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6th Jan 2024 

Happy New Year and all that. I think today is the last day for these kind of greetings. Tree and decorations all neatly packed away for another year and time to catch up on my latest news. I hope you have all had a restful, happy festive period and are looking forward to an amazing 2024. 

Back at the end of November I had my first ever painting pop up at Watford Mill in Wimborne where I launched my first series "Apricity". It was such a lovely 5 days in a delightful location surrounded by wonderful people. I met lots of people who visited the Mill and to my delight they showed an interest in my work. Happy dance and all that. 

Here is the write up I shared with the pop-up. 

APRICITY

‘The warmth of the sun in winter’

 

I only learnt this word about a year or so ago and it just made perfect sense to me. I mean I love the glow of the sun in the height of the Summer, or when you realise the sun is back on the first mild day of Spring, but there is something quite wonderful about the warmth of the sun in the winter months. Sadly, such a rare thing in the colder months but when you feel it it’s a welcome break from the cold and grey. 

 

Learning this word coincided with a trip to Penzance last February where I was house and dog sitting for 3 weeks. The weather was glorious pretty much the whole time, don’t get me wrong you had to wrap up warm on the dog walks along the coast, but the light was amazing as the sun made all the difference. During that time, I filled 3 sketchbooks which have resulted in the canvases in this exhibition which celebrate this wonderful time. I worked quickly to create the sketches, mixing the colours directly on the page as I had taken minimal art supplies with me. I enjoyed this technique so much I have continued to use it on the canvases celebrating how the paint mixes of repels. 

Not long after the pop up came the Christmas Handmade Wimborne where baubles were the order of the day.  The most popular being this sweet little Rudolph which was a new design for this year. Right at the end of the day a lovely lady came over and was browsing my original art pieces, she walked off with her family. About a minute before we were about to pack down she reappeared and and bought a piece of art. I was so chuffed as much as I love to sell the baubles when someone buys art from me it means so much more. 

As I was scrolling through instagram one evening I noticed Adebanji Alade @addictivesketcher was hosting a free Sketch week series of workshops to share sketching techniques. I decided to give it a go and really enjoyed learning some new techniques. It got me all excited about sketching again and contour line drawing is a game changer. My advice to you all is if you see a freebie like this, give it a go its always fun to learn.  

And finally I spent another week at Walford Mill in the run up to Christmas for Handmade Wimborne takes over the Mill. It was joy to spend a week with 3 other Handmade Wimborne creatives. Now on to planning my Spring workshops, more info on those to follow. 

5th Nov 2023

Not quite monthly, but it has been pretty busy of late. Since the last time I wrote this I have hosted my second workshop with 5 lovely ladies who painted some amazing beach inspired scenes We spent a lovely September lunchtime playing with paint. I am really enjoying hosting these workshops and it makes it all worthwhile when you see the lovely smiling faces at the end of the session. I am planning to do more workshops in the new year so keep your eyes peeled for new dates. 

Next big bit of news in early October II visited the Background Bob and friends exhibition at Firstsite, Colchester. The exhibition was on its closing weekend and we battled through the traffic to get there and see this wonderful exhibition. As I was in the exhibition I was excited to walk up towards the building, as I had seen it so much on intsgram, let alone how excited I was to see the artworks. I looked through them all and to my massive surprise my piece was in a cabinet alongside, Mr Doodle, Wrdsmith, Obey & Ed Sheeran. I couldn't quite believe it as I thought my piece was on one of the walls, which I was thrilled about, but to see it in the cabinet was incredible. Then, the most exciting thing happened Noah and his father Nathan arrived to say hello. I was absolutely honoured to meet them both and it will go down as a very cherished moment. I nearly didn't visit this exhibition as its a long way away and you know life just kind of gets in the way sometimes. But my husband encouraged me to go, as he knew I wanted to, and I'm so pleased he did as it was something I will always remember so fondly. 

More recently I have participated in the Portrait Artist of the year World Record, to have the most people painting online and in a single venue simultaneously, This was a fabulous was to spend an afternoon painting Sir Lenny Henry alongside so many others. Portraiture isn't necessarily my thing but I participated in all the Portrait Artist of the Week during the lockdowns and love dit. I think as an artist its always good to push yourself out of your comfort zone, and to be part of a world record was amazing. 

And even more recently, today, I had a stall at  my first Poundbury Independent market. I couldn't believe how big it was, comprising of 100 stalls full of wonderful art, craft and foods. It was a wonderful atmosphere and the weather was fine, which I was very thankful for. I also sold an excessive amount of baubles which was amazing. 

25th July 2023

Check this out a more frequent blog post, I am determined to commit to this website. Im not sure why artists find this so difficult but we do. If I can commit to updating this blog every month I think I maybe able to nail it. So what have I been up too since April? I completed the 100 day project exploring the adventures of Sheila and Mary. I really enjoyed using the 100's (who am I trying to kid, 1000s) of photos as inspiration for this project and the conversations I believe people have when they stand in front of an artwork. I know I have had them and when I am volunteering in Giant art gallery in Bournemouth I hear the conversations going on. The most common is probably, what is going on in this one?

Big news, I held my first workshop where I taught two wonderful ladies how to paint a Cherry blossom inspired abstract canvas. I was well prepared as had asked all my art and craft pals for advice but that didn't stop how incredibly nervous I felt on the day. But there was no need for nerves as it went so well and I really enjoyed it and have my next one booked in for 30th September and I cannot wait. 

I have participated in two Incognito art shows, one in Ireland the other in Sydney, Im pleased to say all of my artworks sold and very proud to have been part of such amazing shows. 

