Little things

 Available from Daily Paintworks

I'm constantly evaluating what I do in art, critiquing, changing, considering pricing, marketing and the whole creation process and trying to understand what I want to concentrate on and what to leave behind.

Small paintings fill my voids when time or inspiration for larger pieces isn't there.  But I wonder if I'm wasting my time on these little pieces that should be better spent on the larger ones.  No, perhaps "wasting" isn't the correct term.  Its more like procrastination.

Creating a small painting is a little like sketching.  It captures a moment in a fairly short time frame and doesn't demand a long time commitment or lengthy planning.  In itself that makes them appealing, but its also easy to get lost in creating small pieces instead of concentrating on major works.

So I've decided that I will put the small pieces aside and step back from Daily Paintworks for awhile to allow myself to work on some ideas for other pieces and a series planned for the summer.   Until June 30th, these and other original paintings will be available from my gallery in Daily Paintworks, so if something catches your eye, you need to grab it now as it won't be available again until an open studio or other opportunity arises in the future.  Most pieces in the gallery are 5" x 7" and are priced very reasonably and in a variety of mediums.

Enjoy browsing and if you have any questions, just ask!

Pastel sketches

 

The Overpass

 

I've never really adopted pastels as a medium of choice, but, like oils, I love their immediacy and the ability to put down colour quickly.

Yes, there's dust, but I can't say it bothers me.  I don't use protection against inhaling pastel dust but probably would if I used it on a daily basis.  Wearing old painting clothes and a latex glove helps against being multicoloured by the end of a session, but I still manage to look like I've been through a colourful dust storm by the time I've produced something.

I use a mix of pastels from inexpensive to higher end brands.  Of course the more expensive pastels for the most part give me richer colours that are predictable and the inexpensive ones are adequate but don't always perform as I want in terms of pigment.  This, of course, is a trait that moves through all mediums.  You get what you pay for.

Kaleidoscope

Available on Daily Paintworks

Pastels are easily transportable if you limit your palette.  I don't want to take hundreds of colours with me if I do any plein air work and pastels fit the bill for ease.  Of course the purists may be horrified as my pastels aren't laid out in colour families or in single layers when they go on the road.  Yep, I'm a "toss the in a container and go" artist.   Again, if I used them on a consistent basis I may be more careful in how I manage them. 

This is a sketch of a old park in St. John's, Bowring Park.  Its a fabulous place, full of old trees with paths winding through and interesting bridges and benches often constructed from spruce tree saplings.   There is an overpass that separates the original 'old' park of 50 acres from the 'new' land of 150 additional acres.  I never considered it as a beautiful bridge and in truth it is more functional but in an early morning with the light right, it takes on a new air.

I've never been much of a landscape painter but may consider a small series later in the year and pastels provide a quick, transportable sketching medium to bring back to the studio as the basis for oil paintings.

Ryan's Meadow

Ryan's Meadow is an continuing source of visual information for me, no matter what the season.  The large fields are for hay production and the colour, light and landscape change daily.  The advantage of living in the country is easy access to the land and for me, to the sea as well.

I'm considering some nocturne paintings and the meadow next to my house may be my first.  Finding the right light, preferably dawn or twilight and the right weather conditions are always the challenge.  The advantage is that my travel time is under two minutes.

This small pastel is 7" x 7.5" on St. Armand paper and available in my Daily Paintworks gallery.

Visual Connection

 Drowning

16 x 20"  mixed media 

While I don't believe that all paintings are tied up in emotion for the artist, there are some that are driven by thoughts and emotion and "Drowning" is one of those pieces. This painting almost painted itself, it was so intuitive at the time.  There was emotion behind it and I feel a connection to this piece.  Of course each person reads his own personal story into a painting.  The emotional connection, memory surge, or colour way evokes a response that 'speaks' to a person and urges them to have a piece near by to complete that personal connection to it.

So if I have a connection to it, how can I let it go?  The connection was in the creation and, like an old journal, one relinquishes the hold on emotion as time passes.  Now its time for someone else to make the connection.

