JoAnna Liston is a trained artist, photographer and self-taught designer. With a Fine Art education, followed by several years working as a wedding photographer, and many more years spent DIY-ing nearly every home remodel project possible, she has a broad range of skills and experiences that have refined her artistic eye for color, composition, and visual balance.
While primarily an artist by trade, she also takes on interior design projects from time to time. She is currently involved in the design of the newly constructed Wilmore Cottages with Building the Bluegrass Realty.
JoAnna is inspired by color and countrysides, and loves to create art that will brighten up a room, while also dreaming up whimsical decor ideas that will make home a happier place to be. She believes there is beauty in the stillness, wonder in the world around us, and great hope for the future!
Scroll on down to read a journal entry of her personal creative & spiritual journey.
Follow her art @lily.field.studio
Reflections
A Creative & Spiritual Journey
I think I imagined myself as an artist from the time I was a child. I remember being 12 and putting an expensive set of Prisma Color pencils at the top of my Christmas List (and yes, I got them!) I spent my teen years doodling fashion designs and rooms with pretty chairs, trying my hand at reupholstery and redecorating my room again. While I had no idea how I would make a living at it, I chose to study Fine Art in college and continued to train my eye for design, composition, and color. I did pretty well at it, I sold a couple paintings and won a couple of awards while there. Photography became a greater interest for me, and it became my minor field of study, which later led to several years of working as a wedding photographer before my first child was born in 2009. After which, like many other mothers, I decided to pack away my career and pour my creative energy into my children and my home.
Sadly, after my first pregnancy I experienced severe postpartum depression, which led me into a few years of neglecting nearly everything and struggling to see the beauty in my life. I forgot myself in a way, and no longer believed I had anything great inside me. I am forever thankful for those in my life who walked me through that season, my husband and my mom, and for my Heavenly Father for bringing healing to my spirit and body. While I gradually began retraining my thought life and regaining a positive perspective on life again, we were blessed with another baby boy. This time was different, and while my focus still needed to be on my growing family, creative work slowly made its way back into my life. I began to dream again, and found a creative outlet in hunting for vintage furniture that I repaired and sold at a local flea market booth. I called it Lily Field Market…a reminder of Jesus’ parable in the book of Matthew…that we can trust Him with our every need.
In 2013 my life changed again. I was pregnant with my third baby, a pleasant unexpected surprise, and a little girl this time! There was so much promise surrounding her life and birth. But when that birth suddenly turned into a life threatening experience, I found myself both spiritually devastated and physically broken. Death tried to take me early, Death tried to take my baby girl early. But a miracle happened for us that day, and Life won. However, I had a few months of intense physical recovery, and a lot of time to sit and think. For the first time in ten years I decided to paint again. It was one of the few things I could physically do. Those first paintings were terrible, I had forgotten how to mix color, how to layer, and what solutions to use. But it didn’t matter, I was determined to be patient with myself and I started dreaming again. This time my dreams were bigger.
Now here I am renovating houses and using all my various skills and love of interiors to make beautiful spaces. I get to work with my hands, and get into the nitty gritty of it all, which I actually love. Now I am putting my artwork out into the world again, and enjoy painting pieces to use in the rooms I dream up. My knack for finding vintage treasures hasn’t gone to waste either, I still scoop up those goodies for styling in a home staging or short term rental design. Life is crazy that way, you never know what is around the corner.