Jayne Mattingly

Chicago, IL

“Creativity is my conduit for opening up the floodgates for my emotions.”

Jayne Mattingly is a self-taught artist based in Chicago who works in acrylics and mixed media. Her father, a painter, introduced her to art early and taught her to paint. Her mother’s artistic spirit shaped her too. “I feel particularly connected to tools that allow me to create texture,” she shares. “Using them calls to mind my father’s influence, as he was the one who taught me to paint.”

Jayne lives with chronic illness and uses a wheelchair. Her work centers on Body Grief, a term she coined and explores in her book This Is Body Grief. She uses it to name the often overlooked mourning that comes with living in a body, from puberty and aging to chronic illness, menopause, gender dysphoria, and disability. In her own words, it is “a feeling of loss and disconnection from my own body.” Illness also changed how she works and lives. “In breaking down through my chronic illness, I am no longer a type A person,” she says. “I have given into healing and embracing rest.”

The past few years have brought major change for Jayne. She went through a divorce, moved states, received new diagnoses, and came out as gay. She describes herself as a Disabled, Chronically Ill, Gay, high Femme artist, and says that identity is “intricately woven into my creations.” Her paintings deal directly with the realities of illness. Her work, she explains, “captures the raw and often unspoken struggles of living with chronic illness.”

Jayne works mostly in floral abstracts. She builds each canvas from acrylic paint and oil pastel, scraping and texturing as she goes, sometimes with graffiti-inspired marks. “I create in layers, both literally and metaphorically,” she says. She often spends hours on a single piece with music playing. “One of my favorite things to do is get lost in a painting with my music blaring, windows open, multiple beverages at the ready that I, or my cat, will most likely knock over, and no judgement is allowed,” she shares. She doesn’t expect a painting to look good from the start. “It usually starts out quite ugly, and in its own way it’s so beautiful… much like Grief,” she says. “I give myself full permission to get messy and to break the rules.”

Before painting became her focus, Jayne earned a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and ran her own counseling practice. Today she is a disability advocate and author, and she brings that background into her art and writing. “Although chronic illness and disability affect me daily, through art I’ve found a way to move beyond those limitations and experience a fullness of life that only creativity can provide,” she says.

Jayne sells original paintings and takes commissions. She releases a more accessible collection on her website each quarter, alongside larger original works for collectors. She wants her work to help viewers look at their own experiences of grief, healing, and empowerment. “Through my art, I strive to foster connection and understanding,” she explains. Hearing from people who connect with a piece means a great deal to her. “It feels that they really see me and understand my causes on a different level,” she says. “If my art resonates with its viewers on some level- any level- then I have done my job.”

For Jayne, painting is a form of healing. “Personally, I find creativity allows you to feel more deeply in order to heal,” she says. “It is also forgiving, as creative expression is at its best when it is less perfect and leaves you open to finding the beauty in imperfection.” She describes the act of painting as “only what comes from my body to the canvas. Much like a dance, just different now.”

“It is fun, it is playful, it is worth living for.”