Artist Interview with Lions&Yellowcake

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live in a rainbow — well, so did Jennifer.

The difference is, she went ahead and did it.

Yep. She locked that down.

Her bright, beautiful abode is as inviting as any double rainbow. The first time I saw the decor, I was in love, dazzled by the... the sheer Moriah Elizabeth of it all! What kind of mind transforms a house into an event?

It's time to tap that bumblebee doorknocker... and find out.

A rainbow is the whisper from a storm: 'Move on.'

Lions&Yellowcake is one of Studio Eclipse’s brilliant illustrators.

Jennifer's artistic world is populated by animals that look like they stepped out of a prism and colors that dare you not to sigh in delight. Her standout work speaks for itself, but I've always meant to ask:

1. Why 'Lions&Yellowcake', and where did that persona come from?

Hilariously, it started eighteen years ago when I made my first online gallery on a large social art platform. I needed a username -- something to identify my work under. Words have never been a strong suit, so I decided to open my music library and shuffle the songs. The first two songs that came up were "Yellowcake" by Kaki King and "Gold Lion" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And so, I typed in "lionsndyellocake". Little did I know I was about to build an entire career on it! My work grew in the community there. I founded a traditional art group and hosted regular art critiques/collaborations. My name became well known in that group and it grew with me. I tried to go back and rebrand as my given name back in 2015, but it never connected to my work the same way. I decided to embrace it completely and shifted it to "Lions & Yellowcake". It became more than just a username over the years, and now it's the entire face of my work - and I love lions and yellow cake, so it works out, haha!

'The color is its own...'

2. You’ve described your creative process as “a lot of layered processes,” especially in marker work with a surreal, magical twist. Can you walk us through a recent piece from the first mark to the final flourish, and how those layers build up the narrative?

My work starts as an emotion born from experience as I'm sure many creatives can relate to. It's quiet -- seeping its way in little by little. I'll start with what I can feel, seek references that match the feelings, layer and change them to become my linework and then the color starts.

While the lines come from their own layers, the color is its own. My marker pieces are built up similar to painting. Deciding where and how much paper shines through creates these beautiful illusions of light which is something I love to play with.  The markers are put in layer by layer in order to build up the depth. Decisions on where to include soft edges, color blocked silhouettes, or sharp flicks of the marker tip are all intentional but still a part of a greater -- almost dance.

Having started in realism with strict mark movement, I only work with brush tip markers and hatch/crosshatch techniques in color pencil these days. I love the freedom of the movement they both lend themselves to. The final touches come in with color pencil to add hints of texture or fine tune specific details.

Something that is surprising for a lot of people is finding out that I cannot visualize things in my head. I have to feel a piece out little by little each time. So they are revealed to me as they are revealed to those around me. It's a form of trust in myself which can sometimes be scary to explore but always worthwhile.

3. If your art studio had a soundtrack, what three songs would always be on your 'Most Played' list for when you’re painting? Are there three long-term favourites you have? Do they have the same or different messaging as three recent picks?

This is tough!

My soundtrack is a list of 1200 individual songs that's usually on shuffle, but sometimes a piece calls for specific music and I'll sit on one or two songs on repeat for the entire piece depending on the emotions. I particularly love to bounce between "Dil Se Re" by A.R. Rahman, "Hemlock Shadows" by Arctic Sleep, and "Running with the Wolves" by Aurora.

If I had to choose three long term ones, though, they'd be "All The Landslides Birds Have Seen Since the Beginning of the World", "Magazine", and "My Insect Life" by Kaki King. Specifically in that order. That album, and those three especially, always find their way back into my music rotation. I never knew what her intentions were behind the album but there's something so raw about the way she manipulates the guitar that I have always found a range of emotions and something relatable within. No matter where I am in life, these three can reach me. They're so different from what gets played in the studio these days, but I think they are tied to my beginnings; my desire to have hope and the push to find beauty in a space I felt none. My music now carries similar sentiments but with the added enjoyment of what I've discovered within life itself.

'If you don't have rainbows, you've gotta make some...'

4. You’ve mentioned that growing up without many resources shaped your bold, vibrant aesthetic, and you now live and work in a rainbow-painted home in Vermont. How did evolution in your environment come about and what is the influence your past on your creative vision?

I like to say if you don't have rainbows, you've gotta make some.

