Painting brought vibrancy to Jess Yelvington’s life when she faced difficult times with her health.
Her paintings and many other local artists’ work will be displayed at this Friday’s ArtWalk Gainesville, spanning through businesses and restaurants downtown. This month’s ArtWalk is collaborating with the Latina Women’s League’s annual Latino film festival.
Yelvington dabbled with drawing and painting her whole life, but her distinct style did not develop until February 2013.
“In February, I started having double vision, and around that time I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,” she said.
For a month, she could see to arms length, and anything beyond that was doubled or blurred.
“I did a lot of painting during that time, and you can see there was a lot of wild eyes in my artwork,” she said. “It definitely had an influence on my style.”
On Friday, she will be painting live at ArtWalk’s headquarters tent in Bo Diddley Community Plaza, 111 E. University Ave.
Yelvington, who has been involved with ArtWalk for about a year, will be working on a large 36-by-48 piece with butterflies for the ArtWalk. She paints with acrylic paint on wood panels.
“I’m probably going to have a Frida Kahlo-inspired piece there with a little bit of Latin influence for the festival,” she said.
