Painting her world

EAGLE RIVER -- Whaley Schmoyer’s untitled February show at Jitters coffee shop is a review of her work over the past year. Sinuous lines and shapes from the plant kingdom preside, with leaves, stems and flowers a repeated refrain.

Schmoyer said her time in the outdoors and her love of natural texture, layers and pattern inspires her work.

“What I’ve found specifically with leaves and flowers, is there’s so much variety, and so much texture and movement,” Schmoyer said, “that I’m really drawn to them. And tropical flowers especially. They’re very exciting.”

Schmoyer lives in Anchorage, but she has an Eagle River connection – her mother-in-law is Merry Braham, a long-time and well-known local who works as the events director for the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce.

Schmoyer said she and her family decided that it was time for her to make the move to working as a full-time artist sometime last fall.

She’s worked as an artist professionally for about 10 years, she said, with some of her patrons coming from outside Alaska.

“I feel that over the last year my skills as an artist have improved greatly,” Schmoyer said, adding that the current show is a good demonstration of that. “I feel I’ve been growing.”

Pieces such as “Flow Leaf” and “Frozen Dawn” capture the natural, biological lines of plants in the natural world. Schmoyer’s show is unlike a collection of garden-plucked still lifes, bringing to mind instead the dynamic, alive feeling of being in the outdoors.

“I’m kind of a traveling artist,” Schmoyer said. “If we go on a trip or we’re camping, my art always comes with me. So if inspiration strikes me, I have opportunity to put it canvas.”

Whaley Schmoyer’s untitled show hangs in Jitters (11401 Old Glenn Highway, Suite 107) through February. For more information about her work, go to www.whaleyschmoyerart.com.