Warp – 13x19cm Watercolor on Paper
Warp I
19×13
Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
It’s been a challenge creating and uploading these small artworks, but a real pleasure as well. the color and delightful shapes of the human form just continue to thrill me. this one is available on my website, along with all the others at http://www.jennierosenbaum.com and they’re only $50 each!
Profound – 19×13 cm Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
Profound
19×13 cm Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
Every Day for 50 days I will be posting a watercolor for $50. stay tuned to my 50/50/50 project on my website, on my Facebook page, or on twitter!
Look, even I paint men from time to time! this project is really helping me expand my horizons in terms of models, and in terms of seeing. I’m exploring color, shape, halftomes, lines and more but mostly I’m just explaoring the joy of the human figure. check out all my works to date on my website!
Looking for small, unique gifts? these watercolor nudes will brighten up your holidays! buy them as a present for yourself or for someone special. they are ideal for slipping into a card or framing in a set or on their own. they work beautifully in small spaces. these works are colorful, bright and unique. show your individual flair this holidays and give the gift of original art.
Crouch III watercolors and pencil on paper
19×13 cm Watercolor and Pencil on Cold Pressed paper
On my website I am publishing a new watercolor every day for 50 days. These watercolors make perfect Christmas presents and are small and bright unique original and affordable artworks! Each one is 13×19 cm and is painted on cold pressed paper. Each is signed by me and ready to frame!
I am really enjoying this challenge as I go forward, it’s a wonderful way to beat back my winter blues and stave off the spring lethargy. I am also challenging myself by painting different types of nudes and stepping outside of my comfort zone in terms of color, lighting, angle and so on. Revisiting different poses several times, I can really focus on the anatomy and the minutae of light and shadow and form. This is a technical excercise in seeing as well as a joy to explore!
Did I mention that each one is only $50? That’s 50 works, 50 days for $50 each! You can see and buy them all on my website, and watch Facebook, or twitter for more 
I will also, of course, be publishing a couple here.
Nude of the week – aviatrix
Aviatrix – 20×30″ oils on canvas
$1000
http://www.bit.ly/jraviatrix
Here she is! The completed Aviatrix. I have to admit i am thrilled with the way these pieces have come together. As usual, the more I paint the more inspired I get and this series is pushing me to improve and tackle new things. No sooner do I start on one than I get inspiration for another!
Time machine, the event I created these paintings for went very well. Sadly I couldn’t attend, even though I held out hope until the last minute! The photos are outstanding. I only had the two paintings but they received such a wonderful reaction that I am inspired to continue and put together a steampunk exhibition with some other artisans.
Nude of the Week – SteamPunk DazStudio Render
Daz|Studio render
I have an opportunity to show some pieces at a steampunk burlesque event coming up in a few weeks at a club in Melbourne. I’ve had a few steampunk works clicking in the back of my mind now for a while so I am enjoying the further opportunity to stretch my creative muscles – they will go very well with my burlesque pieces! these seem to be a little darker so far, but I’m really enjoying them. I’m returning to my love of cast shadows and combining them with my fascination with volumetrics and all things steampunk.
Products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Hair and Hat: B25 SteamPunk Aviator
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Chair: Girl Play
The art market bubble, about to burst or merely change?
What goes up must come down. It is a law of physics, and of economy. While many are looking at the recent succeeds at Christies and Sotheby’s as the best art sales we’ve seen, others are seeing it as the beginning of the end for the arts market.
Personally, I see it as possibly the beginning of the end for some of the secondary arts market. Some art is like blue chip stock and will forever be a sound investment. But I also see it as the beginning of the rise of the primary market. More and more middle class people and baby boomers are becoming interested in collecting art, and they are on the look out for emerging artists and established living artists. They are looking for the blue chips to be, the next Picasso, the next Van Gogh. They are the new patrons and I predict that we will see further growth in the primary art market as Internet sales of art rise and the mystique surrounding art collecting fades away.
Art is no longer only for the rich, As artists work to represent themselves, connect with clients online around the world and make wonderful art, this new group of patrons will be here to build the next generation of blue chip art.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Quick! Don’t forget these important resolutions either!
It has been brought to my attention that I missed some key goals on my list. Not painting, painting is #1 and always will be (more on that next week) but my offline goals. I plead distraction. I wrote my to do lists a couple of times in different ways, and reasoned that I had already written them down somewhere, but I forgot to share them with you! It’s ok, I’m still in time, it’s not february yet!
