another in the 'happy place' series

I've decided to do another of my 'happy place' girls right away, since the first one helped get me out of my own headspace while painting her.  this girl is meditating on affirmations to get her through her 'stuff'.  I think a lot of us need minute-to-minute thinking these days, just to get by, and affirmations can help that process.

heres how she stands, unless I give her some last minute tending;

and heres how she got to that place

some color to start

I liked how the drips fell, and wanted to highlight them, so

turned the canvas

sketching in the pose

I had a couple of reference photos for this one

this sign is where I got my initial inspiration for the series

and I liked the cross legged pose

I liked the tilt of her head while looking at the viewer

and hoped to capture her slight smile

this is when I decided affirmations were in play here

and I liked the rainbow on her calf

getting color into her face, clothes and hair

getting the background ready for the affirmations

here she is again

I like her sweet face

"Affirmations as a Happy Place"

sending little love letters to the universe tells it where you want to go and is a great way to calm the mind.  it also reminds the energies around us what you wish to have happen.  saying "I am calm" is better than saying "I will not be anxious", because your brain gets confused with the "be anxious" part of the latter sentence.   be careful with the words you speak to yourself; the energies are there to meet you.

here is a good article about creating affirmations for yourself and why they are helpful.

sending you so much love!

until later,

Jenny

class work

 ok, I lied in my last post about what was coming next.  I was inspired by this weeks and last weeks Let's Face It classes, taught by Jeanne-Marie Webb and Emma Petitt.  Jeanne-Marie's class had me bringing out a reference image I had wanted to try anyway, of two women together, but to paint it in a loose, non-realistic way, with lots of mark-making and layers.  and I wanted to incorporate Emmas large, figurative hands.

heres the initial reference photo that intrigued me;

I liked their stance and the hands.

and heres how my progress went;

getting ideas and blocking it in

have a harvest theme in mind with pumpkins and a bushel of hearts

the end result;

gave up on the left-side pumpkins, 

added lots of autumn leaves 

and the hearts became an inner-work symbol

some close up photos of spots I adore;

the hearts and texture of the bold underpainting (that I didn't photograph)

her eyes...  full of love and concern toward her tired sister

ugh, the moodiness of her!  she is beat.

love the necklace area, the hair, the leaves, her voluptuous lips...

just yes to all this!

they make a great team

"Sisters of the Autumn Wind"

Changes are happening.  They are ending the busy time of harvest and entering a time of well-deserved rest, when they will go inward with love and self-care to develop a plan for the next season.

and this is how I'll be treating myself these next few months of transformation.  I'm going from a full summer of growth; myself as well as my garden and the knowledge I obtained as my body grew stronger.  I'm tired and struggling with some new health challenges, and some old symptoms that have returned.  I'm turning inward again as I have almost reached the end of harvest season.  I'll be centering my focus back on the inner self.   I was neglecting some important things as I tended the gardens and canned the resulting fruits of my labor in order to nourish me over the cold months.  I hope I can learn to juggle these things a bit better in years to come, for next years garden is in planning stages, and it will be an exciting one to work on!  

but for now, I'm still tending the last few fruits to ripen in this years beautiful garden.

until later,

Jenny

whats next (AKA buried treasure)

as I worked on organizing my art studio yesterday I came across more works in progress I'd like to concentrate on after them waiting patiently for a year or two.

some of the works are just interesting backgrounds, but three are dear to my heart and I'd love to get them on the wall instead of being thought of as cluttering the studio.

a soon to be rendition of my childhood homestead

from a photo of my daddy as a child with my grandmother

a sketch from a very cropped, very fuzzy 

but cherished photo of my grandmother and me at the beach.

hopefully I can do the memory some justice!

then I have my newest from my free reference site that I'll be working on;

and thats a look into my painting future!  it's now September and I have lots of personal house-type things I have planned before Christmas rolls around, some of which involves bringing my painting area back down to my studio instead of where the Christmas tree will be in the heart of the home.  I might be kind of cutting the expectations close- especially since I'm dealing with more health concerns which may or may not involve knee surgery.  I figure I have a selection of paintings to choose from if I get overwhelmed with the other life-stuff and the muse comes calling.

