FUV Essentials: Joni Mitchell the Painter

Joni Mitchell once described herself as "a painter derailed by circumstance," but her circumstances never quite stopped her from painting. 

 

"Like her music, her paintings changed style over the years - sometimes quite dramatically," said Jamie Zubairi, who has managed Mitchell's online art archive for the past sixteen years. For example, when she was an art student, Mitchell was trained in hyperrealism. Eventually, her painting style evolved to be more figurative and expressionistic. 

 

Zubairi recalled a conversation Mitchell once had with the famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe. "They were having dinner and Georgia O'Keeffe was saying 'I don't believe you could be a talented musician and a painter and a writer and a singer,' and all of that sort of stuff. And Joni said 'Well, you could.'"

 

While fans can sign up for email alerts on her website to find out if and when her paintings become available, Mitchell doesn't seem to want to put a pricetag on her art. She has yet to even sell prints of it. However, since many of her album covers feature her own artwork, chances are you might already own a "Joni Mitchell" yourself.