Stay tuned!

Jess had me quickly throw a website up for her last year. Now that she has had a show and has pieces in a gallery, she is ready to have it refined. Stay tuned as we work together in collaboration to create a site that gives her the exposure that she wants and highlights her talent.

If you want to preview it as it is right now and watch for future changes, you can find her site at: http://www.jessj.com/.

The picture above is a piece that she did for us for Christmas. The three birds are done in the colors of our three kids' birthstones. The jpeg photo does not do the beautiful artwork justice nor does it show the intricate detail of her scratch board work. We have it hanging in our entryway for all to see - stop by and take a look at it yourself!

Chipped, Cracked, Empty and Used

18 x 24" Acrylic

It's Official

Work in Progress

Mt. Hood, Oregon

24 x 36"


I plan to keep this painting simple, so I won't be adding a lot more detail, but will make sure it has a finished feel. I plan to use pallette knives as I already did on the mountain and sky. I want to retain to peacefulness of the scene.
We live in a beautiful country. A beautiful world.

Miniature Pet Portraits

Ok, so today I painted this picture of Cleo. It took me all of 3 hours, not including cleanup, planning, etc... nor taking the picture. It is an 8 x 10" painting on canvas done with acrylic paint and glazes. I am willing (for an undetermined amount of time) to do these on commission for anyone who is interested. The price for an 8 x 10" acrylic will be $75.

What I would need from you is a good quality photo (not copyrighted), preferably in a jpeg format, but I can scan photos also, to work on them from viewing my computer. If you are interested, or know anyone who might be, please email me. My email address is linked in my profile.

TGJ

11-1-08 note added: Photographing art is difficult. I found it is most difficult when the artwork is a portrait. I have replaced the image I had on here previously with the new one, below. The contrast and levels were way to flat in the last jpeg, and dimension was lost on Terry's face. This one shows almost too much detail, with shadows bouncing off brush strokes, but it is the best I can do without the right equipment and lighting.

16 x 20 acrylic
©2008 Cheryl L Johnson

North Road Ducks & Canon Beach Finished

Untitled

Today

I was thinking today, as I carried my laptop from my studio to the house, carefully still open so as not to put it to sleep and allow AOL Radio to keep playing. "Wow, it wasn't long ago I was carrying around a transistor AM radio and was limited to one station I actually liked." How far we have come from, not just from the dial up a few years ago to wireless, but now I can tune into any type of music I want to listen to and carry a computer around to play it.

Here is North Road Goose Crossing (or whatever I am going to call it) as of today. I want to add a bit more detail in the foreground, maybe to the leaves on the ground, and do some clean-up on it. I am a bit discouraged, I just can't, to my liking, capture the beauty of God's handiwork. I am but a copycat of His masterworks, and a lazy one at that. My eyes are going dim as I am aging (just ordered my first pair of prescription glasses), maybe the art will improve... maybe then I will dare bare my soul in my art.

Today's works in progress - The right coast and the left coast, Two days apart

Threw paint on canvases today. Will go back and add layers of glazes and detail before calling them finished.

Duck & Goose Crossing - North Road, Sunapee, NH

Photo taken Oct 14, 2008

Here on the right coast, today I was inspired by the color that is still in peak. I wanted to capture the depths of contrast in colors and shadows. Even though it is an overcast day, the colors of the leaves create the feeling of bright sunshine. This scene is right outside our neighborhood, going into town. Many times we are stopped in front of the weeping willow waiting for ducks and geese to meander from their pond to their farm. Some of the geese are indignant and yell at us to get off their road, not caring that we are much bigger than they are.

Haystack, Cannon Beach, OR

Photo taken October 12, 2008

On the left coast, late on a Sunday afternoon, we made a quick visit to the Pacific Ocean before flying home on the red-eye. Haystack Rock, at 235 feet high, is the third largest coastal monolith in the world. An overly photographed and oft painted subject, I was pleased to be able to capture a couple walking in the surf, adding to the immenseness of this natural formation.

From Darkness Into the Light

I was not planning on doing any more paintings until after Caiti's wedding, with everything that needs to be done in preparation for that, but I was inpired by a friend of ours who does his paintings by starting with a black canvas. I saw his 4' x 5' painting of Copenhagen in progress the other day and have been itching to paint ever since. It goes against my grain to even use black, but if the paint is completely dry, it won't muddy up the other colors, it just shows where you don't cover it. The result is a painting with lots of contrast if you paint extra thick ....

Anyway, today I sat looking at everything that needs doing and decided I didn't want to do anything ... so I painted. While I waited for the black to dry, I cleaned a bathroom and went though and cleaned two cupboards and our medicine cabinet (all kinds of expired stuff...).