On Sunday, June 9th, "Drowning" will be available for bids through Artbomb form 6am - 11pm EST.  I've made it available for a special price and would love to think it will go to an individual who feels a similar connection to this piece. No, I'm not getting all artsy fartsy with it, but I know that there is always a painting that you KNOW is yours.  The one you save as your desktop screen or the one in a gallery or museum that you visit over and over, examining every detail and weaving your own story around.

If this painting connects with you, I'd love to know how and why, if you care to share, either publicly or through email.  Meanwhile, if you'd like to have this piece on your wall, subscribe to Artbomb for a single daily email to your inbox of new Canadian art or have a look at their website www.artbombdaily.com and check out more about this and other original paintings available each day.

Dead Calm

 Dead Calm - SOLD

24" x 48"  oil on stretched canvas

I've been painting on a larger scale lately, boats mostly, aside from my small paintings that are available at least weekly on Daily Paintworks.  I've also been enjoying using a palette knife in the larger pieces.

A knife allows more freedom for strokes and broader interpretation of a subject I find.  Yes it uses more paint and yes I get messy most of the time, but it also speeds up the process of painting. A painting this size 24" x 48" would take me a month or more to paint using brushes, but I can complete it in three or four days using a palette knife.

I use oil paint and no medium, except some turps to clean the knives and me! at the end of the session.   I use Liquitex palette knives which are reasonably priced, flexible and come in many sizes and shapes that allow ease of application over large areas and the ability to manouever around tight corners and for detail.

I still flip back and forth between looser impressionist work and the fine detail that pull me in and keeps my interest with traditional brushwork.  Its definitely a split personality for me.

Green Mammoths

 Green Mammoths

7" x 5"  acrylic on stretch canvas

The art group I belong to does challenges to push members into new mediums and subject matter from time to time.  In May the subject was your favourite food or drink. 

For me, its olives.  The bigger, the better.   I wasn't always an olive fan and they're often something people love or hate, with their distinctive briny taste and meaty texture.  But now I probably eat olives most days at some point and my current favourite are these mammoth green olives with blue cheese.  I know, the combination may sound odd, but its sooooooo good.

Have a look at the group's blog to see what others chose to paint.

Lost and Found Edges

 Orb

7" x 5" acrylic

Available from Daily Paintworks

While I love painting water and fish, I find that pretty much anything that has similar reflective surfaces always appeals to me.  A natural sideline towards glass is inevitable and I love the challenges it presents.

Within this glass marble there are a number of lost and found edges.  The found or hard edges create the light reflected off the surface and the diffused or lost edges make up the values within the shape and in the reflection of the marble on the table it sits on.  The lost edge are the bottom of the reflection seems to dissolve into the darkness of the table and again at the edges.   This blurred area helps provide atmosphere in the painting as well as define what the surface is made of.  We know from that reflection that the table does not have a brilliantly reflective finish and give a mirror image with the same detail that the marble is painted.

The marble sits in the light and its hard surface where the light strikes it has strongly defined areas between the values, the light bleaching out the colour and only coming back as the surface curves towards the shadow.

The values of colour and light within the marble have both soft or lost edges as one colour blends into another to indicate form. This contrasts well against the crisp edges of the highlights and marble's outer edge.

A variety of edges in a painting gives interest and keeps the viewer's attention.  The found edges become the focal point of the piece then let the eye travel to other areas with less focus.

Onions

 Allium Cepa

5" x 7" oil on panel       Available for purchase

I've been sketching and painting onions lately.  Just small pieces as interludes between working on large paintings.

We often take the simplest things for granted and overlook them when searching for subjects for painting and drawing.  Onions, rather like eggs, give a challenge in form and value as well as coming in a number of colourways also.

Here are a couple of oil sketches that I did on paper in my sketchbook as well as a small painting completed. What vegetable do you enjoy painting?

