Featured Artist Josephine Close

Mixed media artist Josephine Close incorporates mystical and magical elements in her nature-inspired portfolio. Learn more by visiting her website.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Memory” ink, gold and wax on paper, 36″ x 36″

 

I am a self-taught mixed media painter based in Los Angeles. My work focuses on the intersection of art and magic.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“All night long, it pulls them down” ink and wax on paper, 30″ x 22″

 

I approach my practice from an intuitive place, seeking to convey the spiritual, no matter what my subject or medium would be.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Thistle Prayer” ink and wax on paper, 12″ x 15″

 

For years I have studied various healing modalities, ancestor veneration, mediumship, tarot and divination of all kinds. As a result of those teachings, I realized that the most potent magic is the magic we make up ourselves.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Stairway to a secret” ink, silver and wax on paper, 15″ x 16″

 

My painting practice is truly my only form of magic. I treat the act as a ritual. I prepare my space—lighting candles, burning incense and preparing my tools and paper.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Oath” ink, silver and wax on paper, 11″ x 15″

 

I set intentions for each piece. I have several altars that I tend to, to further my art practice. To me, my art making is my religion, a meditation; the paintings themselves represent a spell or a prayer.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Secret” ink, gold and wax on paper, 15″ x 11″

 

I incorporate magic symbols in my underpainting and sometimes recognizable in the final painting itself.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Stars turn and time presents itself” ink, silver and wax on paper, 15″ x 12″

 

I paint in a somewhat realistic fashion but crave disruption; something to make it less realistic, more its own entity. I am constantly experimenting with what I refer to as treatments. My work is acrylic ink and wax on paper. Incorporating gold, silver, diamond dust, mica and other things I can find and seeing the effect is a huge part of my practice.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“The existence of matter” ink, gold and wax on paper, 11″ x 15″

 

I developed an allergy to oil paint and had to stop using it. I tried to devise a way to make my acrylics mimic oils, which is how I came to my current practice. It was years of experimentation that led me to my process.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“The things we gathered” ink, gold and wax on paper, 22″ x 15″

 

As an animist, I am deeply influenced by nature. Other influences include old religious iconography, Mexican retablo or ex voto paintings, old movies, old fairy tales, poetry, early spiritualism and all kinds of magic.

 

mixed media painting by Josephine Close

“Chicken” ink, gold and wax on paper, 11″ x 15″

 

I am drawn to old things, objects that have a weathered look, things that inspire a sense of nostalgia and I try to capture that feeling in my work.

 

Artist Josephine Close invites you to follow her on Instagram.

 

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