High Art

Linnea Hoover is a woman of many talents as a painter, photographer and multimedia artist, she can do it all. From art shows in New York City to commissioning a seven-foot-tall piece for a Los Angeles Dodgers’ player, Hoover has seen success as a fine artist. Currently, Hoover is living and creating art in Bellingham, where she is working on putting together a show featuring some of her art and photos at a local gallery in 2018. In the meantime, Hoover is enjoying life as a Washingtonian, embracing all of the benefits our region has to offer. Hoover took time to answer some questions for CULTURE about her art, her influences and of course, how cannabis plays into her artistic process.

“Some of my best ideas come to me when I’m high. The trick for me is not going so far out there that I forget to write my ideas down.”

When and how did you get started as an artist?

I got started as an artist early in life; it was always just something I did. My father was and is very creative, and both of my parents have been very supportive of me. Art for me wasn’t just that I was drawing, it was a way for me to focus or calm down, or express [the things that I had trouble putting into words when I was younger]. I didn’t make it a career until after college. I initially wanted to be in animation, but I found it to be too restrictive. So after I left school, I started my own business making fine art.

Who are your artistic influences?

I’ve had many artistic influences in my life. A huge one for me actually came from a trip I took to France when I was 16 for some art classes. I got to see pictures in the Louvre including the “Mona Lisa,” a Monet and Toulouse-Lautrec. By far the biggest influence while I was there was the Lascaux cave paintings. I didn’t even realize it until many years later when I was looking through some old photos. They were and still are some of the most beautiful and intense paintings I’ve ever seen. From what I understand they don’t let many people see them now, the oil on our bodies erodes the pigments, so I feel very fortunate I got to see them. Now one of my hopes is to see a real Gustav Klimt in person, his style of art has always spoken to me.

Has cannabis influenced your art at all in terms of making it more psychedelic or enhancing your creative process?

Definitely! Some of my best ideas come to me when I’m high. The trick for me is not going so far out there that I forget to write my ideas down. One of the things I like to do is sketch with my left hand when I’m high. I’m naturally ambidextrous, but I’ve found the sketches with my left hand to be more loose and free. Combine that with some really good ganja, and I come up with some really interesting stuff. A lot of it I can’t use, but every once in awhile there’s a real gold nugget.

Do you have an artist or a style of art you love looking at when you’re consuming cannabis?

One of my favorite movies to watch when I’m high is The Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut by Don Bluth, before the studio executives took it and made it into a musical. A lot of it is still in storyboard, or it hasn’t had color filled in, but it is a masterpiece of animation, and the patterns and movement really mess with your brain. I also love to look at black and white photography. I’ll spend hours sorting through portraits, especially portraits of older people, there’s something about the wrinkles that always capture me . . .

www.fineartbylinnea.com