I have galleries now, but I know that isn’t the end of it. Not by a long way. My best motivator is exhibiting. So I will be committing to finally writing up all the proposals in my head and sending them off. I have so many concepts and I want to see them realized, so now is the perfect time to get my work out there. I want another solo this year. And one next year. At the minimum. I also want to do more group exhibitions with local artists. I have a couple in the works but I’d love to be a part of more if you have any concepts.
Mostly, this year I want to ditch the excuses. Ditch the fear and ditch that nagging bitch in my head that keep telling me that I’m not good enough. We need doubt to keep us on our toes, but I have a surfeit of it currently and that’s something that needs to be fixed. I want to stop making excuses why I can’t go to that opening or meet up, I want to stop pushing myself away from the arts community and start getting more involved!
I will probably publish the abstracts of my proposals here as well, just to keep you all in the loop!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
achieving my goals bit by bit…Online
Wavelength 8×10 Oils on CanvasI want to build up my online presence even more. Build on what I have created and refine my practices. I also want to add some YouTube into the mix. I hate YouTube, but I cannot deny it’s power. I also want to finally make a landing page for my facebook fan page!
This year may finally be the year of the website redesign. It might be time.
I want to work on my online galleries to make my listings as good they can be, I also want to increase my sales.
These goals are all related. my online presence is a large part of my success as an artist. I started using a lot of social media tools before social marketing was even really a thing.. but I’ve stayed away from youtube. mostly because of the comments. and the inanity. I don’t love the idea of my work being on the same site as dogs pissing on keyboards. but, I also know that it is, truly, the last untouched arena for me, that it has massive sharing appeal and a huge following. sometimes you just have to Suck it up princess! (this seems to be becoming my theme this year). videos show more about art than photos can, sharing the works with people is the key and being precious about it won’t sell paintings! I have the software, the knowledge, I just don’t have any excuses.
my facebook page is going really strong, it could use some videos, some more images (must paint must paint) and a nice branded landing page. something to entice. that’s next weeks project.
as far as redesigning my webpage goes, I’ve been using iweb with some haxies to create my page, and it’s good, it’s certainly easy and it doesn’t distract me with fun code to play with, but I need to step it up a bit. I’m thinking of going to wordpress and a professional theme for artists with my own customisations. wordpress is so much more than a blog, it’s a fantastic Content Management System and I think it will really help with my SEO efforts. the problem with being a geek, however, is the constant itch to tweak, code and improve everything, and often I get so caught up in that I forget about painting! and that is the one thing I have to do this year over everything else. I’m looking at some artist website services as well, to prevent me from scratching the tweak itch.
I’m looking around still for an online gallery to replace Boundless Gallery, I’m using Discovered Artists and Artfire currently but I’d like to work further to finish uploading all my works for sale and make the descriptions and photographs as compelling as possible. I also want to finish my ‘view in a room’ images. they will help with my videos as well!
So.. Here is what a Gantt of this process would look like. no it is pretty anal to create a Gantt of something like this, a todo list works just as well, but I started something so here is my online strategy for the year in Gantt form. Online Goals
being and artist and a mother need not be impossible
This is a followup from my post last week. This is what I commented on the original post, tidied up a bit and expanded for this.
Being the obsessive sort that I am I started considering these issues when I decided that I wanted a family. Liam and I discussed them from the beginning and we planned out how to ensure that I had enough time in the studio and how to make it a safe environment.
The thing to bear in mind is that this is your career and if you are serious about it, then it needs to be treated with all the seriousness of any other career. I work from my home studio and fit my work, both studio time and the business side, around her naps and feeds- I actually use them to structure my day! I find that since having a baby my career has become more structured and disciplined. I have to set aside time to achieve my tasks, so I don’t waste it as much as I used to. my goals have coalesced more as well, I’m more inspired to create and more inspired to succeed because I want the best for my little girl!
a few notes.
- I don’t know what paint you are using, but I find that the water miscible oils are wonderful and fume free, I took to using them before I started trying to get pregnant and find them a great way to keep a safe environment at home- they work just as well. they also clean up very fast- great when time is an issue! I don’t use heavy metal pigments either, I don’t want to risk transferring anything through my breastmilk.
