Joyce Combs presents glowing, color infused abstract paintings that compel the viewer to be introspective, rather like taking a moment to reflect on large ideas. Since relocating to Fredericksburg, Virginia, Joyce has found that the surrounding sunlight in the Texas hill country has influenced her palette with enhanced warm tones to reflect the force of the natural world.

She is interested in the psycho-social dimension of the human spirit, and her work successfully…“shows the complexity of life in layers of time, aging, and earthly beauty”. Joyce’s large canvases have a weathered patina surface which she achieves by including layers of acrylic paint, collage, enamels, oil washes, inks, prisma color, oil pastels, and charcoal. She stains, hand-rubs, waxes, scrapes, and varnished to develop a unique richness of color to “evoke perceptions of inspiration and universal order”.

Joyce was born in southwestern Oklahoma and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University. She attended the Glassell Museum School, the academic wing of the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Texas. She continued her studies in the Masters Program at Santa Fe Art Institute with Fritz Schoelder and Forest Moses. Combs’ work is exhibited worldwide.