How did this whole bonanza get started?
A little over a year ago I decided to move to Los Angeles and try my hand at making a living as an artist. I started doing shows (in LA) and selling work very quickly. I couldn't keep up–or really grasp what was happening. I just knew people were finding my work interesting. Everything still seems very surreal to me. I like to take in every day and appreciate that I'm here doing what I've always dreamed.

What did you do before you began showing your art in galleries?
I was working as a tattoo artist. It's a great career for some people, but not for me. You have to interact with people a lot and create what they want, which can get repetitious. I like to be free when it comes to art. I would paint at the tattoo shop when there were no customers. I basically turned it into my studio, which is where I developed my initial body of work.

What sparked your interest in art as a child?
As a young girl, my dad took my brother and I on these painting excursions where we would watch him paint murals, mostly holiday scenes that he was commissioned to create inside stores and offices. He has no idea, still to this day, what a treat that was for me.

We were always encouraged to draw and paint. Those experiences, accompanied by my admiration for him, instilled in me a desire to always create. I've known from very young that a strong imagination is a gift. Whether it's understood or liked, it's whom I am through and through.

What, if any, formal art education did you receive?
After high school my parents wanted me to continue my education. For financial reasons, and wanting to remain close to my family, I went to the local community college in Riverside, where I grew up. I knew my major would be in the arts; I wanted to learn how to paint. I had started at '", but needed some severe guidance. Unfortunately I had the same horrible instructor for the three years I attended Riverside Community College. She was extremely negative and condescending, which ended up having a tumultuous effect on me mentally. In my rebellious state of mind, accompanied by my sheer disappointment in the small art department, I dropped out to move to San Francisco and paint freely. Funny thing, too, to actually get into the beginning painting class after all the strange and seemingly unnecessary classes I went through I just had to leave. Soon after I developed the techniques that I use now, all through trial and error, and a certain little paintbrush that finally died after my recent show, Odd, with Chet Zar. I haven't had the burial yet. I think I'm in denial.

Is there anything you feel like you missed out on by not studying art in an academic setting?
Yes and no. For instance, just starting out with this grand idea of hanging art in a gallery. As a self-taught artist, I had no sense of direction, and very little confidence. The best thing I could have ever done was go to the source–find a working artist and ask for advice. Scott Musgrove and Sean Christopher were my two biggest motivators and informers.

Not being familiar with certain paints or glazes or additives bothers me. Also, art history is something about which I know very little. I hear they have installation classes now. Yes, I am a deprived girl! It's the foundation for which I long for. With schooling, though, I may not have fully accepted my own techniques.

It's as if the lifeblood coursing through your veins is actually acrylic paint.
Probably false, but maybe true. My grandpa sent me some canvases and acrylic paints to play around with, and I liked that they could be used very intensely or thinned out with water. Oils just plain scared me with all the mixing of things and such. When I learned about watercolors at Riverside Community, I knew we wouldn't get along. So acrylics it was. I will venture on to oils someday. I need preparation, though. My whole mind has to accept it, but then I'll just dive in!

Where do you derive your inspiration?
Sarcasm, silliness, lots of music, and lately I've been wide-eyed to the littlest things. Things maybe we take for granted like the little old men in fancy knee socks, walking backwards for a new perspective, squirrels that only come out at 6 am, the guy on the corner of Orlando Avenue and Rosewood Avenue who sells all the fruit, and of course the June bug that visits me by way of the open window at night.

Sometimes we get too caught up to take notice of these things. It's a good feeling to think simply. It puts me in this real childlike state of mind; it has opened up doors to things I remembered as a kid. This is what has been coming out in my recent works.

How does being a mother of two young children factor into the content of your paintings?
It goes back to the child's mind. They've really taught me simplicity. I get such a kick listening to them play. My characters evolved about three years ago. My girls really started interacting and it kick-started this new vision. Previously I painted on pure emotion, using my work as a sort of therapy. It still is; it's just disguised now in a very strange little world.

It is said that there are secrets and hidden meanings in all of your
paintings.
Yes, this is true. I put a lot of hidden content in my work unattainable to the unsuspecting viewer. If a collector inquires about the piece purchased, I'll go into depth, but mostly I just sit back and listen to what the viewers say. I like to hear others' thoughts and perceptions. They makes me smile, and some of the stories are wild! The secrets stem from very simple and almost obvious meanings to very deep and intricate stories. Art is a visual way of speaking for me. Public speaking is my biggest fear. When I paint, I'm always speaking, and I reach a vast amount of people I normally wouldn't have conversations with. I like that.

The titles of your paintings are very lyrical and descriptive. Do the titles come first and serve as your muse for what you paint?
Usually, no. I never know what I'm going to paint next. The life of my
paintings and part of the inspiration starts from the frames that I choose. If the frame is really gaudy and out of control, then the painting will be simpler, whereas if the frame is simple, I feel like I can get a little more elaborate. I take in the shape, size, and color first. This sparks composition and color. It's been harder and harder to find frames lately, which is scary because it's the core of my work!

Titles come either in the middle of the process when I can start to see where I'm heading, or at the very end when it's finished. Each character gets a name I find fitting. I pull them out of an old baby names book from the '40s. Since I'm a huge fan of Edward Gorey, the twisted rhyming theme is very big with me. I am a bit of a rambler so the titles do tend to take on a small novel feeling at times. It drives the galleries crazy!

To obtain the art of Lola, contact lolastrangeart.com.