 

 

Put yourself on the map

If there is one thing that artists need to do is to be visible and accessible.  This means finding ways that people can access your information, your work and your studio, if you have one.

I have done a couple of things to help people locate me besides the usual blog and website, business cards and gallery representation.  I’ve added a couple of electronic markers that help collectors and artists find me locally and you may like to do the same
.
The first is by creating a place on Facebook that marks your studio location.  I know some people are hesitant to do this especially if their studio is also in their home.  However, if your art is your business, why wouldn’t you want people to know where it is located and “check in” when they visit?  You can add opening hours, contact information, website, etc.  And anyone using a smart phone, iPad or iPod can check in if its in their area.

My location is Jeanette Jobson Fine Art Studio which is located in Flatrock, NL  Here’s how you add your own studio location in Facebook.  Have fun!

Second, you can add your physical location visually through Google Earth or Google Maps or Street View.  I chose Google Earth View here as because I’m off a dirt road, my exact location is not shown visually, only to the end of the paved road, which you can see here.

Its very easy to do.  Download Google Earth and search for your location. Make sure you find your exact location as the program can be off a bit in marking a specific number of a house for instance.  When you have your location, add a new pin and label it with your studio name to mark the location.  This will show up on the map similar to mine at the top of this pos,t where my pin locates the driveway to the property.

You can use this on your website to help guide people to your studio.  As you can see I live in the woods pretty much, with 16.5 acres of land around me, my buffer zone to the world.  Just to give you the relationship between my location and the Atlantic Ocean, I’ve included this image, zoomed out, to show the distance.  I am about 5 minutes from the ocean.  No wonder I like water so much!

I hope you’ll use these tools to get more exposure and encourage access to your work as an artist.
And for the curious or alarmists who are wary of putting information out there and attracting the wrong people.  I have a very good alarm and recording system in the rare times there is no one at home.

Crimson

Crimson

12" x 16" oil on gallery canvas

Available for purchase from my website

Its been a long weekend in Canada, and has been horrible weather-wise.  Unseasonably cold and wet which makes everyone cranky and housebound.  However, the benefit of that is lots of studio time which I put in and was productive.

I'm working my way through old canvases, obliterating previous work and reclaiming it for new images.  I'm also working with a palette knife and lots and lots of paint.  There is something quite satisfying in applying oil paint like butter to a surface.  

Mixing colours in advance is key to me so that I don't lose the flow, or have to go back half way through to try to recreate the same colour.   A variety of palette knives is essential to enable me to create angles and small details.

The drawback is that the process, for me, becomes messy.  I always seem to end up with paint all over me.   The drying time is also an issue, with pieces taking a month at times to dry enough to be able to ship them.  And yes, paint consumption is higher, but I'm never one for hoarding tubes of paint to just look at them or eke them out.  They're there to be used as tools towards the final image.

Of course the technique makes me work more from instinct and apply paint freely instead of trying to lock down detail.  And the speeds up the process a lot with a large canvas being completed in 3 or 4 days as opposed to 3 or 4 weeks.

You may recall a smaller painting in a higher key, similar to this done a few months ago in acrylic, now available from Spurrell Gallery.  I enjoy revisiting an image and changing size, colour and medium to see what happens.  

Artbomb

 No, don't run for cover, its safe, just an explosion of colour that you'll love!

I'm thrilled to announce a new venture with Artbomb.  What is Artbomb  ?

Artbomb is a carefully curated, subscriber-based daily online auction featuring artwork by Canadian art stars. Launched in December, 2011, Artbombdaily.com is a brand new, successful way for artists to market and sell their work to thousands of potential buyers.

Artbomb is a service that delivers one email featuring one to three artworks into subscribers’ inboxes every morning - seven days a week. Bidding opens with a starting bid at 6 a.m. and closes at 11 p.m. at which point the highest bid wins the piece. All works are delivered ready to hang.

Artbomb is coast to coast across Canada with outstanding curators in each region working hard to find the stars of the local scene. Through their experienced eyes, Artbomb highlights an incredible array of exciting new pieces everyday: paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, drawing and mixed media.

