Coming Abstractions

Sunday, February 3, 2013

No Boundary - cold wax & oil paint on wood panel

"No Boundary"
Cold wax & oil paint on cradled wood panel
12" x 9"
$100

Last weekend I attended a demonstration on cold wax and oil paint at the local art store. I was intrigued and decided to purchase some panels and wax to see what I could make. I had a set of old oil paints left over from college days that haven't been used and figured I'd give them a try. Here's "No Boundary" done with several layers of wax and oil paints. I think I like the wax but I'm not so sure about the process. The jury is still out as to whether or not I pursue a whole series with the wax and oils. I have 3 other wood panels to use so I may change my mind down the road......we'll see.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

"Outer Banks"
30" x 30"
Acrylic and graphite on canvas
$695

This painting reminds me of a trip I took many years ago with my best friend Lynn, her husband Curt and their little girl Stacy. We shared a wonderful home on the beach and there was grass growing in the sandy dirt by the ocean. The faded white picket fences were scattered along the upper shoreline, and the waves were quiet and gentle. Being a California girl, I was used to our ocean's light sandy beaches, loud pounding surf and miles of rocky shoreline.

I miss seeing the grassy shore, quiet breezes and distinctive fences......I think a trip to the Eastern shore is in order.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Fallen Tides - February 1, 2013

"Fallen Tides"
Acrylic, silver leaf & graphite on canvas
24" x 18"
$375

What a fun painting to make!!! There are so many layers of paint and medium on this piece.....and I used silver leaf as well as some powdered silver that spread like butter when I hit it with the squirt bottle. This is one of the new works for my big show at ArtHouse called "Insights Beyond Form" which opens next week in Sacramento, CA.

I did it!!!

30 Paintings in 30 Days
by JJ Jacobs

I'm proud to say I've completed my first 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I can definitely say this will not be the last! I learned so much from these paintings, and after putting them all together in this wonderful collage made possible by PicMonkey I can see that a true style has begun to emerge for me. Below are a few "stats" from the challenge I thought might interest you:

-- I seem to be drawn to circles (for me, they are a symbol of wholeness and/or completion) and I utilized them on nearly 100% of these paintings (if the circles aren't part of the painted design, they are in the texture underneath the paint).

-- The favorite color used on over 90% of the paintings seems to be lime green - more specifically the chroma-dense "Green Gold" by Golden Acrylics (my preferred paint brand!)

-- The painting with the most "likes" and views on FaceBook was "Fallen" - the first floral painting in the challenge

Here are a few things I learned about my work:

-- I seem to have an affinity for non-objective work though there are a couple of landscapes and floral paintings thrown in for good measure.

-- Towards the end of the challenge I decided to try my hand at some small works on paper and used 140-lb Fabriano watercolor paper with acrylic paint and graphite. I enjoyed working on this substrate and am definitely going to continue the color studies and works on paper!

-- During the challenge I was introduced to Micron markers which are wonderful archival permanent marking pens. I decided to see what they'd look like with the acrylic paintings on paper, and came up with a bold look that I'm going to explore further. (See "Roller Coaster" below)

Painting 30 paintings in 30 days seemed like a daunting task at first, but I learned early on to make multiple paintings at a time and schedule my uploads accordingly. One of the biggest things I learned was how much I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the networking with other talented artists from all over the world. I surprised myself in the fact that I "stuck" with the program and didn't bail halfway through......and I'm really proud of myself for that persistence.

Stay tuned for more JJ originals coming soon......I'm in the process of painting several large paintings for a show at ArtHouse that opens February 7th and will be posting photos as they are completed.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Violet Memories - Day 30 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Violet Memories"
48" x 30"
Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
$750

This is the last painting for the 30 Day challenge and I figured it would be best to end the series with a larger painting inspired from the many smaller studies done over the past 30 days. This has been a tremendous experience for me and I've learned so much!!! I plan to continue the daily painting work and postings (or nearly everyday) and you can now find my work on Daily Paintworks under "JJ Jacobs." I'm sorry the photo for today's painting is blurry -- I'm searching for a good, user-friendly point & shoot camera that takes better photos than the ones I'm able to get from my current Nikon Coolpix and iphone, so if you've got any recommendations, please send them my way.

Thank you for your comments and input during these last 30 days -- it is truly an honor to have been able to submit work with such a talented and experience bunch of artists.