Meet Janai Dawkins | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Janai Dawkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janai, how do you think about risk?
I think taking risks is something everyone should do. You learn and grow whether you feel like you’ve failed or not. Taking risks opens your eyes to much more than what you know. Being comfortable keeps you still. One risk i keep taking in my life is quitting my job and turning to my artwork. I love that fact that I can always turn to my paintings even though i don’t have a huge fan base, it always works out. I trust in my talents that much and that’s one risk that’ll i’ll never stop taking!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What keeps me going, artistically, is my imagination. If i see a random cool picture on the internet, i think of what i can paint around it to make the viewer question it. Everyday I’m growing into the artist I want to be which is one that makes people confused. I started painting as young as 5 and have been getting better ever since. In high school I noticed that I couldn’t blend colors no matter how much I tried so i took it upon myself to create my own linear technique. My work hasn’t always been the neatest but I kept going. Now, whenever its hard for me to do something a traditional way, I make it easier for myself and do it my way (which most of the time comes out better than before!).

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First things first, when we wake up we have to eat a light breakfast and meditate/stretch to get the day started and then dance to out favorite oldies for nostalgic purposes. Then we walk a big beautiful botanical garden and crack jokes until we’re hungry again. For lunch we’re going to a restaurant we’ve never been to before. They’d have a choice of Mediterranean, Jamaican, or African(whichever they’ve never had).I prefer that we eat outside so the warm sun hugs our beautiful skin. When we’re done eating, we’ll walk the pier until sunset and talk about literally everything. Then we’ll go home take a nice hot shower, a mini nap and get ready to go to a popular night club! And dance and drink the rest of the night away.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m so thankful for MUSIC. If Im happy, sad, frustrated, or mad, music will forever be there for me. My best friends Dejah Symone and Shino are always making sure that I’m on the right track and are steadily encouraging me to step outside the box. Shout out to yall!

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/naislay
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