It's Artbomb’s goal to make it easy to access incredible, fresh, relevant Canadian art. .

On Monday, May 20, 2013, one of my paintings, Dragon Gate, will be available for bidding on Artbomb.  May 20th is a holiday in Canada, all the more reason to celebrate Victoria Day!  As an artist herself, I'm sure Queen Victoria would approve.

Dragon Gate is a 15" x 30" custom framed multimedia piece using layers of tissue, gesso, gold leaf and oil paint, giving lots of depth and a true "watery" feel that I hope you'll enjoy.

There is an old Chinese legend of the Dragon Gate in which koi fish swim upstream in the Yellow River, through waterfalls and other obstacles to reach the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain was a point called "Dragon Gate". The legend says that when any koi succeeded in climbing the falls and reaching Dragon Gate, it would be transformed into a dragon, one of the most auspicious creatures in Chinese culture. Based on that legend the Koi became a symbol of worldly aspiration and advancement.

I don't recommend anything that I don't believe in and I do believe that Artbomb delivers in quality and reliability.  With curators across Canada choosing new art daily, you can't go wrong.  I encourage you to test it out by signing up for their daily email  and get the benefit of new available artwork direct to your inbox daily.  If you don't enjoy that burst of colour, light and creation daily, you can easily unsubscribe. (but I think its a bit addictive to see fresh art daily...)

Make a note to watch out for Artbomb on Monday, May 20th and perhaps this unique piece could be on your wall soon!  Artbomb is also on Facebook  and Twitter  if you'd prefer to find them there.

I'd love to hear what you think about Dragon Gate and the Artbomb concept for making art available.

PS: If you've missed the auction and would like a print of this painting or a note card,I've made that option available online. Simply choose your size and support and order direct.

May Fish print giveaway

Glazing over

 Untitled

12" x 24" oil

There is a challenge to painting a fish in water and painting a fish that actually looks as if its underwater.

Fish can look as if they are sitting on the surface of water instead of being submerged under the surface.  This is due to observational skills of the light and value of colours and understanding how water changes form and colour as it deepens.

 

Colour is subdued as water deepens, similar to the effects of twilight softening lines and reducing colour values.  The water and the light reflecting on fish changes and the water must be seen as part of the fish instead of depicting the fish in clear definition as it would be out of the water.


This painting of a koi is at about the mid stage.  I have the form and value of the fish in place and am adding glazing layers of oils to create depth to the piece and ensure the fish has the illusion of being under the water's surface.

One way I'll do this is to build the shading of the fish with my glaze for the water.  This builds depth without adding strong colour.  The other way I add depth is to have some small particles of pollen or fish food on the water surface.  I've added some of this already as a spatter technique and will continue to glaze over and add more spatters in different colours,  Glazing them makes them appear as if they are suspended in the water's depth with the final touch of brightness at the surface as a final step.   Edges are kept soft and some lost to indicate movement, such as in the tail of the fish.

My glaze is a mix of linseed oil and turps with transparent paint.  I can add it with a brush and rub out with a soft cloth as required to obtain the effect I need.   Surfaces must be dry between glazes or risk ruining a piece very quickly.  The build up of colour adds a richness to a painting that solid painting can never achieve and works especially well in aquatic paintings.

Henpecked

 
Of course most people know the phrase "henpecked" meaning persistent nagging usually, but in the true context of the word in the animal world, its a bit more than that.

As readers of the blog know, there are usually chickens in the barn, mostly laying hens these days, keeping me supplied with fresh eggs daily.  Well, there is a pecking order in a flock of birds and sometimes that gets out of order and they turn on one another.  It starts as a little peck or a feather pull then can rapidly progress to constant pecking of the victim til the bird loses feathers, often most of them on top of their head and neck.  Chickens are very aggressive at times and will gang up on and kill another bird that shows signs of distress or bleeding.  I presume its a throwback to the "survival of the fittest" principle, but never nice to witness.