I am lucky to be here today and it started with the search for rainbows in the dark domestic situation that I lived in. When I was finally free of it, I had little resources to acquire art materials, but I had people around me that believed in me. I would draw with anything I could find. It started as stationary for notes friends and I would pass back and forth in class, and my favorite characters from stories in my school notebooks. My mom got what she could for me when she could. But it makes you innovative and curious to not have immediate access to professional tools. I'd want to create something and so I'd play with what I had until I figured out a solution.

A teacher early in high school bought me the largest set of Prismacolors that existed at the time, with his own money. I was so grateful for them that I held onto the broken tips and used those too until my fingers had blisters on them.

'He had this beautiful way of not taking life too seriously...'

I was then adopted as a teenager and between him and my mom, I had the best support network. No dream was unobtainable and I was allowed to express myself in any creative way. This showed up in the way I dressed and my art. Dad gave me the ability to explore every creative avenue so I could play and find what suited my voice best. He had this beautiful way of not taking life too seriously and reminding me to live it. Art was allowed to simply reflect being. And so what started as a means to survive became an expression of living.

5. Growing up in Tennessee and now thriving in Vermont’s art scene (from local Sandgate shows to St. Albans), how have these landscapes, communities, and your personal journey across these places shaped your creative voice?

'I began by trying to blend my art projects into this realm of believable fantasy...'

My mom always reminded me to care for those that support your creative endeavors. Her and dad always took care of the people around them. My mom was a concert pianist and I usually tagged along. Sometimes these performances were for movie stars and sometimes they were for the destitute. She cared and performed for them all with the same love.

Shortly after I moved to Vermont I was invited to speak to a group of high school students getting AP Art classes for the first time in the school's history. There was this imaginative group of students so excited to share their work with the world but had no idea how much of a world there was out there. It was inspirational to be a part of and slowly I found myself in similar opportunities where I was connecting others to their own creative voices. It encouraged me to continue pushing my own.

I began by trying to blend my art projects into this realm of believable fantasy in my first year of college. I would take my regular anatomy class assignments and shape them into elves or drop the black charcoal and pick up a bright pink. This continued evolving until I had my kids. Suddenly I wanted nothing more than to share the overwhelming love I had built for the world with them. In doing so, I found others that needed these same outlets and a lack of accessible ones. I began offering free art classes for my community. All ages, all backgrounds, all financials - nothing mattered except that we maintained a respectful place of creative exploration. I leaned into the stories and experiences that connected me to the people here and all of the vulnerability that had been shared with me in my time teaching and parenting.

My kids would come to these classes and took every chance they had to make art so unapologetically unique to themselves and would challenge me to do it too. I found myself being inspired to shift and embrace the aspects of my work that genuinely made me happy even if it didn't quite match the work I was previously known for. I always told people in classes I could teach anyone with enough patience, realism. But speaking from your heart would always be the most difficult to learn and will be ever-evolving. What I wasn't expecting was how the acceptance of these people and my children would help give me the space to take more chances in my own work which allowed me to explore subjects that I previously wouldn't have had the confidence for.

'When humans were difficult to trust, I sought refuge in the forest floor...'

6. You’ve spoken about using illustration to rekindle the magic of imagination and storytelling, offering empathy and confidence. What stories, yours or others', do you hope your art evokes or helps people remember?

When I was at my darkest point in life, I connected to the animals. When humans were difficult to trust, I sought refuge in the forest floor, even if it was a patch of grass and trees amongst the buildings of the city.

I'd talk to the snails and wonder at the clouds. I've had many people walk into my classes that had never picked up a pencil to draw or write, came from prison, or were homeless. I believe it is so easy to become caught up in our own circumstances that we forget we are a part of this larger and beautifully connected miracle. I won't pretend to understand any of it, but I do know that I've only made it here today because of the many that took the time to connect with me and for the little walks of life that I stopped to make time and space for.

I was always fascinated by the natural world and eventually studied astronomy in college. It was such a humbling thing to know how the universe lent itself to life. Reading Sagan's words "we are a way for the universe to know itself" reminded me of how each connection I've made over the years, no matter how small, left lasting impressions. Whether it's making sure the spider made it somewhere safe even though they freaked me out a little, sharing your home with a pet, or hearing the stories of a homeless human over some prismacolors and a glass of juice. Every connection is important - both to the formation of the planets and in the human experience.

