Nova Starling is a Bay Area artist living in the Livermore Valley Region and currently working in acrylics, oil and digital imagery. Her inspiration comes from a variety of sources available through sensory experience: a glimpse, an impression, a touch, an emotion, the change of light over time, an unusual point of view, the human condition. Some of these experiences have been captured in her photography which is later used as reference in the process of creating her paintings. She likes to string elements together making associations that render a new perspective. She enjoys telling a story through metaphors and symbols. This is usually how the surreal works come together.
Another theme in her work is seen in the portraits of individuals where they start to merge with their environment. She combines the subject’s physical nature with either symbols or metaphors for what drives their lives and integrates them into their universe.
Nova says she prefers to create a body of work with a theme so that she can explore her interests more thoroughly and take the viewer on the same journey. She recently finished a set of abstract landscapes of the local vineyards and the Livermore Valley. Although representing natural forms, they are really all about color and its vibration. She said that she could not expect to bring all the unique experiences that a given viewer brings to a given moment. But she could perhaps set up a sensation in the viewer through the vibration created by the juxtaposition of intense and contrasting colors. That vibration was intended to be similar to the feeling of a sense of wonder that the viewer experiences when coming upon a sight that is to them amazing.
Nova’s work is in private collections across the country and has won many awards. Her creative path has drawn her to investigate almost all media in both applied and fine arts. She received a Masters in Design from U.C. Berkeley with primary focus on metalwork. She went on to operate her own design firm, creating products for the gift and fashion market. Her designs have been displayed nationally from 5th Avenue in New York to Union Square in San Francisco. Since 1997 Nova has been painting as well as working with computer imagery. Much of her work is or will be available as limited edition giclée prints. You can see more of Nova Starling’s art work on her website at www.novastarling.com/art.