New work available at Jenner McGinn Studios!
The Marks series is now available at Jenner McGinn Studios.
Inspired by the changing of seasons both out-of-doors and within ourselves. The colors were informed by shifting gradients in leaves and skies, the marks from contour drawings made as summer turned to fall.
To purchase head over to the Jenner McGinn Studio Gallery site. The Marks series is wired and ready to hang in their maple frames and can be purchased individually or as a collection.
Mid-Winter Color and Contour Studies
The snow has been melting (slowly!) and revealing just the most beautiful ochres and ruddy browns recently.
On our walks I’ve been trying to take photos when I can (or mentally capture the tones when I’m preoccupied) to bring back into the studio and explore.
I’m interested in layering these with the contour drawings I’ve been making from area landscape features and presenting a sort-of cross sectional exploration into these last weeks of winter.
I’m using acrylic and water-soluble graphite on roll canvas for most of these - but may switch to watercolor as I continue.
Falling Leaves at Park Ave Studio
The Falling Leaves series was started on accident.
Since adopting our puppy back in June my time has been a bit jumbled, with the majority of it being spent training and playing - then going to commissions and my own explorations in paint last.
(Which was the plan -- I've waited my entire adult life to finally have a pup friend so I prepared to take time off.)
But I did need to keep making.
A few weeks back I started making contour sketches during our multiple daily walks of falling/fallen leaves. I’d follow their movement as they spun in the air to the ground, draw the lines of their shapes as they curled in on themselves; nothing very in-depth, just a quick scribble in my sketchbook and we would move on.
After enough piled up I decided to take some of my favorites and transfer to paper, then added a few layers of color keeping to the original movement of the sketch.
And the series became a thing.
It was installed at Park Ave Studio on Main Street in Dexter.
Everytown for Gun Safety Art Auction
On Friday March 2nd at 12 pm (EST) my painting Halcyon 2 will be available for purchase during the @artists_for_everytown online auction. The proceeds will go to support the work of @everytown, a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities.
For more information on how to bid on my painting or any of the other beautiful available work head over to the auction page on instagram.
Thanks friends <3
Halcyon 2 - available via @artists_for_everytown
Winter Forms
I love the winter.
This may come as a surprise as I spent 10 years of my life in Miami - but winter has always been and will always be my favorite season. A changed landscape, the snap of cold air in my lungs, the layers of blankets to keep out the chill... everything about it energizes and invigorates me.
While I can't reliably run as much in the winter, and the long days of painting in the woods take a bit more planning and layering, I do still get outside to sketch and explore.
The forms of winter just seem so much more dramatic; the deep reaching purple shadows on the snow, the sepia gradients of leaves frozen at the bottom of a pond, the barreness of the landscape, it all speaks to me so much louder than other seasons.
If weather doesn't allow for me to sit out and sketch (we've had a few weeks of negative temperatures, makes it a bit hard to hold on to a paint brush and concentrate....) I rely on taking photos and sketching from those when I get back indoors.
I try to remember the colors that struck me, the rhythm of the shadows, whatever it was that drew me to photograph the scene. Not necessarily to 'reproduce' the arrangement - but explore it's dynamic via paint and line. To play with the forms of winter and discover hidden moments, translating them to paper with a brush.
For these sketches I'm mostly concerned with speed - they aren't something I labor over and risk forgetting the initial spasm of motivation. I use watercolor sticks and block out the forms and colors as quickly as I can. Once I've got a few sketches from the photos made, I slow down and approach the final painting.
I'm a little sad to see this winter season winding down, though I can't say I'm upset about not having to shovel the sidewalk. Spring brings it's own inspirations in different forms and I'll be ready to sketch them too.
Wishing you all a lovely week!
<3