Correspondent photo / Sean Barron... Artist Jennifer Carlson, 24, of Austintown, holds two paintings she created using a technique she calls intuitive abstract art. Carlson had some of her works on display at last month’s annual Summer Festival of the Arts at Wean Park downtown.

AUSTINTOWN — Perhaps Jennifer Carlson’s trajectory that landed her in the art world was as meandering as her recent paintings are colorful.

“I remember being upset that I couldn’t draw certain things, and I compared myself to them, but I still loved to do it,” Carlson, 24, said, referring to her mother, Bambi Carlson, and her babysitter, Joan Masterson, both of whom served as her inspirations largely because they had an interest in art and loved writing.

Jennifer Carlson also cited her uncle, Brett Masterson, who used to paint for her and who did a portrait of Adam Lambert of “American Idol.”

Carlson, a 2016 Mathews High School graduate who grew up in Fowler, recalled that her high school offered only one combined art class, though she found it to be an escape of sorts. Nevertheless, her foray into finding her colorful niche — what she calls “intuitive abstract art” — didn’t come to her immediately after she crossed the stage with a high school diploma in hand.

Carlson soon realized she also had a burgeoning interest in journalism and photography. Over time, the young artist discovered she wanted to “test the waters and try everything,” which also included receiving her first professional camera and taking an art history class at Youngstown State University.

She majored in photography, but not everything regarding her painting abilities was clicking at the time, Carlson said.

“I loved painting, but I felt I was never good at getting things precise,” she explained.

Eventually, Carlson earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art, with an emphasis on graphic design, which led to freelance work in graphic design and photography after YSU. She later sought a full-time graphic design job, but the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which initially threw her plans off-kilter, when “everything was a question mark,” she remembered.

Nevertheless, Carlson found a freelance position with Boardman Printing, yet was able to snap plenty of photographs on the side. She also worked full time for another print shop, where she printed labels from large machinery.

Despite the stability such work provided, Carlson’s creativity felt “stunted,” and Oct. 6, 2021, marked her first time painting since graduating from YSU, she continued. For a while, the mix in her life consisted mostly of canvas, creativity and full-time work.

This combination of consistent painting resulted in Carlson building a firmer foundation via learning and developing her own style and technique — one she calls “nonrepresentational.” Perhaps it could be compared obliquely to the late avant garde jazz master Ornette Coleman, who once played a white plastic alto saxophone and whose style consisted largely of playing melodies outside of the traditional jazz conventions such as relying on fixed chord structures within fixed bars and to established beats. In addition, Coleman played the trumpet and violin.

“I don’t just paint objects or things,” Carlson explained. “I like to put paint on the canvas and let the paint speak for itself.”

The pandemic also acted as a turning point for Carlson, in part by giving her more time to focus on her craft as well as helping her to resist comparing herself to other artists.

Perhaps the most direct and powerful influence on Carlson’s work is her love of color, especially complementary combinations and how they relate to one another and elicit certain emotions.

Throughout the health crisis, artwork served three other vital roles for Carlson: It helped her avoid becoming stagnant in her creativity, provided an additional purpose for her and offered another outlet for dealing with anxiety, she said.

The ambitious painter also draws parallels between writing and art, both of which assist her in achieving goals more easily and tracking her growth as an artist, Carlson explained.

Carlson, who sold several of her bright color-splashed large acrylic paintings during YSU’s annual Summer Festival of the Arts last month at Wean Park in Youngstown, said she envisions traveling more extensively with her works and, possibly, photography.

“I see myself being forever a full-time artist with no limits on what I do,” she added.

Besides her mother, Carlson’s family consists of her father, Eric Carlson, as well as brothers Joseph, Johnathan and David Carlson.

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