Once noticed, the pecked hens are removed from the flock and left to explore the barn with BD and Buddy, the ducks, til the feathers grow back and they can be reintroduced to the flock.

The sketch at the top of this post is of one of the of henpecked hens who have the run of the barn and garden now, along with BD and Buddy.  The feathers are starting to grow back again but they look pretty scruffy around the head and neck still.  Of course moulting around this time of year doesn't help either.  Here they are enjoying spring, ready for an adventure into the meadow to hunt for bugs.

Work, art and work

 Victoria Beach  Pastel 4" x 6"  

available on auction at Daily Paintworks

Has a week really passed by since I wrote?  I was full of good intentions, but life got away from me.

The studio move proved to be more time consuming than anticipated, but it should be finished by the end of this weekend and I am in there more or less and just starting to set up a new painting.  I am determined to put paint to canvas this weekend.  Provided I can find my palette...  That's the problem with moving, things change places, even if intentions are good.

Here are a couple of views of the new studio as it currently is laid out.  A table will go down the middle of the room and a few things shifted around. Its just far to neat and tidy right now! Not a sign of creative juices flowing anywhere.  That will all change soon.

 

The new space is about double the previous studio and in fact I get two studios eventually.  My old studio needs some plumbing work, so once that is done I can set that up too and have a production and a teaching studio.  Or that's my plan.  Like all renovations, its a huge investment of time, money and energy and one thing leads to another, which leads to another and so on.


Because I haven't had much painting or even sketching time this week, I was getting antsy so did this little drawing/painting in pastel of Victoria Beach, PEI.  The view across the cove with canola flowering bright yellow was irresistable.  Its available on auction this week through Daily Paintworks.  I am putting my small paintings on DPW and so far am having positive results with it.  Like every art sale site there are positive and negative aspects, but overall I'm getting more exposure and enjoy seeing the new art every day.

Speaking of art sales, there's a new Canadian site called Artbomb that's worth watching.  If you subscribe, you receive one email daily with the work of one to three Canadian artists available to bid on.  Bidding is from 6am - 11pm (Eastern time) for one day only.  If your bid is successful, the art is shipped direct to you within two weeks. Only Canadian artists are featured and its good to see the talent from artists across this country being showcased.

I have a couple of other projects in the pipeline and will say more about them in the next couple of weeks.  What with supplying galleries, selling paintings, marketing and admin, as well as my full time job, I really need cloning to get it all done! 

Fanny Jane

 
The week has gotten away with me and I've spent most of it doing the "behind the scenes" work for art instead of being planted in the studio. 

Playing catch up from being away from work has taken its toll on my brain and then there's the switch to the new studio.  Its a lot more time consuming than I had anticipated but I should have a good dent in it this weekend and hope I can start some work in there soon. 

Its also the season of juggling galleries, with seasonal ones opening and needing pieces delivered.  Packing, delivering, communicating, reviewing...There's just not enough of me to go round some days! 

But the sketchbook still is with me and even if I don't get much studio time, I take a few minutes here and there to put down some lines.   This sketch is of my maternal great grandmother, Fanny Jane Atwill, born in England in 1861 then moved to St. John's.  There was some trips back and forth it seems before they settled finally.  I would say she was likely in her 70s when the photo was taken which I used to draw from.  The quality wasn't great in the image so detail is limited.  The high necked lacy covered dress, was  that a "for best" or every day wear I wonder?

She has a glint of mischief in her eye and I think she would have been an interesting person to know.

Billie and Bunny II

I thought there should be a more archivally permanent version of the Billie and Bunny sketch that I did last week, so here's a 5" x 7" in acrylic of the same piece.  This is available for purchase on Daily Paintworks and you can also purchase a variety of reproduction options and note cards of this painting through Fine Art America.