- pick techniques that you can fit around his schedule – small, bite sized chunks of work you can easily digest. that goes for your to-do list too! if you keep tasks to 15 minute blocks you can get so much done in very little time! (this works for cleaning too
- have a list of goals for your art, your marketing and keep them in mind. make sure they are achievable and excite you. set particular goals for each year. this year I am focussing on creating works and marketing online, I have stepped back on exhibiting, but I am getting my gallery list together and starting to plan my calendar for next year.
- keep a sketchbook with you for quick ideas and sketches. no matter what you are doing there is always time for thinking about art!
- I find it’s sometimes hard to get myself into the studio, I talk myself out of it, there is so much more I feel I should be doing. the 15 minute rule works well here too.
- getting up one hour earlier can work wonders.
- expressed breastmilk can help for long studio jags or when you are out at openings. knowing you don’t *have* to stop painting to go feed really helps.
- My husband is very supportive of my career, he knows it is my passion and makes sure I have time. enlist help to ensure you get the time you need!
Nude of the week – Peace
Peace - A4 Watercolors and Pencil on Paper
The title of this piece is at odds with how I feel at the moment, I wanted to create an image of serenity to try and help myself feel more at peace. it worked while I was painting anyway!
I’ve been so busy. we’ve moved house so many times it’s not funny but this time it’s with a baby. once you have a baby everything seems to take three times as long. this time we are ‘doing it easy’ too. we’re getting all new furniture and having it delivered to the new home, only the most precious bits are coming with, and of course all our books, dvds, clothes, books, baby things, art, art supplies, oh everything! but not our old crappy furniture.
easy right?
except that of course there have been months of furniture shopping, planning our aesthetic, purchasing the furniture and arranging delivery, sorting out painting and colors, realizing the quoted delivery dates are going to be longer than expected. the usual packing, planning my studio, trying to get everything organized in time for a family celebration just before christmas – aarrrghh!
I thought everything was organized, then the closing arrived early and it all went to hell in a handbasket. but the first of the furniture has been delivered, and utilities are organized, netspace are trying to do our reconnection with a minimum of disruption and if only our old place would stop looking quite so much like a bomb hit it I would be much happier!
I don’t know how much I will be able to keep things updated over the next couple of weeks, bear with me and hopefully I won’t have to go to the looney bin!
now go buy some art so I don’t have to move it!
Nude of the Week – Standpoint Daz Render
Daz|Studio and Reality render
This was my last Reality render before I had to give it back, I’m looking forward to using it when I have a more powerful computer! the results are nothing short of spectacular! this image is back to basics, based on the purity of the female form and composition. I may repaint Wavelength, I’m not sure it says all i want it to say.. it’s funny how that works!
sadly it also requires a pretty powerful machine – my computer just wasn’t up for anything more complex than this!
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Eve
Render Engine: Reality
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Nude of the Week – Wavelength
Oils on Canvas
8×10 Oils on Canvas
$150
The concept behind these pieces is purely about composition and is inspired by accomplished photographer and good friend Furious Ennui.
After all the rough and loose figures I’ve been doing I wanted to focus purely on form, composition and smoothness. keep it tight and let the shapes speak for themselves.
This piece, and others both new and old will be exhibited on Saturday at Original Mould – I hope to see you there!
Nude of the Week – Wavelength Daz Render
Daz|Studio and Reality render
Reality is a new bridge for Daz|Studio and Lux Render. it’s a physically based render engine, which means that it calculates the actual physics behind the lights, reflections and the way that light actually works. it produces outstanding effects but means that you have to re-learn everything you knew about how Daz lighting works and go back to original photographic lighting concepts. this is pretty cool, and I can see so many applications for artists who work mostly in still life. it creates volumetric glass, proper metallic reflections, and wonderful realistic water effects.
sadly it also requires a pretty powerful machine – my computer just wasn’t up for anything more complex than this!
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Eve
Render Engine: Reality
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Nude of the Week – Peace
Watercolor and Pencil on Paper
21×16
$100
A quick upload because I forgot to do one yesterday! I’ve been working on a lot of watercolors recently, they help me relax and refresh. they also fit well into my hectic schedule! I am happy with this one, but I am also thinking of re-doing it, purely because it’s fun! I’m learning a lot with each piece. this is a time of experimentation in my pieces in many ways..
Nude of the Week – help me think of a title for this one!
