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

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

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.

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.

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

Daz|Studio Advanced

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

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

Wavelength 8×10 Oils on Canvas

I 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 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!

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!