Tuesday, May 30, 2017

cat painting

in working with a class in Paint Your Heart and Soul i became inspired to paint my sweet loki kitty who passed away in 2014.  the artist teacher for this weeks class is robynne engel-pirkle and is a new favorite artist of mine.  she creates vibrant paintings that i love.  while my background colors are similar to this weeks class and her brush work showed me to slow down to paint the fur, my subject and pose are from my own photograph of loki, and the style is still my own.



first steps




he's getting there


until later,
jenny

Sunday, May 21, 2017

new paintings in the shop!

hi there!  as i promised (myself) we were able to get the barn painting and bouquet painting up this weekend.  i'm happy with how they both look!

New Hope Memories;





and more items!




A Bouquet of Joy;





and more!



i've been going back to older paintings to make them ready for the art show in february.  i'm currently working on a huge 40"x40" canvas that just wasn't as beautiful as it could be.

from way back at the beginning of my blog!



i used some of my favorite bold colors to liven up the lotus and leaves, spraying to create the dripping effect i love and lay it down to dry.



 adding more definition and shading 
to the lotus petals



 working on the dragonfly coloring 
and letting his wing drip




love how this detail pops!

you will be seeing this painting again.


until later,
jenny


Tuesday, May 16, 2017

a bouquet of joy and an artist show!

mothers day is sometimes lonely and depressing for me, like others, so i decided to go to the studio and just play, not worrying about an outcome until later.  to be in the moment with the color.  let it flow.

i started with a canvas that had been a collection of left over paints from other paintings.  i'd just slap the paint on this guy when i was done with a painting.  i didn't take a 'before' shot of this canvas, but i saw a bouquet in a vase so went with it.

i painted around what i saw

i wanted to play with the abstract, let it be loose.

i loved how it looked here, and i should have stopped.



but then THAT VOICE said "it just looks like circles.  kind of like targets.  it's not enough.  fiddle some more"

so i fiddled some more.  and i did create targets, so that wasn't good.  and i also created mud, and that wasn't good.  but i persevered, and i think the design may be complete...

sitting with it, to see with new eyes



changed some colors, and added some little areas of interest



painting this really helped pick me up out of my doldrums.  art heals!



those who follow me on my personal or my art facebook page have heard the news...  i'm going to be doing a showing of my art at our town library in february!  this is a huge deal for me, as my social anxiety made it a struggle just to talk to the person to get an application and information about a showing.  hell, it was anxiety producing just thinking about any of this.  i have created a major list to be ready for february, and i've gotten a head start with the easier things, like writing information for each painting and a bio for myself.  the paperwork is easy.  now i must varnish and wire a slew of paintings while still creating new original work to show and 'fixing' older paintings so they are ready for company.  this also means my klimt inspired painting is on the back burner, but thats no problem.  so, yay me!  i did a hard thing! and it's going to get harder!  

yay me... ? 

it's a good thing.  thats my mantra these days.  this will be a big opportunity for me to be brave, and good will come out of it for that braveness.


until later,
jenny

Monday, May 15, 2017

barn painting

this piece was close to my heart.  my brother commissioned a painting of our childhood barn.  the one i played in during my growing-up years.  my childhood on the farm was magical, and i wanted to put that magic on the canvas for him.

my big sis and i with our pup, becky, in the barn

normally i don't paint commission work and that fact showed up in communication problems, anxiety, sleepless nights, and the amount of antacids i consumed.  my husband was my rock during some freak-out moments, talking me down many times.  i just want people to be happy, and my perfectionistic ways override the joy i feel when in the middle of my work.  as long as i was in the zone i was fine.  once back into mundane land i was a wreck.  i think i will continue painting for myself, and if someone loves a painting so much they want the original instead of a print i may sell it to them.

back in the old days


i decided to condense our farm into the canvas.  many, many acres of well loved land are depicted where we would not normally see it all.  i sketched in the back pasture, the river where i used to wade and have 'boat races' with pieces of wood the family hammered together, and our little farm road that goes to the back fields.

then i started painting the underpainting and background layers.






many layers and hours later and we are at completion!







to make this artwork even more magical for my brother, i included a word from a poetry book our dad wrote way back when, called "cape cod moods".  the word i chose to include was "peace".  i clipped it from one of the copies i have stashed, and included it in the clouds.



i brought the painting up to the living room to sit with it, just to make sure it was done-done, and pixel kitty gave it two paws up;



this is such an important painting to me.  i know my brother will cherish it for a lifetime, as it holds our childhood memories and our dads view of heaven on earth.

now to paint one for myself!

until later,
jenny

Friday, May 5, 2017

starting one for me

this painting is to get my mind off of artist worries, from me thinking "what *should* i be painting now" or "what might others want to see me paint".  it may go up in the shop or it might just be one of my secret stash.

this one will be my version of klimts "the kiss", shown below


"the kiss" by gustav klimt was painted between 1907 and 1908 during his "golden period".  copyright laws state that even if a painting is held by a museum or collector they only hold property rights, not copyrights.  the artist and their heirs only hold copyright for 70 years after the artists death.  then it becomes public domain.  klimt died in 1918 and his works became free to use in 1988.  

apparently, this painting was huge at just under 6'x6', with lots of detail.  the biggest canvas i have right now is 16"x20", so the first thing i decided to do was crop the image i wanted to paint.  i do not need the pressure of teeny-tiny faces and hands to drive me batty!  i then painted the canvas with a metallic gold, and started sketching directly onto the canvas with a handy eraser nearby.



then i added some turquoise and green gold to the outside areas and played with that area a bit




it will be interesting filling in the faces and clothing with his style.

until later,
jenny

frida canvas, "still she smiled" in the shop

hi again.  just a little post to say my frida canvas has been uploaded to my society6 shop


there are not many items we added her to, as the size was off for her to be shown well, but we tried our best.

the print




and cards


until later,
jenny