Harvest Fae
The Jasper Project is happy to welcome artist Colton Giles to our 24/7 online Tiny Gallery.
Colton Giles grew up in Lexington, SC, where he says, “Art has always been a part of my life, as far as I can remember. It was always present and appreciated. My parents have always said that I started drawing as soon as I could hold a crayon, and they fully encouraged any artistic pursuits throughout my childhood. I've always gathered inspiration from book illustrations, video game art, movies, TV, music, nature, and literature.”
Primarily self-taught, Giles focuses on multiple mediums for expressing his talents. “I can hardly focus on just one. I tend to love working in monochrome, so I trend towards pen and ink, graphite, charcoal, and most recently, linoleum relief printing. … I have really loved working with relief prints because I enjoy the process itself. It starts with a sketch that evolves into a precise final draft. The drawing is mirrored and transferred to the linoleum block, then carved. Once the carving is complete, I can begin making prints. After making a limited run of prints, I usually destroy the linoleum block,” the artist explains.
Giles says that “It’s hard to answer a question regarding my style, as I feel I am constantly searching for it! I would say I lean towards a more graphic and illustrative style. Working in monochrome as often as I do, contrast and negative space are key in describing shapes and form.” He goes on to say that “99% of my work is thematically rooted in fantasy, mythology, and folklore. It has always been what I enjoy creating the most. These themes translate very well into the mediums I work in, as they’ve been chronicled in similar fashions for hundreds, if not thousands of years.”
“All of the pieces for this show are personal works that I’ve done over the last few years,” Giles says. “My favorite is probably Harvest Fae. This is a digital piece, but it was created just like a physical pen & ink piece would have been. I think the total tally of pen strokes came to over 78,000 when it was all said and done! My other favorites are Duskwraith, The Betrayal of Morgan le Fay, and Keeper of the White Flame. I hope that through the gallery; people can find connections to the arcane and esoteric themes that I find so alluring. I create art for myself, but it brings me joy when others can find value in my creations and their themes.”
Duskwraith
Giles has participated in several local markets and shown work at the South Carolina State Fair. Duskwraith won 2nd place in the SC State Fair’s Amateur Digital Art Division in 2023. He says his favorite recent experience as an artist was, “running a booth at the 2024 Y’all-Mart Halloween Market and being blown away at the amount of support and love shown to not only me and my work, but all the artists and booths around me. It was really special to celebrate local artists alongside so many others. Maybe this hermit should get out a little more.”
In addition to Jasper’s Tiny Gallery, Giles’ work can be found on Cara, Instagram, and Bluesky as heathenrelic as well as on TikTok as heathen_relic. His linktree has all of the above at linktr.ee/colku