Janna Watson | Emotion Potion | Advance Preview

This preview has now closed. All paintings are now available for viewing on Janna Watson's artist page. Please click here to see all available works in this collection.

Janna Watson | Emotion Potion
May 8 - June 2, 2025
Bau-Xi Gallery | Dufferin
1384 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Opening reception: Saturday, May 10th, 2 - 5 pm | Artist in attendance

Created during a series of intense winter storms, Janna Watson's newest exhibition, Emotion Potion, emerged from the quiet isolation of a forest studio, where swirling snow and changing light inspired deep reflection. The paintings channel the ever-shifting energy of nature as a metaphor for the heart—volatile, joyful, and beautifully transformative. Within this stillness and solitude, the studio became a place of emotional clarity, creative conversation, and quiet revelation.

Artist statement:

“The heart is a good composition.” — Lisa Cristinzo, Artist

“In a sustained rush of vitality—swirling colours, tangled reveries, glimpses of light, lines of conversation, and the view of the storm—these paintings developed from atmosphere and feeling. The ever-changing energy of nature is a metaphor for the heart. The heart can be volatile and joyful, and its pressured friction destroys who we think we are and then allows beauty to emerge.

Snowbound and then icebound, this body of work emerged during several wild winter storms.

As an introvert, I don’t enjoy being centre stage, but my silent audience of trees and rocks peering in on me – through the large windows of my secluded forest studio – was profoundly humbling, and surprisingly welcome. The magic of natural light shifted throughout the day and night, creeping onto my palettes.

Snow swirled through the trees and blanketed branches as though they were wearing sleeves of whipped cream. My view became an ever-changing scene, shifted by gusts, slow movements, ruptures and even stillness. Within the joy of isolation, after being snowed in for more than a week straight, I had many conversations with my best friend – also a painter – about the studio as a place of heart.

How do we get our hearts to resonate with a composition? This was a concept we discussed at great length.

For me, the goal of painting has been to allow the work to reflect in the place of my heart. It is a language that bypasses the mind, straight onto the panel. To get to the heart, there is a level of surrender that allows one to enter the realm of the sublime. It is well-known that meditation, prayer, and reveling in nature can do much the same. During this time of creation and deep reflection, my studio has become a place where the inner and outer landscapes have united.

“Within this body of work, I have designed the paintings to be interconnected. On an individual basis, I see them as whole, but they will always be integrated into a larger, more expansive picture.” – Janna Watson

All artworks are now available for acquisition. To secure a piece, please contact us at 416-977-0600 or toronto@bau-xi.com.