You can now see my art at The Thirsty Bird in Wimborne, they put a call for art and I responded and was chosen Lastly I am prepping some work ready for my first pop up exhibition at the end of the year, to say Im excited is an understatement. 

The Background Bob exhibition I am participating is in full swing and runs until early October. I received my copy of the catalogue and I share the same double spread as comedian Joe Lycett, which is pretty cool. I also cannot quite take in that I am in the same exhibition as Grayson Perry, Obey, Heath Kane, LUAP & Ed Sheeran to name a few, Im still having to pinch myself pretty hard. 


 

14th April 2023 

What have I been up to since my last update, well currently half way through the 100 day project, this year I am sticking with the Swish theme based on the colours of different artworks. This year I am using photos I have taken on visits to art galleries over the years. They are sat there on my phone so wanted to use them. Once the Swish is dry I am tracing an outline of the painting in the photo with a couple of ladies in the foreground. I found these ladies in one of my photos of the wonderful WhistleJacket in the National Gallery. They are staying there admiring the work of art so I have decided to include them for everyone of my Swishes. I don't know who they are but I have names them Sheila and Mary and in the write up about each day I share some facts about the painting, then what Sheila and Mary have to say. 

Check out my instagram to follow along -http://instagram.com/jenwa_art

31st August 2022 

Well I think its fair to say Im not that great at keeping my blog up to date but here we go I have made a commitment to myself that I would keep this up to date. 

So what have I been up to recently? 

I have participated in 2 Incognito art shows, one in Ireland the other is Sydney. What an honour to participate in these shows, the money raised goes to such good causes. I have also been part of a collaboration piece with the wonderful Background Bob. Bob aka Noah is a 14 year old boy who has carabal palsy and during the first lockdown his father encouraged his to create art and he then contacted lots of artist to collaborate with him. This has resulted in some amazing art being created which was exhibited and auctioned to raise money for funds for the Colchester and Ipswich hospitals charity. When the third round of this came around and they put out a call for artists to collaborate I made contact and they said yes. It has been an absolute delight to be part of this and has even changed the way I create my swishes as a result. It's so exciting every time there is a new artist announced who has collaborated and that ultimately I get to be in an exhibition with them all. 

I launched my new Klein inspired blue series which is hanging at Barefaced Brewery. I wanted to have a go at making the wood panels myself so set off to B&Q to get all the materials. After a few failed attempts I worked it out and couldn't stop making them.  I made all of the wood panels myself and look forward to exploring this surface to swish on more. 

Lastly I have been experimenting with my work by adding outlines of art history pieces and cartoon characters onto my swishes, this has been great fun and I'm almost settled on Whistlejacket and Garfield as my favourites. 

27th June 2021 

This week has been so much fun, my work is now in the wonderful Barefaced Brewery in Blandford, what a joy have a couple of drinks of fantastic beer while looking at my work. Check out "Where can you see me" to get a sneak peak of how they look. The  Rhiannon from the For the love of art contacted me and asked me some amazing questions to be interviewed for her art business "For the Love of Art". You can read it here LOCAL ARTIST INTERVIEW SERIES

13th June 2021

Well further news to share in my art world this week. Since the Incognito Art show I have received interest and orders for some of my smaller swishes, which is incredible. The premise of the Incognito art show is you donate up to 3 pieces of art work, I did 3 swishes, they are all displayed together and cost $100 each. All the money raised went to the Studio A charity, which is a studio in Sydney that supports artists with intellectual disabilities to find their way into this magical art world. The amazing thing about this is you didn't know who the artist was behind the artwork until you had purchased it. This was such a winner for me, donate some artwork, all proceeds go to an amazing charity and its in Sydney, perfect.

There were 1599 artworks up for sale and people queued around the Sydney streets from the early hours as there were no internet sales for this, it was a first come first served in person event. All of the artworks sold so to my delight that meant someone has my work and they liked enough to pay $100 for it. Its blowing my mind that my work has been in the same exhibition as some really famous artists. 

On Thursday evening I went to the Celebrating the Old, Inspiring the New private view, this is because my collection of 4 swishes based on the beautiful colours of Sandbanks were picked to be part of this wonderful exhibition. The exhibition is spectacular and there are some really incredible art in it and mine is in there too which seems crazy. When they spoke about the exhibition and how they chose the work, there were more submissions that those chosen, I just sort of thought mine were there to make up the numbers. Any artists out there relate? That's good old imposter syndrome raising its ugly head again. After the initial shock of accepting that they picked me because they like my work I was absolutely honoured to have my work hanging on the walls with so many other amazing artists. 

Then the last bit of news from this week and probably the most exciting, one of my canvases sold in the Picture This Gallery, so that means I have my first red dot. When I received the message from Kate at Picture This my reaction was "No way!!!!" apparently the man who purchased it was really taken with the canvas, which was a slightly abstracted, quite simple, local beach scene, saying that it reminded him of childhood Cornish holidays because of the colour. To hear that its so fantastic, the new owner was drawn to the painting and he got the message I was trying to convey, so that is a huge success in my mind. 

Lets see how the next week goes in this wonderful world of art. 

 

6th June 2021 

Hello, I thought it was about time that I actually wrote what I have been up to recently as its been a while. 

Well this week has been wonderful, it started by dropping off my canvases at the Picture This gallery in Bournemouth. Imagine my delight when the gallery called to let me know that someone was interested in a commission, little squeal of happiness. I have created a few commissions now and it is always a boost when someone trusts me to make some art for them. Towards the end of the week I dropped off my work at the Poole Lighthouse exhibition which is celebrating all things Poole. Then only yesterday I found out that my submissions to the Incognito Art show in Sydney all sold. So all in a pretty good art week.  

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