Exciting!

This summer, I sold two paintings to the Mayo Clinic in Sparta, Wisconsin, and I just received a picture of them framed & mounted! I'm so happy with how they look in the photo above. Makes me think I should always opt to frame things, even though it can be pricey, because it makes a world of difference.

Yay!

Two New(er) Paintings

 

A little too tired to elaborate on anything, but a big Thank You to those who came to the show the other week! I had a great time.

ART SHOW Coming up!!

Exciting! My place of employment, Olive Black Martini and Wine Lounge, is letting me have a little expo on Sunday, September 26th from 2p.m. to 5 p.m., along with a martini and wine tasting.

So, if any of you out there are near Richmond, IL, you should stop by!

Sketchbook page

A little page from my sketchbook. It's obviously unfinished, but it's a sketch. What d'ya want?

Two little somethings.

Two gifts that I just finished. NBD, just thought I'd share. (sorry about the bad photo)

New Screen print!

Starting to screen print again has been a series of troubleshooting incidents, as it always has been for me. I love printmaking, but it requires me being much more methodical and organized than I am when painting or drawing. When drawing, I can encounter a problem and push through it, usually with a more interesting end result. With printmaking, encountering a problem usually means I have to start over. But I'm slowly re-learning lessons, and learning some new ones too.

Fortunately, yesterday yielded some good results, which I wanted to share.

Herons

Yep...more waterfowl.

Sketchbook Portraits

I'm lucky to have very beautiful friends. I always have great models (or facebook photos, if need be) to use for working on my portrait skills. Here are a few, and there will surely be more to come.

(p.s. Natalie C., Natalie S., Sarah, Amy, Nikkie, Coop: If you don't want your faces up on here, let me know...)

Another new piece: Falling Fish

All right! This one's a screen print-acrylic-charcoal trio. Hopefully soon I can finish something that's solely screen printing, but I'm still in the troubleshooting phase.

A special thank-you to my friends who gave me advice for, um, editing this piece.

Dandelions

Here's an acrylic-charcoal piece I finished this week...

**Edit: Put up a better photo!

Rollerskating

Another charcoal-watercolor combo. I've been really into photos from the 1930s and 1940s lately, especially of ladies doing leisurely activities (while dressed sharply, too, of course). This was based on a photograph from 1933 of two women rollerskating on the top of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.

More to come very soon,
JB.

Newest Project

I recently finished this little number--well, not little. It's 36" by 22".  It was always going to be a birthday gift for my dear friend, Nikkie, but it also turned out to be proof that I can work on a large scale when I want to, and that this watercolor thing is starting to work out.

I wanted the banner to read something nice, but not corny, and so I settled for slightly corny hidden under the cloak of a foreign language. Since Nikkie speaks German, I did a little research to translate a line by Percy Bysshe Shelley that goes, "When winter comes, can spring be far behind?" I'm not sure if this translation is 100% grammatically correct, but, hell, I tried.

Hopefully I can take a better-quality photo soon, but this will have to do for now.

New experiments with watercolor

I have usually shied away from watercolors.  My reason usually being the high cheesy-potential the medium has. But I realized all media have a potential for cheesiness. And it might be possible for me to use it to bring something exciting to ink and charcoal drawings.  So far I'm fairly happy with the results.

Also added watercolor to a few portraits. Below: My great-grandmother Irene Koeppen (born Chittick), and her son (my grandfather) Harry Tom Koeppen.

I like Irene's portrait the best, since Grandpa's is a liiiiiiittle corny-looking. It does look like him though, so perhaps it's not all my fault.

Food Service

I threw this one together about a year ago, and just remembered that it existed. At the time I was working at a coffee shop, and often contemplated how long I'd stay in the food service industry. A small part of me was okay with becoming one of those seasoned women who worked nights at a salt & pepper diner--you know, the ones who sound like they've smoked 3 packs a day for 40 years and calls everyone "sweet-haht?"  I was kind of okay with being one of those.  And still am, in fact.


pictured: mixed media, "I came to this town to be a dancer."

A new painting

Decided to make a painting combining a few things I'm excited about at the moment: Birds (now that a lot of them are back), Newly-sprouting plants, and icosahedrons. And a little fleur de lis wallpaper doesn't hurt.

Out of Practice

I've been attempting a lot of portraits lately, which have all proven to be a much bigger challenge than they once were. I used to be able to grab 3 crayons, some copier paper, and a willing model and in 10 minutes, I would usually have at least a recognizable likeness (and from there, I could start making it a little more abstract--which is the fun part). But these days, hours can pass and I will have what usually appears to be a rendition of Tolkien's Smeagol, and I will have used more eraser than anything else.

But I suppose I just need to practice to get 'back in shape', so to speak. Pictured here is a [relatively] successful self portrait.

Well, It has happened.

Another waterfowl piece. This time, a blue-footed bubi. They're neat.

one of the things I miss about Chicago:

treasure hunting in the alleys. The alleyway behind my house was a goldmine for art supplies-- meaning, pieces of wood, various electronic gadgets, and my favorite: old dresser drawers.

I went on a kick with drawers for a few months, leaving quite a few incomplete dressers in my path. I currently have a couple left unused. We'll see if I get a second wind.

Some of the more successful ones:

 

 

Returning Home

Well, after a year and half in Chicago followed by a brief stint in Portland, Maine, I've returned to my hometown: McHenry, Illinois. A primarily blue-collar town of roughly 25,000, McHenry seems to be a bit more charming since I last called it "home". It's likely due to the proximity to my friends and family (in comparison to Maine), or maybe the fact that I can go roam in the woods and soybean fields behind my house. Whatever made my disdain for it fade, I plan on enjoying my time here, working on my portfolio, spending time with my loved ones, and seeing the town through wiser and more appreciative eyes.

 

Pictured: McHenry's water tower (which my dad, a civil engineer, helped design, if I'm not mistaken).

Pelican

During our last week in Portland, Maine, Cooper asked me to draw him a pelican, an animal of which he is a big fan ("They're DINOSAURS!"). So here we are. Who knows, it might lead to more drawings of various waterfowl. But let's not hold our breath.

Crossword Sketch II

 

Pictured: 12 Track Event; 49 Leave Out

Crossword sketch

To keep myself sketching, I decided to take some inspiration from one of my daily activities: the morning crossword puzzle. It will, no doubt, range between slightly dull and thoroughly bizarre, but at least I'm drawing and I'm keeping the ol' brain juices flowing (gross).

Pictured: 13 Deep Mud; 39 Easy Gait

the alphabet project

I stumbled across this old project of mine from my junior year of college. During an illustration independent study, I was directed to illustrate each letter of the alphabet (à la Chris Van Allsburg).

The task turned into a stream-of-consciousness sketchbook of sorts, where I started with the letter, and then jotted down some word association. When I felt like I had a clear image in my head, I would begin to draw.

Here are some that I liked best: