Blue Skies

26"x17"
Finished 6/21/07.




Blue Skies (detail)


Blue Skies (detail)

Seanna

Started this one June 1st, but I've only just gotten around to photographing it. (Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I've been a bit busy...) Anyway, this one is about 26" by 17" and about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way done.

Ballet

Today I had the opportunity to sketch some of the dancers of the Maryland Youth Ballet as they worked. They're absolutely amazing.



They're also wonderful models. Several of the dancers stayed after class to pose for me so that I could do some more time consuming pen and ink sketches.



This was definitely the biggest challenge I've ever had. Trying to sketch the dancers as they went through their routines was incredibly difficult, but that's what I liked about it. Even sketching them as they worked at the bar was challenging - but very, very fun, and very cool. I hope to go back to MYB again soon, and in the future I may do a series of paintings of ballerinas...

Seanna & Kit

Finished it today.

Studio Space

I'll be subleasing studio space in the Torpedo Factory this summer. My work will be in studio 9 from June 1 to July 29, and I'll be working Thursdays, Fridays, and one day each weekend. Feel free to drop by to talk or to see more of my work.

NSAL 2007 National Career Award Competition (2)

I just got back from Arizona, and I'm pleased to announce that my Portrait of Tess won First Place in the National Society of Arts and Letters' National Career Award Competition.



The contestants were Carrie Tompkins, Birmingham Chapter; Maureen Forman, Bloomington Chapter; Vanessa Monot, Boca Raton Chapter; Ryan Rocha, Central Illinois Chapter; Erin Saladino, Clearwater-Tampa Bay Chapter; Alfred Perez, El Paso Chapter; Tawni Shuler, Greater Arizona Chapter; Morgan Canavan, Greater Chicago Chapter; Danielle Trejo, Evanston Chapter; Will Anderson, Kansas City Chapter; Gerren Dugger, Kentucky Chapter; Amber Carraway, Little Rock Chapter; Adrian Lyjak, Mid-Michigan Chapter; Mattias Lanas, New Jersey Chapter; Kelsey Berkley, North Florida Chapter; Mark Bush, Ohio River Valley Chapter; Thommy Controy, Pittsburgh Chapter; Timothy Rusterholz, Virginia-North Carolina Chapter; and myself.

Alfred Perez received fifth prize, Tawni Shuler received fourth; Will Anderson received third; and Mark Bush received second.

This year's competition in water media was judged by M. Stephen Doherty, Editor-in-Chief of American Artist magazine; artists Robert and Louise McCall; and Dr. Mel Yoakum, Director of the F. Gilot Archives. At the award banquet, Robert McCall was presented with the 2007 National Gold Medallion for his lifetime achievements. Mr. McCall is well known for his 6 story tall mural in the National Air and Space Museum, among many other career highlights.

On Friday, the other contestants and I were privileged to take part in a Master Class taught by Robert McCall and his wife, Louise McCall, who is known for her own vibrant work as well as her collaborative work with her husband. We watched a demonstration and received critiques and encouragement from the McCalls as we worked.

I sketched Mr. McCall as he worked, and he autographed the drawing.


An exhibition of the finalists' work is currently on display in the City Hall Gallery in Tempe, Arizona. The show will be traveling across the country over the coming months.

NSAL 2007 National Career Award Competition

The National Society of Arts and Letters' 2007 National Career Award Competition is taking place this weekend. An exhibition featuring the work of the finalists will be on display from May 14 to June 8 in the City Hall Gallery in Tempe, Arizona.

Seanna and Kit

Got a little bit more work done on it today. I'm having so much fun painting this one - I love the contrast between the sisters, especially between the red and the blue.

Seanna and Kit

15" x 15.75"

I just started this one this morning. Not much work done on it yet, but it's coming along. I'll probably have a new photo of it to post tomorrow evening, too.

Little Girl #1

3.25" x 3.25"

Started this one at 12 today and finished it at 5. Record time. :-)
I love minis.

Green Eyes

... finished.

Almost Done...

I just need to finish that little corner of shirt, add some more shadow to the neck, finish the ear, and do some touch ups to the hair. I'll probably have it finished tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be posting a new picture of it then.

#2

22"x15"

It's about 2/3 done... I should have it finished soon, if my schedule doesn't get too crowded with final exams.

Green Eyes

I started this one last Sunday. It's about half sheet (22"x15").

Mentioned in the Old Town Crier

In this month's issue of the Old Town Crier, art critic F. Lennox Campello reviews three local artists, including myself. An excerpt from his article reads:

"Jenny's first ever review appeared in these pages a few years ago, when I ran into some of her watercolors in her mother's studio (the talented Tanya Davis) and praised them thinking that they were Tanya's work. At the time Jenny was 13 years old and had not taken a single art lesson and was already delivering amazing and mature work."