This is what resulted so far. I love the contrast that using a black canvas makes. It looks like I have a lot of detail when it is just thick paint covering the black in some orderly fashion.

There has got to be an analogy in here - about turning something dark into something colorful... I just don't have it in me today to think of anything.

Three Done - Flowers of Woodstock, VT

These are three of the paintings that were in progress shown in a previous blog. Terry walked into my studio yesterday and asked why they weren't signed. I said, "cuz their not done." He just laughed and walked away. He has a running joke that my paintings get an inch thick 'cuz I'm never done with them. So, I decided to show him. I did some "final" touch up, signed them, and here they are. Flaws and all.

These are acrylics on 12" (I think - they might be 15"... I'll measure them later...) square wrapped canvases so they don't need a frame. I meant for them all to be together, so I'm not sure why I signed all three. Maybe I'll go undo that.

Terry and I had taken a drive to see a big ski resort in VT (dead ghost town in the summer time) and came back through Woodstock, a town we really like a lot. We were zipping through in the convertable and I was snapping pictures of anything that caught my eye. The colorful flowers were one.

My bathroom wall

Faith, hope and wisdom. Supposedly that is what the Iris symbolizes. The Iris has a significant place in history as the emblem of France -- the Fleur-de-Lis -- established in the 11th century by the king of France.


Here is an AMAZING painting of this intricate flower called Iris, "in All Its Glory" by artist Gary Mizar: http://www.art4god.com/ncac_07/comments.php?aid=020&eid=B


I should aspire to do such work. I need to stop painting so lazily and get back into the detail....


(PS - no I have not entered this contest. I just found it online recently.)

...until then, I shall paint wall hangings that greet me when I get out of the shower.

... Hands of God ...

Ahhright. I was home today, recuperating from being sick, when I had a sudden burst of energy, so I decided to paint. I worked on the acrylics a bit... but got bored very fast ... I will finish them all and post them when I do, but meanwhile, I took a diversion.

Across the room from where I sat was a pristine blank, white canvas. It lay there just waiting to have paint transform it into something more than fabric and wood. It looked at me as if to say "pleeeease?" I could hardly stand it. But what? What would I paint?

My journey lately as an artist is to focus less on me and my abilities and more on the One who created me - the great Artist and HIS abilities. Every morning I get everything off my mind and on to pages of paper. What started off as mere mumblings about this and that have turned into a form of prayer and establishes my focus for the day.

Anyway, I can get into more of that another time, but one thing I have been learning is not to get bogged down with technique, composition, color, fashion, decorating fads etc but instead just let the paint flow and the brush move ... as odd as it sounds "see what the canvas wants to be" and let the art become. Kinda like being a kid again, playing and having fun. Today that's what I did.

What you see below was painted from all four different angles all in one sitting. I may have a bit of touch up, but I don't think very much... I show all four because each is a seperate painting unto itself, whichever way the canvas is hung. What each have in common are "God's Hands" and each illustrate a verse from Isaiah about hands. (Click to enlarge).

Formed by the Potter's Hands

Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Lead Forth in Peace

Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Upheld by His Right Hand

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Cherished in His hands

Isaiah 62:3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.


And to end this post I want to add one more verse:
Isaiah 53:5 ... he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

08-08-08.... wasn't it just 01-01-01??

Through the silence
breaks the thunder
rolling on the mountains high
birds of whisper
clocks of chiming
summer's moving
winter's nigh
solo whistle in the trees
nothing's moving not a breeze
Silence calls out,"Listen to Me."

~ CLJ711 ©2008

"FERNS PRESERVED" (OIL)


I would like to take the time to share with you my works in progress. This is hard for me, as I don't like to let people see unfinished works of mine. Unfortunately, as I have learned, I have never been really satisfied that ANY work of mine is ever finished...
I am growing though, and learning to accept my humanity. Just as we have been created by the Creator, we were created to create. This is my offering of thanks.


First of all, I will take you into my studio, which is down this hall, through the door, past my painting of a clear blue New Hampshire sky at Canterbury Shaker Village.








My studio as of right now is located over the sunroom in our home. In the corner of this picture are the ferns that inspired my above painting, " FERNS PRESERVED"... alas they are now dried and dead.


When I paint, I sit in front of a north facing skylight and face two south facing skylights.
One skylight facing the mountain is pictured here. As you can see, we're losing our views. The other picture is of the sunroom from the spiral staircase.

I'm trying something new. Instead of concentrating on one painting at a time, I am doing several at once. Below are some of my works in progress:

"BE STILL, #1" (OIL)

"BE STILL, 2" (OIL)

"BURKEHAVEN" (OIL)

"SNAPSHOTS OF FLOWERS THROUGH WOODSTOCK, VT" (ACRYLIC)