Winter Newsletter - August 2021
Welcome to the second edition of my personal, artistic journey Newsletter. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and this last 2 months have just whizzed by. They’ve been quiet months, being the dead of winter here. Hope winter has not been too hard on you as it seems we’ve had some ‘weird’ weather around the country this year, with floods, tornadoes, wild seas and so on.
Here in Outram, we’ve been unusually wet, with heavy frosts, but now I’m watching all the spring bulbs starting to poke their heads through. Daffodils, bluebells, freesias, tulips, anemones, snowdrops, jonquils, and fritillarias. Hoping for a very colourful spring.
As I write this, I’m watching the Olympics and it’s fantastic to see NZ have such a great games. Had a quick trip to Wanaka recently, so here’s a sneak peek of my latest image “Ida Range”.
"Ida Range"
I hope you enjoy the read.
Artist Talk
I was asked to give a talk at the Otago Art Society at their Member’s Night on Thursday 17th June. The talk was titled “Thru the Looking Glass” and was about my inspiration, and some of the stories behind my images, and a tiny bit about my journey from 9-5 employee to full time artist in the last year or so. Felt quite flattered, and a bit nervous. Not used to talking about myself in front of an audience. My past life of public speaking has been in my marketing career to sales teams, conferences and farmers about our products. This time it was about me. Slightly scary. Read More Here
On Display
Otago Art Society 145th Annual Exhibition
Pleased to say that both “Astrantia Major” and “A Whispered Embrace” were on display at the Otago Art Society’s 145th Annual Exhibition in the Dunedin Railway Station in July. I always get a bit of a buzz from seeing my work up in an exhibition and pleased that I can share my vision of our world with others.
Both are Limited Edition prints, printed on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag 308 smooth cotton rag Fine Art paper, using Epson archival pigment inks. This gives the wonderfully rich colours, in a print that is made to last. These framed prints are now available for purchase, just email me at: Jennifer@JBPhotoArt.co.nz if you’d like to purchase.
Sizes are:
“Astrantia Major” – Frame Size: 570 mm x 470 mm
“A Whispered Embrace” – Frame Size: 620 mm x 445 mm
What's been happening during June/July?
Winter… Wed 30th June 2021
What is our fascination for the white stuff? Every time there is a hint of it at our place I become a 5 year old wanting to go out and play. Yesterday was no different. We’d had 2 nights of snow on the Maungatua ranges that Outram is nestled underneath and it was looking wonderful. So grabbed the camera and off I went.
Now I’m not a landscape photographer and these are only pretty much straight from the camera. I didn’t realise till now, just how much of a valley the Taieri is, with a ring of hills all around.
New Works
Of Earth and Air. Playing with colour and design, giving a sense of movement and dance.
How I love a perfect rose. I’m a big fan of the traditional hybrid tea rose. To me it’s the perfect rose. The wonderfully structured petals that have such incredible edges and colours allowing for a myriad of interpretations.
Open Edition print, available for purchase from my website’s “New Releases Gallery”
Autumn's Rainbows
A new project and web page.
Sunday 4th July 2021
So very happy to share with you the awesome display that the ladies at Country Trader Crafts in Outram have made for me. My “Autumn’s Rainbows” series of leaf paintings are displayed to perfection! Each leaf is a real autumn leaf and if not from our own trees, then they are gathered from local trees as I do my walk for the day.
Outram (where we live) is a wonderful little village with an excellent cafe -The Wobbly Goat, a service station, Four Square, PGG Wrightson branch, 3 local craft stores and a home decor store. All in one tiny main street. 10 mins drive from Mosgiel it’s a cool little place to while away an hour or two over the weekend.
Autumn’s Rainbows web page here
Display at Dunedin Art Show
Happy to announce that I’ve been accepted to have a display stand at the Dunedin Art Show, in November 2021. That feels so awesome, but comes with quite a bit of prep work.
Printing, signing, framing, naming, pricing, information cards, advertising/bio flyer, signage, greeting card display, and much more. All fun stuff, for me anyway. I do enjoy this side of the art business and look forward to watching it come together. It will be seriously cool to see my work displayed in this way, and share my vision with everyone.
Inspirational Quotes
“Everything has beauty but not everyone can see.”
Confucius
With my work I like to delve beneath the surface of what you see, and discover the inner beauty of my subject. Everyone can see the beauty of a flower, or the scene before them. But I want to show you the beauty that is in the detail. Look closer.
I encourage you to take the time to stop and look, to actually see what is around you. Pause, breathe and appreciate our world for the wonderful place that it is. Look for details - the curve of a petal, the delicacy of a stamen, the colours in a piece of rust, the contrast between the rock and the moss, the ethereal colours and lines that can be found inside blown glass. The list is endless.
So what will you be looking at on your next walk? What wonders await you?
“Floral Dance” Open Edition print, available for purchase from my website’s “Floral Gallery”
Insights
Saw a quote recently that resonated with me:
“I have learned to be more gentle with myself and my practice. I have learned that some days it’s okay not to paint and some days it’s okay to paint an ugly painting.”
Janet Skates (Artist)
With a winter feeling of restlessness and not being able to settle in to any one thing, I have taken the opportunity to experiment a bit with my art. Working on a painting using the gorgeous red/yellow/orange maple leaves collected over autumn. Experimenting with background textures and colours. Also made up my own art/sketch journal from scratch using light watercolour paper. Bound the pages, made the cover and am now using it to play with art journaling. A lot of fun and lets me experiment with collage techniques. Also playing with watercolour and trying to learn a few techniques.
So that’s what I’m doing. Realising that even tho I’m not settling to anything specific, in everything I’m doing I’m learning as well. The secret is to just keep doing something every day.
“Freedom” Open Edition print, available for purchase from my website’s “Vintage Series Gallery”
If you’re not already, please follow me on Facebook (JBPhotoArt) or Instagram (JBPhotoArtNZ) so I can share with you more of the beauty of this world we living and our joy in the cool village of Outram.
Visit my website JBPhotoArt.co.nz to see more of my work (available for purchase), my blog and please, I hope you enjoy the images.
I’d love to hear that you enjoyed my newsletter, and would welcome any feedback at Jennifer@JBPhotoart.co.nz.
Have an awesome day/week/month, and catch you next time!
Cheers
