Art By Grace Calibo

Grace Calibo is an artist from Washington State.

My pieces, the results of hours hunched and curled in my desk chair, are meant to bring emotion to the viewer. I don’t particularly care what emotion but emotion nonetheless. Naturally, the first viewer of my works is myself. It’s my own emotion, my own approval, telling me when a piece is complete. I draw inspiration from anywhere and everywhere, though, truthfully, I often can’t pinpoint where exactly the inspiration came from. Landscapes are fun to paint. So are clowns and funny little creatures. Trees beg to be painted whenever I can squeeze them in. Though inconvenient from a marketing angle, I refuse to limit myself to a single style or genre of painting. I do this for myself, after all.

I work primarily with acrylic paints on wood panels. On occasion I’ll dig into my inks and water colors for a piece I think would feature them well. My background in digital art is now reserved for sketching and designing things like stickers. I’ll never count out a medium. There’s plenty I’ve yet to try. One day, I’ll be brave enough to give oils a go. 

To make art is often to be critical of one’s own ability. When I look at some of my older works, all I can see are things I could have changed or done more precisely. It’s because of my growth that I can look at a piece and say to myself, “Wow I really gave up on that bit,” or, “That part is wrong. Like, entirely.” It’s frustrating to know but, years from now, I’ll look at pieces from today and only see flaws. Pieces I’m immensely proud of will become lessons on what and what not to do. But it’s growth that allows this to happen. Seeing the flaws in an old painting means I’m that far improved. 

I’ve lived in Washington my whole life and have rarely left. For over a decade, my focus has been my art. Other than standard grade-school art classes, I’m entirely self-taught. Though, in the age of readily available instruction videos and how-to tips, the barrier to learning new mediums and skills is rather low. Still, I pride myself in my thirst for knowledge. Learning new skills and techniques to further evolve my art is one of life’s greatest joys.

You can find me and my work at the Uptown Art Walk (second Saturday of each month, May-October) and at the annual ArtSquared show put on by Art Walla. I can be contacted though this site, via Facebook, or on Instagram. (I’m most active on instagram.)