Jess Polanshek

S&H editor Ben Nussbaum spoke with artist Jess Polanshek about drawing porcupines, working at an art supply store, and embracing layers. Look for her work throughout the issue.

- Ben Nussbaum

You work in watercolor, which takes a lot of patience. There’s a lot of waiting for a layer to dry.

Usually I try to have two pieces going. That way I can put one aside and work on a dry one. But if I’m working on one piece, you can start on the face and then work on the pattern part, and by the time you go back things are dry. Because it’s many, many layers, over and over again.

Depending on what I’m going for, if I’m doing a sky or a forest scene, there’s layers of light and dark, for the leaves and the sky and the light shining through. There might be up to 20 or so layers of paint.

How do you know when you’re done?

It’s a gut feeling. My pieces are never perfect when they’re done, and that’s not really what I’m going for. If I look at it and I’m happy, that’s when I’m done. I’ve also learned the hard way that overworking things is terrible. It always leads to sadness. If you layer too much, you end up getting mud in the end.

Have you always been a watercolorist?