Oils on Canvas
24×36 in
$1300
While painting this one I was struck by the lyrics in Passing Strange from the song Must Have Been High
and every song sounds like an angel’s choir
my edges were rounded i had wings of fire
soaring through the sky i must’ve been high
Passing Strange is still a golden album for me to paint to in many ways, but this just really caught my brain during this piece. which is a mercy because Human Equation (my other current golden album) was taking me back to a very bad place while painting this. it’s one of the reasons i’m having difficulty coming up with a title (there are many obvious ones that I shy away from because of those associations).
Please help me find a title! I was originally (back during the render) going to call it plunge, but I think that will suit the upcoming watercolor better… I just can’t think of anything right! everything I think of breaks my one word naming convention, and that will never do! what word does this conjure up to you?
Nude of the Week – Fallen
Oils on Canvas
24 x 36 in
$1500
What a whirlwind this last week has been! my conceptual render was accepted by Hardware Gallery for their juried exhibition Flight which opens tomorrow! you can find all the details on their webpage or mine.
this put me in the extremely interesting position of having to paint one of my most ambitious works to date – in less than a week! luckily some hardcore painkillers, lots of tea, quick dry medium and many hours in the studio I proved to myself, yet again, that I do my best work under pressure. I couldn’t have gotten it done without my brilliant husband taking care of Erica – and without her making it so easy! she was a pleasure to take a break with and feed.
everything slotted in perfectly, feeds, drying time, rest time, painting, everything came together to produce this piece. I don’t really remember painting it – I was in the zone the whole time but I am so happy, it’s just how I wanted it to turn out.
Check out the exhibition if you are in Sydney!
Nude of the Week – Fallen Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
Sorry I havn’t been writing lately, so much is happening! It’s all going so fast I can’t keep up in my head let alone blog! hell, I can barely tweet 
I’m currently painting this one.
Can’t talk now, Painting…
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Wings: V4 Creature Wings
Rendered in Reality for Daz Studio (more about this later)
Nude of the Week – Bestial Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
This is one I’ve been wanting to paint for ages but other pieces just keep coming first! the problem with working so much on my preliminary renders is that I keep getting ideas, making new renders and getting excited about them.. so I’m going to showcase a few renders that got lost by the wayside. at the moment I am getting used to the new reality render engine for daz so I don’t have any new material and the painting I’m working on is in a difficult place, so I don’t want to post it right now!
when the weather is really bad (as it has been here) my pain is much worse. I compensate for painting time by rendering and getting new ideas for painting so that when I am well enough I can head into the studio and go for it! I seem to be very obsessed with crouching figures at the moment..
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Eve
Hair: Eve
Lighting: Studiolight Pro
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Nude of the Week – Landing Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
Sometimes I will have an idea rattling around in my head for a long time. in the case of this one it’s been years! for some reason every time I sketched it out it just wasn’t right. I’ve tried a couple of times with paintings like rage but I’ve never gotten close to the motion in my head.
Last week I was inspired to try some new takes. this is the result. I don’t know if it’s exactly what I wanted, but I do know that it is looking really good and fitting in well with my current explorations into action. I’m looking forward to painting it up!
BTW, if you see any renders you really love, you can always contact me about commissioning it as a painting! I can tailor the size to suit your space and budget (within practical limits of course!) – check here for my past renders and stay tuned for more..
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Lighting: Studiolight Pro
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
15 cost cutting tips for artists – and where to draw the line
Extend - 5x7 Oils on Canvas
- many places provide cheap canvasses. these are a mixed bag. take a look at the thickness, the composition and the stretchers. whatever you do, get 100% cotton, if the canvasses are a cotton/poly blend they will warp and age badly. if they don’t state their composition you can bet they aren’t cotton!
- there are some companies that create excellent inexpensive canvasses, it pays to shop around and the key for these is the stretchers – often the thin stretchers on less expensive canvasses will warp, but the double wide ones not only look better but are more stable as well! plus you can save on framing.
- if the gesso is a little thin, or toothy you can fix that yourself by adding more or sanding it down – companies will save money by providing less ground or by not refining the surface as much.
- use natural earth pigments wherever possible. pigments such as sepia and umber are very common and cheap so they are inexpensive to produce in paints (no this isn’t why I use those colors.. well, not the entire reason!)
- buy a limited palette and blend your own colors. not only will you get better results but you can save on the more expensive real pigments by buying them in bulk
- use hues instead. if you have a family or you are just lazy about hazmat safety (me on both counts!) while painting you can get reasonable substitutes for the pure pigments. I have both types and while the pure pigment is often brighter I’m not sure it is worth paying double the price and having to constantly worry about heavy metals. it is pretty hard to distinguish the two in a painting in the end
- buy the best for the colors you use the most, you can substitute student quality or a lesser brand for tiny touches- no need to go out and buy a whole new tube of the best quality for one painting or a small accent.
