Saint Jerome

I doubt that this will surprise anyone, but I am quite a fan of both music and classic film. These two, plus my passion for art are the basis of what I'm about. I'm going to try to vary my posts from now on and discuss more of what goes into me and subsequently comes out in my drawings. And I hope that I am able to occasionally write something of interest to people who may be more familiar with music or movies, as opposed to art.

And, along with that - here is a drawing that I did recently. I titled it "Saint Jerome," because it made me think of the beginning of Ghostbusters, in which we see the phantom in the basement of the NY Public Library. The drawing is much more colorful than that ghost is, naturally.

Slow Down

My body has been sending me a myriad of signals to slow down, and it's prompted me to rethink a lot of things. As I focus on feeling 100% healthy and back to normal, my artwork has taken a back seat. Which is fine - I'm listening to my body and taking action to make changes in my life that need to be made. I plan on having some new drawings completed in a few days anyway.

The {NewNew} POPs up at 93 Nevins

My Etsy Team, The {NewNew}, will participate in this year's Atlantic Art Walk by highlighting artists that use environmentally-friendly materials in their creations at 93 Nevins Street - reclaimed from a building derelict for 20 years, this new townhouse was created with the idea to be as green as possible.

Art Walk is a free, self-guided tour of open artist studios and area exhibitions, a range of public art projects, special events, with local merchants hosting a range of artwork and events. Our pop-up shop will be open on both days of the Art Walk where participants in the self-guided, curated tour will get a taste of the variety of handmade items that are created in the local community.

Find green gifts made from sustainable materials such as silkscreened apparel, fine art drawings and prints, handmade ceramics, paper goods, plush toys, jewelry and housewares.

As always, we try to help you shop local within the top tier of craft.

getting ready for another group show

today i'm choosing the 4 paintings that i will show at the art:raw
gallery, opening february 19. it's very exciting, yet very difficult!
i have so much work to choose from, and i must make sure that what i
show is the tops! surely my selection will include one of the little
paintings that i've been working on for the last few days. this is one
of them- abstract and geometric and colorful and only 8" x 10". can i
tell you that i love using paintstiks? i do! they are so luscious and
creamy. mmmm......paintstiks.

Posted via email from Jenna's posterous

some pics from my opening!

i haven't posted in about a week, lots going on.
i'm choosing paintings to show in a group show
at art:raw gallery, coming up in mid-february,
more on that soon!

i'm working on a lot of new paintings, they will
be unveiled shortly.

in the meantime, i have spruced up my etsy shop,
if you want to take a look- http://jennanewton.etsy.com

:)

Upcoming Show - 1/17

I will be showing 3 new paintings in a group show at the
A-forest Gallery in Manhattan.

The opening reception is on Saturday, January 17 from 6-8.
Please stop by if you can!

The show will be up until January 30.

A-forest gallery
134 West 29th Street, Suite 1010 (10F)
New York, NY 10001

Posted via email from Jenna's posterous

New Look

I got bored of my blog, so I gave it a makeover! I like this much better. Simple and clean, the best format to compliment my work, I think. So, now that I love how my blog looks, I will be writing more often. Maybe even (and this would be wild) daily.

I visited the Met recently, I've been trying to go once a week, and I can't even tell you how big an impact going regularly has had on my painting. It's such a treasure, every time I go I find something new. I leave refreshed and full of ideas and things to work out on canvas. I'm going to try to get around to the galleries more often as well. Although I think it's much more useful to look at the masters, as opposed to contemporary art. Eh, that's just how I'm feeling right now.

A Look in the Mirror

I feel I am at a crossroads in a way. I am very happy with my paintings and how I've been working recently, and yet, I feel there is something significant that I am not reaching with my current series. 

I've been doing lots of heavy thinking, reworking my ideas and desires for my paintings. I know I have the problem of attempting to fit every single idea I've ever had about painting into every piece I make. This drives me mad and keeps me perpetually frustrated. 

In order to clear the decks, I guess, I decided to go back to basics. This means for me, a self-portrait. In the past, whenever I was unsure of what to paint, or unsatisfied with my paintings, I would do a self-portrait. It's a centering exercise for me. 

I'm working on it now, actually, and it should be ready soon. I'm sure I will come to a few new conclusions about the direction I want to take my work into, and it's always fun to see how the things I've been thinking about myself lately will come out on canvas. 

My Fascination With Architecture

Everything I've been looking at and painting lately seems to have something to do with architecture. The idea that the structures we occupy have a great influence on us, on our personalities and actions, is very intriguing. The influence of our surroundings and the way in which our identities seem to shift along with a change in our location is easy to see. I imagine that every interior space has a holding of various memories that were formed there.

This is absolutely true for me, as all of my strongest recollections are intrinsically linked to a very specific location. With the paintings that I've done recently, I've created vague interiors, purposefully leaving some visual information out so as to encourage more work on the part of the viewer. The viewer is prompted to search their own memory database to fill in the holes in the piece, creating some sense of either nostalgia, longing, happiness, or sadness from this new composite recollection. It's fun to see what dormant memories are awakened from different paintings.

My Process. Revealed

The way that I work has become increasingly more important to me. I have a very distinct process that I use when I paint. It makes me feel very comfortable, and free at the same time. I have the structure that I desire, and complete freedom within the framework that I have set up.

 

As much as I hate to use the word "formula" it pretty much is one, although my paintings aren't "formulaic." I don't think the process is visible, and that's fine. I just like knowing that it's there. It leaves me free to explore any subject matter that I wish, and all my work still has a consistent style to it. 

I'm looking forward to seeing just how my style will shift and evolve as my work matures. I'm going to push this current system that I have until I get everything out of it that I feel possible, and then I'll move on to a new process that gives me adequate satisfaction. 

The State of the Galleries as I See Them

September. This is the time of year when all of the city's galleries open up with their best shows. It's kind of a big deal, right? So, last week I went over to Chelsea to have a look around, see if I could find anything to inspire me.  I hadn't gone gallery hopping for a few years, so I was excited.

Well, let me tell you, was I ever disappointed! It was sad in a way, because I was expecting so much better. I'm no art critic, but I have taste. I'll just say this. It seems like the art that is being done now has absolutely no purpose, it's not beautiful, it's not meaningful, it's not even shocking. Everything is done in the most obvious and uninteresting way possible. 

One example: A show entitled "Shit" was made up of large, glossy photographs of piles of shit. I swear the gallery even smelled like shit. I don't get it.

*NEW* My Etsy Shop!

I opened a shop on Etsy to sell some of my smaller paintings and drawings. I'm very excited to be able to sell my artwork directly to you. You can see my mini-shop to the left on this blog. I'll be updating the available paintings often, so keep checking to see what's new. Please check it out! jennanewton.etsy.com

Influences

Swing, 2008, oil and charcoal on canvas, 18" x 24"

I was looking closely at a few of my latest paintings and there was something about them, some quality that I couldn't put my finger on. I just realized what it is that they have been reminding me of. Most of my paintings begin with a memory of an image either from my direct past or often enough, from movies or books that were influential to me. Some of my newest paintings seem to be linked to that one scene in Terminator 2, the dream sequence where you see children playing in a playground right before Judgement Day. That movie always freaked me out, I guess I saw it at the right time. There's an emptiness to the paintings, and it feels strange to be looking at something like a swing set without anyone playing on it - so lonely.