You can find the full article here. You can also check out Mr. Campello's art criticism blog, Mid Atlantic Art News, here.

Katie Tuss Reviews "Women's Work"

Katie Tuss, writing at Mid Atlantic Art News, recently reviewed "Women's Work" at Nevin Kelly Gallery. In the article, Tuss shares her commentary on the variety of work in the show. You can read the whole article here.

The show features pieces by Molly Brose, Mary Chiaramonte, Laurel Hausler, Abbe McGray, and myself, and runs through April 8.

Portrait of Diana

Portrait of Diana, 21"x18"

Portrait of Julia

Portrait of Julia, 22"x15"

Ceramics Sketches

Just some sketches I did last Tuesday in Ceramics. I finished up early and there wasn't enough time to start anything new, seeing as it was the last session before spring break - so I did some drawings of my classmates at work:

Thanks!

I just wanted to say thanks to Nevin Kelly for the good wishes on his gallery blog, and to F. Lennox Campello for the congratulations on Mid Atlantic Art News. Thanks also to Nicholas Simmons and the folks over at WetCanvas! for their kind words.

The Harriet Newbill Art Competition 2007

Portrait of Tess (watercolor, 23 x 23) won first prize at The National Society of Arts & Letters Washington Chapter Career Awards Competition 2007. This award, the Harriet L. Newbill 2007 prize for water media on paper, was judged by Walter Bartman, Director and Founder of The Yellow Barn, Bethesda, Maryland; Judith Brodie, Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Stephen Bennett Phillips, Curator, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; and Nicholas Simmons, Artist, Washington, D.C.

The NSAL's Washington Chapter will sponsor me at the National Competition in May. Portrait of Tess will be one of 28 local chapter winners presented at the Performing Arts Center in Tempe, Arizona.
Nick Simmons represented the jurors at the reception and awards announcement today, and it was an honor to meet him! Visit his website here.

The competition was stiff and the show is beautiful. All the finalists' work will be on display through March 25 at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art in Bethesda, MD.

Sneak Peek of "Women's Work"

Julia Morelli, the Deputy Director over at Nevin Kelly Gallery, has posted some sneak peeks of the upcoming show "Women's Work" on the gallery's blog. The show opens this Wednesday, with the reception Thursday from 6-9PM. You can see some pictures of the work that will be on display, as well as the press release, here.

Speech Sketches

I drew my classmates while they were giving their speeches last Thursday in Communications. Here's a couple sketches I did.





And here's a drawing I did Friday in art.


My friend Michelle was being a hand model for me. The hands were all done with charcoal pencil, and the other two sketches were with micron pens.

Just Because

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Once I finish a couple commissions, I'll start posting pictures of paintings again. For now, here's a sketch I did Tuesday in Communications... Look closely (and decipher my handwriting) and you'll see where the title of this post came from.




And some studies from Drawing.

The Harriet Newbill Art Competition 2007

Four of my pieces (Katelynn, Megan, Portrait of Tess, and Margaret) have been selected for the National Society of Arts and Letters' Harriet Newbill Art Competition. This exhibit will take place in Heineman Myers Contemporary Art, in Bethesda, Maryland, from March 14 to March 25. The opening reception will be March 18 from 2 to 4PM.

Heineman Myers Contemporary Art
4728 Hampden Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814

Women's Work

This spring I'll be participating in a group show at Nevin Kelly Gallery in Washington, DC. Titled "Women's Work", the show will feature my work, as well as work by four other talented female artists: Molly Brose, Mary Chiaramonte, Laurel Hausler, and Abbe McGray. The show will run from March 14 to April 8, 2007, and the opening reception will be from 6-9PM on March 15.

Nevin Kelly Gallery
1517 U Street NW
Washington DC 20009

Update

Updated with a better photograph of my most recent painting.

Silver

Here's a picture of a drawing I did today in... Drawing.


I'll post more later this weekend, hopefully.

New Semester, New Doodles

So yesterday was the first day of spring classes. This semester should be pretty good... I just have my last two art classes - Ceramics and Advanced Drawing - plus some general education that I put off until now. I'm just glad I'm done with math! Anyway, my sketches are now limited to what I doodle in Communications (because unfortunately I won't be able to sketch people working out in my Aerobics class) and anything I doodle at the library or other places. Or who knows, maybe I'll bring my sketchbook along to my P.E. lecture, too. We'll see.