until later, 

Jenny

so much new merchandise up in the stores

 hi there!  hope todays a good day in your part of the world.  today has been busy in the garden and canning what came from the garden, and now with uploading my three newest paintings into my society6 and redbubble online shops.  what a busy one it's been so far!

here we have the weary lightworker on society6 as an art print;

 

and makes a great card

click the link above and then scroll down the page to find many more products for this painting!

and we now go to the same painting on my redbubble site;

heres the link to the art print if you scroll down, you will see "available on +69 products".  click on that, and it will show you all the products that painting is on, and you can click on the one you'd like to see.

they now have aprons which I now need to activate on all my other paintings!

but, how cool are they?!

and she is stunning on a mug!

imagine drinking coffee or tea as you contemplate the day with her

on to The Adjustment as an art print on society6;

I think she's really cool as a beach towel!

click the link above and then scroll down the page to find many more products for this painting!

and the same painting in redbubble

heres the link to the art print.  if you scroll down, you will see "available on +51 products".  click on that, and it will show you all the products that painting is on, and you can click on the one you'd like to see.

I love the look on all the clothes!

they have pins now, which, again, I must activate for my other paintings

and for the last of my newest paintings I have Sacred Teacher of the Land as an art print on society6

this is the framed mini art print

I had to paint her so it was difficult to place on merchandise.

oh well, I paint as I am called to, not thinking how they will look on a greeting card!

it makes a pretty pillow

and the notebooks are cool;

front

back

click the link above and then scroll down the page to find many more products for this painting!

and on to my redbubble site for Sacred Teacher of the Land

heres the art print link.  if you scroll down, you will see "available on +64 products".  click on that, and it will show you all the products that painting is on, and you can click on the one you'd like to see.

the iPhone wallet came out great!

and the backpack is kinda funky

I could go on and on about how beautiful these new paintings are on all the cool new merchendice they have up on the sites, but it's getting long enough.  time to just hit publish and let you browse to your hearts content.  may you find some peace in my paintings in these trying times.

until later,

Jenny

Sacred Teacher, a new painting

 I've been on a painting streak lately, which is a wild cry from where I was even a month ago.  I'm happy to be back at the easel again.  grateful the muse has returned!

for this one I morphed 2 photos together from unsplash, my favorite place to get royalty free photographs from talented artists wanderings, and some lovely models.  I knew I wanted to work with deer energy, not remembering what said energies were at the beginning, but I was drawn to the deer.  I found an image of a young woman holding her drum to her chest, and felt the two images would do nicely together.

first i sketched and lay down color, then I collaged some papers I had played with some time ago.  I wanted a ball of energy coming from the top of the woman head, so knew where that paper was going immediately.  I wanted some texture to this one

then I added some energetic brush strokes

to tone down the color I dripped some red iron oxide down the painting

then I added leaves to create an environment to the scene, to complement the leaves in her hair, and to frame the composition a bit

I then wanted the woman and deer to stand out, so added a blue energy around them both and worked on their details.  I added green to the leaves

getting closer to finished, and tending the details now.  I added more to the leaf areas, and small details that dont add much until you really look closely.  it does my heart good to tend to my creations, as long as I dont become too fussy with it all.

I added some gold dots around the drum, and on the tips of the leaves

and I added a water element at the bottom, to continue the framing of the piece with color and texture.  I also scratched some meaningful words into the water.

"Sacred Teacher of the Land"

Jenny Gabrenas, 2020

trust your instincts as you gain knowledge, child.  you are striving to become wiser by leaps and bounds.  as you do, know you can trust the urgings you feel.  be mindful of others' truths.  do not let ego run them over.  no truth is more real than another, for we are one.  listen to every truth, combine them into one, and there will be your path to peace.

a few of my favorite places to look at in this one;

her sweet face

"trust in the flow of living"

I'm thinking this piece may be finished, but will be with her for a few days before adding it to the store with my last painting this weekend.  

update, I added some more flora to the background of the piece and darkened the deer

until later,

Jenny