Jennifer Love Artwork BLOG

Where has 2016 gone? Only a few more weeks until the new year. The holidays are upon us! The first few months of this year, I busied myself preparing for an exhibition at the Utah Arts Festival Gallery and finishing up my two years as the Newsletter Editor for the Utah Watercolor Society (UWS). I had been asked to take on the UWS Vice President role for the coming 2016-2017 year and, in June, I was voted in as Vice President. Since then, I have been super busy with all the duties that come with the role of VP! Over the summer, I also learned that I had been selected for another exhibition at the Utah Arts Festival Gallery - but this time for their October show! So, in addition to the VP duties, I worked hard to prepare eleven new paintings for this show. In October, I was also privileged to be the UWS liaison to Iain Stewart , the national artist that UWS hosted for our 2016 Fall Workshop. He was also the juror for our Fall Member Exhibition. What an am...

Summer FLEW by!  Our summer was filled with tee ball games, coach pitch baseball games, and visits to grandma's house. I spent a good amount of time in my continuing efforts to complete a KonMari sort and tidy of our entire house. We are at the "miscellaneous" category in the discarding process. It's a long process for me, marked with many detours. Not the recommended (tidy all at once, in one "event") process from Marie Kondo. But, I have not lost sight of the ultimate goal, and continue to tidy by category and just keep picking up where I left off whever I can devote a few hours or a weekend to it. It is slowly, but surely coming along! (See my previous blog post " A place of Sanctuary: If I tidy up my home life, it will benefit my professional life ."  to read why I think it's important to complete this tidy project.) Along the way, in July, I also received notification that I have again been selected for a group showing (3 artists) at ...

Spring in Utah brings a rainbow of beautiful blooms. I love walking through my yard daily to see what new flowers and colors have popped out! We've had an especially rainy May this year and my yard is loving it! Some of my roses, iris, peonies, and weigela bush I draw a lot of inspiration from the spring and summer seasons and am always thinking about new bushes or bulbs I might want to plant in my yard next to keep the array of colors going through the summer. Roses are one of my favorites. They give and give all season long...and they remind me of my grandmother, who always had stunning rose patches and won several city beautification awards for her yard. Some of my roses, weigela bush, and peonies The beautiful fuschia pink roses in my front yard are from a bush that I started from a small cutting off one of my grandmother's bushes. Incidentally, fuschia happens to be my favorite color - ever since I was a teen. I thought it was especially fitting that, o...

Updated from April 2014 post... December 2013 I was going to call this “my story,” but it’s really not about me. It’s about us . It’s about me and my husband, Steve, and our life together. Our story begins on January 9, 2004…our first date. At age 30, while young in the grand scheme of things, I was nearly considered for spinsterhood here in Utah, where marriage between ages 18-25 is very common. When you pass that mid-twenties mark, you quickly find yourself in lonesome territory, where most of the men you meet in your age range are already married with kids. By 27 years old, it feels like your odds of finding a date, let alone husband, are almost nonexistent. By 30, you’d better resign yourself to the single life and make your peace with it! Not that I was on the hunt for a husband. In fact, I had settled into my life and reached a place where I was content. I had purchased a house, I had a good job, a cat, and I was able to set up my paints and ...

Last night I had to opportunity to speak to the members of the Utah Watercolor Society (UWS) about using various social media platforms to promote and market your artwork and yourself as an artist. What a great experience for me and such a fun night!  Of course, in all the effort to get my presentation set up, my iPad set up to record a video of my presentation (which, unfortunately stopped recording after 5 minutes - I'll have to figure that out), and getting ready to speak...I didn't think to take a "selfie" with myself and the group of wonderful UWS members who attended the meeting.  DUH! Very UN-social of me! So, I will be depending on the photos taken by others who were in attendance. (Thank you!) What makes me a social media expert? I'm not, really. Just a user who has been blogging, Facebooking, Twittering, and Pinteresting for a while to promote my artwork. I just happen to have a little bit more knowledge and a little bit more experience than many...

Last Friday was the opening reception of Wild in the West at the Utah Arts Festival Gallery .  It was such a great experience to see all 15 paintings I had submitted hanging for the show, and so fun to meet and converse with the many people who came through the gallery during Gallery Stroll that evening. My work was hanging at the back of the gallery near the refreshment area (prime real estate!).  This show featured 5 artists (including me). Mike Beals , a metal sculptor who made some wonderful bells. Kate and Adam Rice , wildlife photographers who had some awesome photos displayed on metal. And, J. Randal Young , a landscape painter (and podiatrist!). So, there was a variety of artwork available for every taste! I really enjoyed meeting the people who came through the gallery, talking to visitors about my painting process and inspiration, and hearing their thoughts as well. It was a great night and I appreciate everyone who came ...

My new exhibition is nearing. "Wild in the West" at the Utah Arts Festival Gallery opens this Friday. I was selected for this group exhibition and have delivered 15 paintings for display.  I am excited for the opening reception on Friday night from 6p-9p during the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll. If you are in the Salt Lake City area, I hope you will join me. I would love to see you there!

I have recently been challenged to "tell a story" about my artwork and my technique. Each painting I create has a story behind it, and I am now in the process of trying to put that story into words (the inspiration behind creating the painting, the techniques used to create it, etc.) and to write an "artwork statement" for each of my paintings. An added component to this exercise is the fact that the digital world is now very video oriented and many people are looking for more than just words and pictures, so my extra step will be to also create a video about each painting. "A Patchwork Fall" ©Jennifer Love Today, I have created a new You Tube channel called Jennifer Love Artwork where I will try to post some videos that give you a little insight into each of my paintings. I started with a video about "A Patchwork Fall." You can click here to watch it. :) As always, thanks for stopping by my blog!