I might also post pictures of things I make in Ceramics, but that's if I manage to make something I'm proud of. :-)

Here's a page of doodles from the first day of Communications... It should be an interesting class. The teacher complained that we were being "boring" because nobody raised their hand to answer her questions. So, I'm looking forward to another four months of drawing the backs of people's heads - I mean, four months of studying communications.


And here's a doodle from the cafe.


I just liked this girl's hat.

Guess

Finished this last Thursday. I still haven't thought of a title for it (I'm completely stumped on this one), but oh well, I'll come up with one eventually.


22"x15"

Here It Is Again

I think I'm pretty much done with the face... I just need to finish her left eye and add some more color to her forehead and lips. I need to start focusing on the fingers now.

First Post of 2007 (Wow, How Time Flies)

I can't believe it's 2007. I keep thinking that just can't be right... But time does fly. Anyway, I have three pictures for the first post of the year.


22"x15"
I started this one last week. Relatively speaking, I really haven't done all that many commissions lately, but it still feels like it's been ages since I painted something for myself. It's nice to be back into painting whatever tickles my fancy. I love this one. I'm having so much fun working on it. There's just something about the look on her face that makes me smile.

I've gotten a lot of work done on it since I took this picture, so I'll post a new picture of it this weekend.






18.5"x9.5"
This one is the very last painting of 2006. I finished it just before New Year's. I was on a long-narrow-composition kick when I did this (and maybe I still am... who knows). Okay, it wasn't really a kick. Do four paintings almost in a row count as a kick?






12.25"x10"
Last but not least, I finally got around to photographing this little one, which I absolutely love. You can't see it very well in the photo, but there's a lot of variation between pink and green in her skin that was really fun to do. I painted this because I loved her vaguely moody expression, and how dynamic the pose is.

Merry Christmas

Here's a picture of my new painting for my Christmas post. I started this last Thursday:


I finished my last painting, but the paper's so warped that I can't get a decent photograph of it yet. I'll post a picture once the painting's flattened.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Studio Time

I'll be working in studio 9 in the Torpedo Factory Art Center this holiday season, from December 17 to January 17.
Come and say hi! :-)

Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N. Union St.
Alexandria, VA 22314

New Painting

I just started this one yesterday:


It's 12.25" x 10". Probably about a third of the way done... I need to finish the hair, do the shirt and background, and then finish the face and neck.

Something Fishy

I thought it would be fun to post pictures of a couple of my Color Theory projects. These are both color progression studies, gouache on bristol board.




I got the idea for this one when... uh... I don't know how I got this idea. I was just in a fishy mood, I guess. :-P

Doodles!

Haven't had the time to start a new painting yet, so here are some doodles.


I doodled this during a group presentation in Sociology last week. Lotta people.


And this was from this morning, again in Sociology. The teacher comes in fifteen minutes late every day, and for some reason, there's a piano in the classroom. So this morning before the teacher came in, a couple of guys were playing the piano. They were pretty good. So we had some nice entertainment for a while before class; we got to hear bits of Für Elise, chopsticks, and some other classical songs, as well as some notes from a Beastie Boys song... I've had that stuck in my head all day. And it's still stuck in my head.

Oh, and here's a picture of my cat, helping me photograph my sketchbook.

Portrait of a Girl

I just realized I haven't posted in two weeks. Oops. Sorry about that. I've been incredibly busy lately. Anyway, here's what I've been working on in between the busyness:


Finished it Sunday. It's about 10"x10".

Thanksgiving Weekend

I will be subletting in the Torpedo Factory next weekend. My work will be in Studio 9 from the 24th to the 26th, and I'll be there Friday and Sunday. Hope to see you there! :-)

Torpedo Factory Art Center
105 N Union Street
Alexandria VA 22314

Untitled

No title yet, but done nonetheless:


Finished it last Saturday.

Doodles

Doodles from Geology last night:



And doodles of a group presentation in Sociology this morning:

Red and Green...

Started this one last week. I'm about 3/4 the way done on it... Just need to finish the hand and jewelry and then do some touchups. The paper's getting really warped, so it's a pretty distorted photo, but once the painting's done I'll post a better pic.

You Can Tell It's Monday...

... because my car broke down. It's deader than a doorknob. Oh, and one of the door handles just broke, too.
Better to be stranded at home than by the road, though.

Anyway, because I was stranded at home with nothing to do, I broke out my oil paints and did this:


I've been meaning to do an oil painting, but every time I thought of doing it, I didn't have the time. Today, though, I had so much time on my hands I hardly knew what to do with it.

Katie in Shades

Katie in Shades, 26" x 15.5"


Katie in Shades (detail)

Shades (In Progress)

About 3/4 the way done... I just need to finish the hair and the shirt.

Portrait of Katie (Finished)