I have also made available the first four Fishy Bits prints as notecards and reproductions as well and will continue to add prints as they are completed.  Original prints are always available from my website www.jeanettejobson.com 

Drowning

 

 Drowning

Mixed media    16" x 20"

Available  on my website

Besides the painting title, I have felt a little like I've been drowning this week. Its taking me some time to get back into the swing of things after my break, butlife is starting to fall into place now and with a weekend looming I should be all set by Monday.  A couple of weeks without painting always leaves me a little unsure of my strokes and lacking inspiration in some ways.

I'm in the process of building a new studio in the basement of my house.  Its about twice the size of my current one, which I hope to keep as well, and it will give me enough room to hold small workshops and classes.  Right now its having flooring laid and being painted, then there's lighting to be added.  As there isn't a lot of light in the room, lighting will be crucial.  Also storage and deciding just what furniture I want in that room.  So much to do!  Here's a little peek at production so far.  The room is long and narrow  9' x 20'.  Still lots of painting and construction left to do!

As my mind is all over the place, abstraction seems to soothe me, so I grabbed a canvas early one morning and started a piece based on a piece of writing.  The rest evolved over a couple of evenings til its now complete I believe.

I find abstract paintings really do paint themselves.  I have a concept of shape and colour but where it finally ends up can be anyone's guess, including mine!

Billie & Bunny

 
I've been travelling to see a new grand child and am compiling sketches and images of the adventure that I'll post during this week.

Right now I'm getting my sea legs again with a 3.5 hour time difference to adjust to again and back to work in the morning.

However, I thought I'd share a quick drawing that I did of a friend's dog, Billie. Its about 12 x 15 done in pastel.   Billie is a truly lovely dog, laid back, gentle and loves to fetch and and carry in true retriever fashion.  This became very apparent as everytime I walked in the door or entered a room she would greet me bearing "bunny", her favourite toy to play fetch with.  I started to call her "Billie & Bunny".

Billie was adopted and came from a French Canadian background, so only responds to commands in French.   After a few false starts, my brain cells recalled French enough to communicate with the dog.   "Donnez-moi le lapin, Billie."  Yeah right she thought, fight me for it first.  And so the game would repeat itself over and over.

Je t'aime Billie!

A month of sketches

For the past month I, and several others, have been sharing sketches on my March Sketch a Day page.  The idea was to encourage sketching and drawing and provide an opportunity to share work with others by providing the ability to post thumbnails and links. 

So what have I learned from a month of sketching?

• I learned that I do enjoy sketching and a lot of my work tends to steer towards animal life.  (surprise, surprise)
• I learned that the sketching itself doesn't take a lot of time, but the posting does take a concentrated effort.  Maybe because I can't just plop a sketch on a blank page without telling the story around why it came to be.
• I learned that daily sketching enhances my drawing skills that are the backbone for my paintings.  The lines of sketches and drawings are my path and cannot be ignored.  If I can get across only one message to those who want to create art - good art - it is to learn to draw well.  Everything else falls into place from there.
• I learned that its very good to have company along the way.  Thank you to those who posted either daily or less frequently on the March Sketch a Day project.
• I learned that the most mundane things often make the most interesting subject material.
• I learned that drawing from life or from a photo of something you find interesting are equally valuable exercises.  Yes, the purists will disagree, but drawing is drawing.  If you can get accurate shapes and forms on paper, its never a bad thing. 
• I learned that I can sketch anywhere.  There is no elaborate set up, no rules, no subject that is out of bounds, no place forbidden.  I sketched in coffee shops, my studio, at my desk at lunchtime, on the sofa while the news was on, in the car, in airports, on planes...there is no limitation.

I had gotten into the habit of sketching most days prior to this project, but don't always share my work with the world. I may continue to let the world peek into my sketchbook with a weekly post on just that subject.  It doesn't become as onerous task if weekly than to create a new post daily.   I can share more of my painting work with you in additional posts during the week.

However, the blog may be quiet for a couple of weeks as I'm off on my travels again.  I hope I can fit in some sketches of  things new and different  (to me) and share them with you if possible - technology being willing.