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

Live Earth - SOLD

Acrylic on 8 x 10 canvas, 2008.

I painted this late last night and was eager to list it on Etsy this morning. A few hours later it was sold! If I could paint ten more paintings like this in the next week, I'll be happy. I'm working on a large commission today and hopefully I'll have some pictures to share soon.

Happy painting everyone!

Dissovling In Bliss

Original acrylic painting on 8" x 10" canvas, 2008.
Available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

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/

Portrait of Now - Limited Series of 3

Yesterday I came up with this idea to do hand altered prints in limited sets. It came after a very long and very inspiring phone conversation with a friend. The kind of conversation that gets your heart pumping and positive ideas are eagerly bounced back and forth across the miles. After the phone call, with a hot ear (you know how it goes), I sat back in my computer chair staring at my Etsy shop and it came to me. I know other artists have done this before, but I thought of how I could do it in my own voice and style. I quickly got to work.

To share my process with you... I begin with a sketch on paper (usually with a Sharpie marker) which I scan and then save as a bitmap file. I bring that file into Illustrator to convert it into a sleeker lined design. I print out three prints of this Illustrator image and then sit down with my watercolor paints and oil pastels to make each one an original work of art!

I made a new set I will post after this today. I'm excited to do lots of these limited sets and I've created a new category in my Etsy shop especially for them called Altered Limited Editions

Modern Art Apparel on Zazzle

a few examples from my online apparel line....

www.zazzle.com/artjct*

Tranquil

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

New big paintings on Etsy!

The Question
24" x 36" acrylic on canvas, 2006
Available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

Today I listed a bunch of paintings on Etsy that I scooped up from my studio in Indian Orchard. These pieces have only been seen at our open studio shows, and I'm excited to share them with my online community finally! I didn't do any painting today (just listing on Etsy), but I did a lot of thinking about painting.... we'll see how that manifests itself tomorrow in the studio.

Ed, You are the man!

Good friends are hard to come by, and we are quite lucky to know and love our Ed (shown here in process of giving me Slayer hands). He and Marissa stopped by today with this awesome machine that lays piping deep under the ground. It's the first step to getting power out to the studio. Thank you Ed! You seriously are THE MAN!

I did some painting today and here is one that I finished called Looking Up.

It is available in my Etsy shop here. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7453969

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!

New Paintings

Circles On All Sides IV by Jessica Torrant
Acrylic on 6" x 6" box canvas
Available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

I've been enjoying working on a batch of new box canvases. Instead of painting the sides black, I've been experimenting with extending the painting onto the edges. You can see all of my new works in my Etsy Store.

In other news.....

The OPEN STUDIOS Weekend at the Indian Orchard Mills will be Mother's Day weekend. I'll be opening my studio to the public, along with the other fifty plus artists that share the unique space of the renovated mills. Show dates and hours are:

Friday, May 11: Opening Night 6-10 pm
Saturday May 12: 12-4 pm

For more information and directions to the show, please visit www.indianorchardmills.com and click on the Open Studios Art Show banner.


In other news....

I'll be thirty years old on May 12.

New ACEO Series

Celebrating Spring
Acrylic on matboard, 2007

I haven't been able to get to Jerry's Artarama to get new canvases so I've been working on acid free matboard. I inherited tons of matboard when my old boss moved her frame buisness to another location. It's acid free so it makes a great surface to work on, also I like the thickness for ACEOs - makes for a sturdy little card. Anyway, all of these new ACEOs are in my store www.livefunky.etsy.com - while you are there, check out my SALE section with lots of spring cleaning discounts. I've also updated my entire shop to include free shipping worldwide.

(For those who "do Etsy" you can imagine how crossed my eyes were after the two days it took to revise over 200 listings - yowza!)...copy paste copy paste click go ba beep ba boop - not human anymore - must rest but must finish - another - listing - i - sleep now. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Enough blogging - back to work I go. Good day y'all!

Transitions

Elegance
Acrylic on 8" x 10" stretched canvas, 2007

Transitions
Acrylic on 8" x 10" canvas, 2007

Check availability of these paintings at www.livefunky.etsy.com

Big SALE on Etsy

Window of Opportunity
watercolor, 2007


I am having a big sale at my shop on Etsy. FREE SHIPPING worldwide and Buy One Get One Free on all items over $50. Please visit my store at
www.livefunky.etsy.com

ACEO Magazine

With great excitement, I can announce this evening that I will be the cover artist for the spring issue of ACEO Magazine! Check out the link here:
http://aceomagazine.com/page3.html

Commission Complete!

These two canvases are each 36" x 36". It felt SO great to work on a large canvas again, it had been a while. The pictures are a little fuzzy, but I had to share them anyway. I am celebrating with a glass of red wine and the feeling that I can sleep in tomorrow if I want to. Life is good.

A New Freedom

This week I worked on two commission projects. The first one will be documented in the next post.

This one was for a larger version of my original painting called Freedom. I really connect with the woman who commissioned this painting, and we have had some great conversations about mysticism, religion, existence - you name it. That connection to the universe feeling came through when I was painting her new piece, called Freedom II.

Freedom II
Acrylic on 24" x 36" canvas, 2007



Freedom
Acrylic on 20" x 30" canvas, 2006
Still available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

Colorfields, Dreamscapes, The Vibrations of Color

Tangerine Dream
Acrylic on 8" x 10" canvas, 2007

Crack In The Earth
Acrylic on 6" x 6" canvas, 2007

Summer Sky
Acrylic on 8" x 10" canvas, 2007

All paintings available at www.livefunky.etsy.com

Gravity - Illustration Friday

This is the first time I've made something for Illustration Friday . This week's theme was Gravity, and the above painting is in watercolor on 8" x 11" watercolor paper. It is available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Since I was a child I've dreamed of flying and levitation. Most of the time I begin standing on firm ground, feeling the weight of gravity and my body. Then I remember my little trick. I push down with all of my energy and that pushing down lifts me up. The attention to this downward push is like rocket fuel propelling me upwards. If I get scared or panic, gravity sets in immediately and there is a rush back down (if I can catch it in time, I can refocus and lift up again, if not, I'll switch to a new scene rather than being taken through the experience of actually hitting the earth).

I wanted to capture that feeling of moving in both directions - the force of gravity, and the energy of gravity's opposite.