Jennifer Love Artwork BLOG

Thanks to wonderful hubby who babysat our little ones all day today, I was able to attend the second day of Luminous Watercolor workshop with Marian Dunn . We spent today talking about how to lay down washes on the paper to create beautiful skies and other background effects. I also worked on another onion painting (didn't like this one), tried a painting on Yupo support (which I haven't finished yet...takes a long time to dry), completed one little landscape painting, and started another painting which I have not finished yet either. I don't often use a wet in wet technique, and may not incorporate it into every painting of mine, but it has been good information to learn and practice. Also, Marian is just a wonderful person with lovely positive feedback to give each of her students to encourage and help. How lucky I am to be a member of Utah Watercolor Society and surrounded by so many wonderful artists who are also wonderful instructors and who actually live right here

I signed up for the Feb mini workshop with Utah Watercolor Society. This one is being taught by Marian Dunn and the topic is Luminous Watercolor, which is something Marian is so skilled in. Today was day 1 of the workshop. I spent most of the day setting up a new palette and creating color charts to determine the properties of the different colors on my plaette...figuring out which are transparent and which are not, what colors can be used for glazing, and how those colors will relate to the other colors in a glaze. We also practiced "dropping in" color on the paper rather than mixing it in your palette to come up with more interesting grays. All good exercises and I may do more tomorrow. However, as a preparation for our workshop, Marian had each participant bring one white onion, one yellow onion, and one red onion in order to have good subject matter to paint. Onions have great reflections and luminosity and are a favorite subject in her paintings. Towards the end o

I liked the idea of a series of Chinese symbols like those I did for last month's Nibblefest (themed: Letters, Numbers, and Symbols). So, I think each month of Nibblefest going forward, I will include at least one offering that is a Chinese symbol of the monthly theme (as long as I am able to find a symbol that fits). This will build a series with variety and yet consistency. :) So, here is my Nibblefest auction #2:  " Moonlight " Moonlight  - watercolor  ©2012

I finished my commission this weekend and my client is very happy with the final results (at least with the digital photos of the final painting that I emailed). Will be shipping the painting out later this week.  :) "A Delicate Spring" - Watercolor -  ©2012 Jennifer Love So...here is the rest of the process (picking up from the last post): First of all, I decided to go ahead and tape around my edges like usual. It just gives a cleaner line when  you are finished with the painting. Next, I laid down another wash on the sky because it wasn't as blue as I wanted the first time. Color always dries lighter than it appears when wet. Also started laying in some grays and more greens in the background. I have been reading this book by Jeanne Dobie called "Making Color Sing" in preparation for another watercolor workshop I am attending next weekend. It girves some great instruction on mixing your own grays (warm and cool), and on laying do

So, I am in process of a commissioned painting of Delicate Arch. Here is another "process" post for those who are interested. I started out by scanning through my several reference photos of Delicate Arch. I have been lucky enough to hike up to the arch twice so far in my lifetime, and I took several photos both times, so I have a lot of angles to choose from. Perhaps me and hubby will have a chance to hike up again in the next year or two before he reaches a point when that particular hike won't be possible for him (due to balance and fatigue issues with PD). But, I am glad to say we have done the hike together once and have pics to show for it! I chose the reference photo I used on my last painting of Delicate since that is the one that was desired for the commission, but it's good to look through them all just to get "in the mood." :) Next comes the sketch. Techniques I like to use when sketching:  1-I print out an extra copy of my reference ph

February's ACEO contest is coming up on ebay (ACEO TW). The theme week always starts on the first day of the month. Like Nibblefest, there is a monthly theme. ACEO is an acronym that stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. What qualifies an ACEO is the size, which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches (6.4 x 8.9 cms) just like sports cards. The theme for February is "Winter Wonderland." Since I am preparing to do a commissioned painting of Delicate Arch...and since Delicate is wondrous and beautiful, I decided to do a little ACEO of Delicate, but make it winter time. This took a little imagination on my part, since my photos were taken in July, but I thought the results turned out okay. :) My auction will start on Feb 1st at 6:30pm Pacific time. :) http://www.ebay.com/itm/200707614318?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649

After the wonderful watercolor workshop I took last weekend, I have been feeling my creative juices flowing again. So, I decided to get back in the Nibblefest game this month and created three new paintings based on the January theme: Letters, Symbols, and Numbers. For those who are unfamiliar...Nibblefest is a monthly art contest on ebay. Each month there is a theme assigned. Artists who participate may list up to three auctions for artwork created around the theme. Two of the three must be original, one may be a reproduction. All auctions must be listed on or after the 20th of the month and must end on the 27th. All auctions must start at $0.99. The winners of the contest are determined by the auctions with the most unique bidders. I enjoy this contest and it's a fun way to stretch your artist's brain. I love looking at all the auctiosns to see other artists' interpretations of the theme. You can view all the Nibblefest auctions by searching "NFAC" on ebay

Follow up to my workshop post... Since my painting time is often limited by work or family demands, I am a big believer in not feeling like I have wasted any painting, even those I don't especially like or love. Typically, there are one or two areas of a painting that I really like, or sometimes love, even if I don't especially care for the painting as a whole. As a result, I have learned to focus in on those areas and create smaller paintings from them. My advice to any artist....NEVER be afraid to crop!!! The two paintings I did on day one of my watercolor workshop were definitely out of my comfort zone, but were good exercises. I didn't particularly care for either finished work as a whole, but had some favorite areas in both. So now, instead of two "so so" paintings, I have three smaller paintings that I quite like. :) Cropping makes a world of difference!

I had the opportunity this weekend to take a mini-workshop that was organized through the Utah Watercolor Society. The workshop was guided by Kristi Grussendorf , a UWS and ISA artist that I admire. She has this great ability to work with light and shadow and beautiful underpainting. So, besides just being able to focus two days on art without distraction (which was wonderful!!), I was hoping to glean a little knowledge about how Kristi achieves her wonderful paintings. The theme of the workshop was "Composition and Focal Point." We had some wonderful exercises the first day in creating floral still life paintings that were supposed to be loose, and created without a reference photo. Both things a challenge for me, as I tend to paint pretty "tight" (though I am getting better about loosening up as the years go on). And, since I paint from photo references about 90% of the time, creating work without a photo, plein air, or still life reference to look at was a real

Just a note to thank everyone who has purchased anything from me in 2011. As you may already know, I decided to donate a portion of my 2011 art sales to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. I chose to tally the work up at the end of the year so I could make one big donation...and, luckily, the company I work for has a matching grants program for charitable donations. Thanks to all of my clients (new and ongoing) in 2011, I was able to write a check of $165 to the MJFF as a donation...which will be doubled by my company's matching grant program! :) Additionally, there was a private donor match working with MJFF for every contribution...so that should have tripled our donation. :) Every dollar helps. I am so grateful for everyone's contribution and will be continuing my "Paintings for Parkinson's" in 2012 as well!