Jennifer Love Artwork BLOG

As I mentioned in my post Thinking in Abstract...I can't really wrap my brain around creating abstract paintings in watercolor, but I realized I must revise that statement just a bit. I don't create intentional abstract paintings with watercolor like I do with my acrylic abstracts.  However, sometimes I think being an artist also means being as frugal as you can with all your materials and supplies, which aren't cheap. I just hate to waste anything that I can find a use for with my art. Thus are born my UN-Intentional abstracts in watercolor. :) I call these little paintings "Color Blocks." When I am creating one of my typical watercolor paintings, I always have nearby (taped to my board or on the table somewhere) a scrap piece of watercolor paper (waste not!) which I use for testing my colors before applying the paintbrush to paper. The palette will show  you a color you have mixed, but that's not always exactly how it appears on paper. Sometimes it is to

My cousin's daugher was crowned this year's Miss Utah High School Rodeo Queen. (Yes, I am from a family of cowboys, rodeo queens, farmers, and ranchers...and proud to be part of it!). :) Anyway, she is heading to National competition and had a fundraiser tonight to help raise money for the trip. I donated these two pastel sketches towards silent auction items. I completed these pieces in college under the direction of Don Doxey (the head of the Art Department at the time), a painter known for his highly realistic Western-themed paintings. As you can imagine, he had many Western props for still life sketches. :) Happy to contribute to the cause. Good luck Bailey! http://www.standard.net/topics/rodeo/2011/06/26/morgan-girl-queen-help-family-friends (And...we won a quilt in a raffle too!)

So...as you may know, I will be the featured artist at Local Colors this month (mid-July through mid-August). Usually, there are two 2D and one 3D artist featured each month, but as it turns out, I am doing a "solo" show. I have been busy working on some new paintings to hang for the show, and wanted to work in series of three. I will have nine new paintings for sure, but hoping to maybe get 12 done by the time I hang my show next Tues evening. :) I also decided to create a few new acrylic abstracts for the show. I can't seem to wrap my brain around abstract watercolor paintings, but acrylic affords me the license to do that a bit more. I like the three dimensional effect I can create with acrylic paint. For me, the abstract is about texture as well as pattern. I created these paintings with an underpainting done with diluted paint and a brush. Once the underpainting was dried, I created the top layer using only a palette knife and un-diluted acrylic paint. My show is

"King of Yellow Heart" was selected by the Utah Arts Council to be part of their Traveling Exhibit Program for the 2011-2012 year (as part of the Utah Watercolor Society exhibit). Another good thing that came from being accepted to the UWS Spring show. So, this monarch will be flitting from one venue to another on display for the next 12 months. :) New exhibit schedule isn't posted yet, but you can click the Utah Arts Council website to find out the exhibit schedule for the show (when it gets posted).

Another ebay group I am recently participating in is ACEO. This stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. They are mini pieces of art that are the size of a trading card or baseball card. I prefer to only make originals, but some artists will do prints. June theme was "Beach." This month (July) is "Patriotic." I am using these little ebay contests to try to loosen up my artist's brain a bit. Work quickly and loosely, and stretch into arenas I wouldn't normally creat in. It has been a challenge, but also fun. Here is my July ACEO: "Red Stars" ~ Acrylic & Mixed Media. (You can click the pic if you want to go to the ebay auction page). :)

SOLD! :) 2nd month of Nibblefest, and second painting sold. This is a fun little monthly exercise for me, though I'm not sure how I will fare with next month's theme which, if I recall correctly, is "fantasy creatures." My June Nibblefest auctions start Friday after 1pm (MDT) on ebay. Click the pics below to go to the auction page. :) (I have one original painting "Wagon Wheel & Watering Can" - you will recognize this as smaller version of "Watering Can 2"; and I have one print available of "Wheelbarrow.") 50% of total sale will be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation via ebay's GivingWorks program.

The RED SHOW is coming to Local Colors this month. Artist Reception in conjunction with Salt Lake Gallery Stroll. Friday, June 17th 6-9pm. :) Here is my new painting for the show, another in the butterfly series, titled "Blue Teardrops"

I spoke with a nice young woman on Friday night at the gallery stroll. Who among us artists doesn't like conversing with someone who likes our work? :) This young woman was just learning to paint with watercolor after having worked solely with oils in the past. She was inquiring about the brand of paint (and other materials) I use, and even asked interesting questions like whether I find the temperature of the water I use makes a difference (hot vs. cold). Sad to say, I could not recall the name of the brand of watercolor paint I currently use (as I have tried several brands over the years). I could visualize in my head the script writing on the tubes of paint, but was drawing a blank on the name. Of course, I remembered later and double checked my paint when I returned home. The brand is M. Graham , and it is made with natural materials in a small batch process. They use pure gum arabic and natural blackberry honey as binding materials. I have liked these paints the

I recently joined a group on eBay called NFAC (NibbleFest Art Contest). The purpose of the group is to hold a monthly art competition wherein artists create a piece of artwork based on a theme. The works are then listed for auction sometime between the 20th and 27th of the month and must have a starting bid of $0.99 for the auction. (The thought is to get bidders enticed by the low price for an original piece of art, and then "nibble" away at the auction until the highest bid wins). The artist with the most bids on their auction in the 7 days wins the contest. :) I thought this sounded like a fun way to give art enthusiasts a chance to collect some original artwork. Obviously, most of the pieces are small, but they are originals nonetheless. The theme for May is "Village or Townscape" and I did a quick sketch last night using watercolor pencils. It was a good exercise for me to just give my artist brain a quick exercise, but I also wanted to