I hope that my art causes others to pause and wonder at those connections and perhaps even inspire someone to stop and chat with one of them -- be it moss, squirrel, or person. I believe that to know the stories of others is intrinsic to the lived experience because it creates empathy for those around us. It's a necessary perspective.

7. What’s your creative sanctuary like inside that colorful house-studio? Any quirky rituals, sensory experiences, or other processes that help you get in the right headspace to bring your illustrations to life?

I am terribly chaotic in my processes, haha!

I was diagnosed with AuDHD which lends itself to some wildness in the studio as well as a need for sensory exploration. Being surrounded by color is more centering for me than neutral walls. The constant color play, especially as they shift throughout the day with the movement of the sun and moon, are incredibly inspirational. Watching the way color affects the things around it just makes me want to play with it more. Each piece is me exploring something new or pushing something I know further. I do have to be able to see every single color in my working medium at all times while I'm creating or it feels like a wall, haha! Because I'm so heavily inspired by the world around us, you'll usually catch me immersed in it.

'I have to constantly check in with the natural world.'

I'm grateful to live in an area where wildlife lives alongside us. I can sit in the grass and watch the fox seek food for its kits or hike into the waterfalls with my kids. In Southern Vermont I was even able to see the galactic band just by standing on the porch at night. I have to constantly check in with the natural world. When I bring it into the studio, I'll crank the music, set a particular grouping on repeat for two weeks and make funny sounds while I swatch colors haha! There's a running joke with anyone that visits the studio while I'm working that there needs to be blooper reels from my working sessions. But feeling all of the emotions of the piece, keeps me in the headspace to bring it to life.

8. You’re connecting with your audience across platforms. How has feedback from fans and collectors shaped your work and studio direction?

It's usually their stories. I was always hesitant to share my background because I worked so hard to get through it that I felt it wasn't necessary to connect it to my work. But I realized that it's important to show people the why. So I began to talk about who I was and little by little I had people sharing with me too.

You start doing a thing for yourself and you don't realize the impact you're having on others just by being yourself. I hear stories from my socials when someone connects with a piece so profoundly and then I'll get caught in the grocery store, here, by a stranger to tell me how seeing my home on their daily commute is the joy they start their day with. When I painted the house rainbow, my kids asked Why and I told them that I found my rainbow at the end of the storm and now I wanted to share it with those that needed it. My drawing and painting will always be a constant evolution of me hoping to communicate these reminders to others as best as I can.

9. If you could invite any three animals (real or mythical) to come live there with you as studio assistants, who would you choose and why?

'After years of studying science, evolution, and astronomy there is a piece of me that would so love to see that she exists.'

The first one that comes to mind would be a raccoon haha! When I was little, I used to feed these raccoons outside of a restaurant in the Smoky Mountains M&Ms. Their polite but chaotic energy is just such a vibe that I relate to and would adore on a daily basis! I'm basically rocking the raccoon energy all of the time anyway haha!

Second would probably be a Pegasus. My kids would be ecstatic and honestly, so would I. I was plagued by nightmares most of my life from PTSD and my favorite few reprieves were the dreams where I was flying. Sharing life with two of my own children now I'd love to have one as a studio assistant we could both connect on even if our reasoning is different.

Lastly, Nessie the Loch Ness Monster. After years of studying science, evolution, and astronomy there is a piece of me that would so love to see that she exists. What a reflection to have the chance to hear her stories if she has genuinely lived all of this time while the world evolved around her. Though it might be a tight fit -- I don't think my bath is big enough haha!

'I had so much fun exploring a recent piece with animals in fun food situations...'

10. Looking ahead, what exciting projects or new artistic explorations do you have brewing? Any surprise collaborations, color palettes, or storytelling directions art lovers should anticipate?

I had so much fun exploring a recent piece with animals in fun food situations, that I'm diving back into this with a series and red pandas are back for the next piece! I'm also hoping to incorporate more design elements inspired by patterns from my love of antique limoges and nouveau designs with the wildness of the world we cohabitate within moving forward. Hopefully I can navigate blending these two narratives together even more.

And that, art lovers, is where we left it.

But reading through Jennifer's replies, I was struck by one last thought.

Rainbows are fleeting -- all 'felt cute, may disappear later'. Rainbows don’t last forever. Unless you find one to hang on your wall. Luckily for Studio Eclipse collectors, Jennifer keeps making more. And who knows? Lions&Yellowcake's next piece might be just the rainbow you've been searching for. So, keep your eyes on this space.

You'll know where to find her.