The Voyagers

I am thrilled to introduce you to Maia Chavis Larkin. Her amazing journey through life, as well as her beautiful and imaginative illustrations are inspiring to me on so many levels. She was kind enough to share her thoughts and past experiences with me.

You were born into such an artistic family. Have you been painting since you were a little girl? I have been drawing since I was small, yes. But I never wanted to be an artist. Since I grew up in artist colonies where “starving artist” was not just a cliché, it seemed a bit like jousting at windmills to me. I had my eye on a far more practical and solid career. Try as I might, however, I was apparently unable to wade all the way out of my gene pool. I went through various careers in antique restoration, faux painting, interior design, architectural illustration, etc. but in the end it was the drawing that called to me. I still harbor that faint aversion to the word "artist" in relation to myself, however, which is why I go by "illustrator" (and, I think, my work really is more in the style of illustration).

Have you ever tried to follow your Mother's path, and paint in oils?
I have taken a couple of courses in oil over the years, but watercolor was my first love, and since the watercolor process is so entirely the opposite from that of painting in oils, I never really “took” to it. I also enjoy the mobility and compactness of watercolor...I have been perpetually on the road for so much of my life, owning a home for the first time only in the past three years. My workspace has always been tight to nonexistent. Watercolor (as you know!) is portable, quick, and can be done in any sort of space with very little equipment. For the longest time I just had one of those tiny, palm-sized field boxes and a single size 6 sable brush!

My late father, incidentally, was by far the most famous artist in the family. An entire generation older than my mother, he started out as a WPA muralist in his 20s. He went on to be a member of the National Academy of Design, and a professor at the New York Art Students League, showed at the Whitney, MoMA, the Smithsonian, etc. etc. So I owe a great debt to him even though I resisted art as a career during his lifetime.

I am a watercolorist myself. What has drawn you to use watercolor as your preferred medium?
I think I love the translucence first and foremost. There was also something about the learning process and the craft that I fell in love with right away. I was told that it was an “unforgiving” medium, because you can’t just wipe off a section if you don’t like it as you can with oils. There’s no “erasing” in watercolor, and, once learned, I enjoyed the discipline implicit in that fact. As an illustrator, I am very influenced by children’s book illustration throughout the ages, which is another reason that pen and ink and watercolor are my medium.

Do you paint from your imagination or from your travels? What inspires you to paint?
I have so many inspirations (I’m trying to document them bit by bit on my inspiration blog, voyageuses.blogspot.com) from film to fashion photography, theater to vintage children’s books. Often I’ll find that an image that pops into my head was actually influenced by an element of something visual and long-forgotten from my childhood, a storybook or advertisement or fairy tale buried somewhere in the dusty backrooms of my mind. My travels, of course, have influenced me throughout my life, since traveling was always essential to my existence and that of my family. Most recently China and art and legends have had a great effect on me and my work since adopting our daughter there in 2008.

I see you studied painting and drawing in Italy. Tell me a little about your experience?
It’s a bit of a tradition in the family - my mother’s family is French and Dutch, but they were all educated at some point in their lives in Italy. My French great grandfather was a professor at a university in Florence, and moved his entire family there for many years. My grandmother later met my Dutch grandfather there. My grandmother and her sisters spoke an interesting combination of French, English and Italian (all at once!) amongst themselves. My mother, born in Europe and relocated to the US, later went back to study in Florence as well. And my father painted in Italy on a Fullbright Grant in the early ‘50s. So I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually follow in their footsteps. I didn’t study in Florence but at Il Chiostro in Vagliagli, near Siena - a gorgeous part of Tuscany in its own right!

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I'll be donating $1 of every sale of my work this year to Love Without Boundaries (www.lovewithoutboundaries.com) an organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to orphaned and impoverished children in China. Though she was not cared for by a LWB team, my daughter was adopted from China with a severe cleft lip and palate. She was lucky to have exceptionally good (if rudimentary) care and sustenance at her orphanage. This level of care can mean the difference between life and death for a child born with medical needs which that child's birth parents don't have the means to support. LWB runs a cleft care home in China, as well as providing aid in the five key areas of education, foster care, healing homes, medical, and orphanage assistance throughout the country.

Thank you so much Maia. It has been an honor and pleasure to get to know a little more about you and your adventurous life. Your shop name, The Voyagers, is perfect!