- invest in some generic tube squeezers. my grocery store has them near the toothpaste – you will be amazed at how much you can get from that seemingly empty tube!
- duct tape fixes tube leaks.
- save your old student quality paints for playing, experimenting and random events. you never know when someone will want to borrow them. in fact, save everything – you just never know.
- wrap your palette in recycled plastic bags or use lunch wrap to save that unused paint for another day.
- buy really good brushes and take good care of them or buy cheap brushes and don’t worry as much. personally, I take the middle road and buy medium quality brushes because sometimes I take good care of them and other times I forget. this way I don’t mind so much.
- online companies like moo create wonderful supplies like business cards and exhibition postcards with different images for each card. Vistaprint often has free offers on their newsletter.
- check online art supply stores like dick blick and jerry’s artarama and sign up for their newsletters. keep an eye out for their sales and get a bargain!
- the most important tip I can give is to assess your 6 monthly expenditure on supplies, your output of art during that time and use those numbers to factor into your art pricing. ideally you want to make back your art supply expenses on one sale. keep track of those numbers and it will help you keep your pricing current and appropriate.
Nude of the Week – Plunge Daz Render
Daz|Studio render
this was a happy accident of photoshop and Daz. I wanted to lighten the background so that I didn’t waste ink and was just playing around with selection tools when I got this very fluid and dynamic background that seems to flow with the nude – I’m just so happy with it! I have a bunch of ideas for paintings but nothing is really coalescing. I may go back and do this one a few ways.
Click here for the discussion on my facebook page about this piece.
Daz|Studio products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Stephanie Elite 4 Base *Free*
Texture: Primrose for S4
Lighting: Studiolight Pro
Morphs: Morphs++ & NGM for V4
Nude of the Week – Bewitched
Oils on Canvas
36 x 24 in
click for detail images and price
Much discussion online has been centered around this painting. about halfway through I had a meltdown- the kind that sometimes will keep me out of my studio for months on end. the kind that sometimes leads to stabbing canvasses. I had something initially which had a lot of power and then, in my usual obsessive style, I overworked it. and lost the power and energy it had.
this time, however, I made my anguish public. I sent out messages venting my frustration to the world on twitter and facebook. this inspired many comments from friends, artists on twitter and even a discussion on fine art views (which sadly, I was unable to respond to, something went wrong in the comments for me) it’s amazing how everyone’s encouragement helped me bounce back and turn it around. this painting went from being a failure to being, well, something of a success if the comments are anything to go by! I sucked it up, got back into the studio and this is what came about. thankyou all so much! I’m still too close to it but sometimes the ones that cause you the most difficulty seem to be the best in the end. I’m glad I didn’t destroy it. I’m glad I didn’t leave the studio for too long. I’m glad because being able to bounce back like this and continue on is one of the hallmarks of growing as an artist.
thankyou everyone for your wisdom and help! you helped me create this painting.
Nude of the Week – Musing
Watercolor and Pencil on Paper
11.7×8.5in
This piece started out with me testing a whole bunch of different watercolor combinations and a new paper type. I was in so much pain that I was only interested in experimenting and enjoying the process of creating with no goal in mind. as my painkillers kicked in.. and kicked in some more.. I started to see more and more uses for colors. I became obsessive and detached and thoroughly engrossed in my work. hands have always been one of my favorite subjects, they speak volumes in each tiny gesture. in quite a few of these recent pieces the face is blank and all the expression is contained in the hands – what do they say?
to see some detail images click this link – you can tell I had some fun!
Artfire, Discovered Artists and Etsy.. oh my!
I’ve been working hard on updating my new pro account at artfire. adding new artworks, updating a blog there with tips, feeding the new stuff to twitter and then wash, rinsing and repeating. some of my descriptions have become a little stale so I am revamping some of them and trying to make these pieces pop. I’m also adding some works to a store on etsy, as artfire and etsy are linked together. we shall see which of the two performs better. so far I am getting decent traffic and I’m hoping to convert it soon.
Discovered artists is still my premier online art gallery, I refer the majority of buyers there, I like the upscale look and the fact that they curate the works and jury the artists. artfire is just a way to try to find more buyers in a different demographic, trying to make up for the hole that boundlessgallery has left.
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