within many art fields including fine art restoration, graphic design, and interior design, for over 20 years. She started my career as a full-time fine art painter in 2012. and is currently represented by galleries and private collections throughout the United States and Canada. Artist Statement: My paintings are fueled by my deep respect and personal connection to the natural world. This is my fundamental artistic influence. I do not attempt to recreate nature's beauty into a tangible setting or environment, but rather my paintings mix the elements of my surroundings and personal history into surreal, dream-like textures and layers -- portraying a distant memory or forgotten feeling uniquely interpreted by the viewer. When painting I let the layers evolve organically, creating texture and composition without any end vision in mind. Colors and shapes appear and transform from one gesture to the next. This artistic practice has shaped my two main painting collections, an abstracted landscape series and a graphic form series. These collections are very different visually however are both produced with the same instinctive hand techniques, tool application, layering effects, attention to textural details and root influence of nature and natural forms.