Silence Between the Noise - a new series for another 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.

"Talk to Me" - 24" x 18" acrylic on paper - $295

It's been a long while since I've painted or posted or done any art in general.  Last May I did three big shows in two weeks and it just wore me out.  Sometimes I do that to my Self and I swear I won't push like that again, only to find I do it and do it twice as well :-0

So I gave my Self permission to take some time off.  Time off from doing shows, and participating in challenges.  The only show I did do was the Sac Open Studio Tour, which I had signed up for in February, 2017 and I was committed to do it.  And I'm glad I did - sales were fabulous and I met a lot of new collectors.

I also taught 18 Holiday Ornament fused glass classes in my glass studio in October through December.  And a few collage classes too.....so I haven't been a total artist slug!

And I did do some small seascapes.  Little babies that are 2.5" x 5" up to 3.5" x 6."  They all fit in small 5" x 7" mats and can be found on my new ETSY site called "Whispers to the Sea" where I'll be selling ocean paintings, calendars, and other shore-related goodies.

I promised some people I would start painting larger seascapes and planned on doing a new series of them for this new "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge, but just couldn't get excited.  I really, really tried but I just felt kind of "ugggmphhhh" about it. 

But - I did get excited about working with charcoal, pastels colored pencils and graphite!  And gesso and acrylics.  And quickly prepped 30 sheets of paper and started playing around, just having fun.  And here's the first piece from that little studio romp!  It's called "Talk to Me" and you can see it some close-ups here.  It's the first of (hopefully) 30 new works from my brand new series called "Silence Between the Noise." 

It feels really good to be making art again and even better because I'm having fun.  Getting burned out helped with my decision to pull back and take care of me.  It's hard for me to do this because I'm so used to taking care of everyone else, but art has always been my grounding force and it keeps me sane when things are just crazy.

I can't wait to see what else comes from this series - it's a lot of fun to paint with total abandon and the addition of words into the paint is purely intuitive.  If a word pops into my head, I just etch it into the paint.  Some will stay and others will go.....but this first one just screamed to be "Talk to Me."  So there it is, in all it's glory.  I hope you like it and the others to come. 

Please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email - I'd love to hear from you!  You can also see some of my work on my Instagram feed.  And if you want to purchase my art, you can buy it here on my Judy Jacobs Art ETSY store or my Artfinder store.