I take that back - Finished.

Patchwork Bliss
Acrylic on 30" x 40" canvas
Available in my Etsy Shop - HERE

Ok. I got my wish for more sun and looking at this painting with fresh eyes I knew - I'm done. If I added just one more block of color, I'd *need* to add a whole new layer. I'd end up losing some of those first layers that are still present in places, and those are some of my favorite "moments" in the painting. So - finis!

I also took a drive out to West Hartford to Jerry's Artarama to get a bunch of new supplies. Since most of the people that read this blog are fellow artists, y'all KNOW how great it feels to get a batch of supplies! It's kind of.... delicious. That feeling plus a cup of coffee (I'm usually a tea drinker so coffee to me = ZING!) has me in a pumped up and sort of spazzy mood. Ready to rock more canvas with my lovely new set of paint. I've got a commission to begin, and that is going to be a lot of fun. I estimated production time to take about 2-3 weeks, but I have a feeling it will be a matter of days. I'm just really excited to jump into this one. Speaking of.... the sun is out and I'm going to go paint! Have a great day....

JT

New Paintings

Coffee and Cream - SOLD

Acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas, 2008

Make A Wish

Acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas, 2008

Available for purchase at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/

Rediscovering Older Work

Two Has a Dream by Jessica Torrant

Prints available at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/



Yesterday Rob and I went up to the studio in Indian Orchard to make our first of two trips clearing out all my stuff. After packing my Suburu to the brim, we brought it all to our new storage unit right in our own hometown. (Unloading was so much easier than loading! My sympathies with anyone that has to move any time soon!). As much as I may miss some parts of having a studio in the mills, this new "system" is going to be so much easier for me. Now I can paint at home and when I'm done photographing, I can take a canvas five minutes down the road to our storage unit. No more 45 minute drives just to pick up a painting! Yipee!



Part of going through all of my things at the studio meant finding my binder with all of my watercolor and ink illustrations from 2004/2005 (such as the piece above). I'm going through them looking for my favorites to list as prints on Etsy. There are also some drawings that I plan to scan and color in Illustrator (including one on an old envelope! My best drawings were always on scrap paper - there's got to be some psychological reason for that, which I won't look into now - hahaha).



At this point my Etsy shop has 237 items. Is that ridiculous? Too much? Should I put some of the older pieces that haven't sold in edit mode just to make my shop more user friendly? I am inclined to put it ALL out there, but there is A LOT and it just keeps coming! What are your thoughts on this, fellow artists? I could use your expert eyes and input!



(Oh by the way! I just got accepted by Trunkt - woo hoo!)

Tranquil

Original acrylic triptych by Jessica Torrant, 2007.
www.livefunky.etsy.com

Homemade tools of the trade

Ok, so this picture is really blurry, but it shows me holding my transformed milk jug. I have found this to be one of my fav inventions in the studio in a while. I took one of the large, plastic milk containers with a handle and cut out a section at the top to fit my brush handles. Wash, fill with water, and voila! - you've got a portable water source! This comes in handy when I am dipping large brushes into paint on my palette, then into water for that "drippy" effect. Do you have any DIY tools you love to use when you are working?

It Feels Like Home

Self Portrait Thursday 10/18/07, originally uploaded by livefunky.

Oh wait! It IS home! Here is me standing in the studio with some works in progress behind me. Have I mentioned how happy I am to have a studio in my own backyard? Have I? Have I?!

Well if I haven't (and I'm pretending that I haven't) let me tell you - I am SOOOOO happy! I could cry I'm so happy. I could jump for joy, and I DO, I'm so happy!

It just feels so right.

I brought some canvases out from the house today that were hanging around as "supposedly" completed paintings, but each canvas was missing that spark, so I decided, instead of buying new canvases, I'd take these guys to the next level. One of them I am calling the "cursed canvas" because it's taken on so many lives and just never, ever seems to work, no matter what direction I try to take it. Maybe tomorrow I will do a chant to remove the curse "please allow this canvas to purge itself of any negative energy and take on it's true, beautiful form". hahhaha - no but seriously, i think i might do that.

Maybe the problem is that I always go to that painting first when I start my day's session of painting. The first movements/strokes are always the most stilted and disconnected. For the past few days though, I wake up wanting to transform that canvas into something special. Each day it changes - each day it stays "blah". I should ignore it for a while and THEN do a chant to remove the curse! Yeah, that's what I'll do. (If you didn't know already, now you are certain that I am crazy - I will not dispute you).

Fortunately, some real winners are emerging, and filling me with excitement for this groove I am only beginning to connect to. The groove of waking, going online and/or the post office, then walking out to paint for the better part of the day.

This space I have... I know how lucky I am. I keep thinking of Virginia Woolf's A Room Of One's Own... I've got it. Now what am I going to do with it? The good thing is, that question doesn't give me fear or doubt or anguish in any way - only a full body/soul/mind thrill that I can't, and don't want to, shake.

My gratitude goes out to all forces, here on Earth and beyond, that have helped me get to this place in my life and career (which absolutely merge into one). And if I could offer anything to an aspiring artist today, it is the belief that if this is what you really want, you can make it happen.

Love. Live. Make Art. Make Peace. :)

Indian Orchard Mills Open Studios Show - this weekend!

Magic Unfolding
Acrylic on 20" x 20" box canvas, 2007

Looking for something to do this weekend? Come to the Open Studios Spring Exhibition at the Indian Orchard Mills!

Friday May 11, from 6-10 pm
Saturday, May 12 from 12-4 pm

For more information about the show, including directions, please visit www.indianorchardmills.com

Self Portrait Thursday - May 3, 2007

selfportrait thursday - may 3, 2007, originally uploaded by jtorrant.

This is my first week posting in the flickr group, Self Portrait Thursday. I took this digital picture of myself around 10 pm. The eye on the right was drawn with a sharpie on the back of a business card that I'm holding up to my face. My hair is in it's usual state - knotted on the top of my head in a wacky bun. Obviously, I played with the original photograph, making it black and white and then adding funky filters.

Please post a link in your comment to your self portrait if you also contribute in this group - thanks!

Visit Self Portrait Thursday on flickr to see more self portraits from creative people!

2Busy

Ladders In The Light
Mixed media on canvas, 2007

I've got a ton of new paintings and mixed media works over at www.livefunky.etsy.com - can't keep up right now. Hence the title of this post. I would rather rock out to this Chaka Khan I am listening to right now, then go into details, and I am sure you understand. Sometimes we need to just let loose at the end of the day. This isn't the end of day for me, it's midnight, but that should say something about my concept of a "work day".

"I take every little thing I do, give it up, give it all up, for you. I mean every little thing, it's true!..."

Miss Chaka says it all. Finger snapping Jessy, signing out.

Patchwork in Gold - 12/8/06

Patchwork in Gold - abstract painting by Jessica Torrant, originally uploaded by jtorrant.

Now available on Etsy