Jen Singh Creatively

A Night at the Museum

2009-11-12T09:00:00.001-08:00

With two days before The Museum School silent auction, our committee is furiously wrapping up final details and acquiring last minute donations! There have been so many people working behind the scenes, and with the state charter interview behind us, I think everyone is ready to let off some steam and relax Saturday night. There are some awesome auction items and with the great team we have doing set-up and decorations, it's sure to be a party people will talk about for awhile!

The theme is "A Night at the Museum" and we're taking themes from old art and artifacts -from the funky to traditional. And with a venue like Bart Webb Studios, it's just a perfect setting for our night! The auction catalog cover is the only visual we created for this event to keep costs down. But we're using elements of the design for a small run of tickets, item descriptions and posters at the event. I used a watercolor-ish texture on canvas as a background and created a parchment effect. Flourishes in coral and turquoise are bright contrasts against the sepia tones of the artwork.

Didn't purchase your tickets yet? www.themuseumschool.org

Whitespace Gallery

2009-11-02T11:15:00.001-08:00

Just stumbled onto this very cool gallery in Atlanta on Edgewood. I haven't actually visited yet, but came across the website when I was reading a forum about an event they have called For-Ever-Green. It's a "green" show and if I had anything 100% organic, archival, compostable and such, I would love to apply to exhibit! The site is beautifully done and the photography is awesome! The pic above is from the Dec. 2008 show. I hope to check it out this year, and so should you! Exhibit runs Dec. 3-6.

http://www.whitespace814.com/

Hang on Sister jewelry collaboration

2009-10-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the bottlecap and glass tile necklaces I promised to post. I didn't take a very good photo this morning, the light was weird outside, but it will do for now! I'm working on some custom painted boxes to house some of these lovelies for the holiday season. They are super cute and will be themed for each necklace-I hope to finish them this week and will show them as soon as they're finished!

Chastain Park Art Festival a success!

2009-10-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the first Chastain Park Art Festival and besides the really, really cold weather, people came out to see the artists! Saturday was pretty bone chilling and I did ok considering the weather with sales, but Sunday was sunny and beautiful and LOTS of people came out, thank goodness! I sold a lot of my art blocks, a few originals and five necklaces from Hang on Sister-which I will photograph for the next post.

So I took a few pictures of my booth with my phone, it turned out so cute! I didn't even really have a plan for setup, but Friday I got an idea and quickly took a leftover piece of cedar from our deck, screwed in a bunch of leftover screws to hang my blocks and it worked out so fabulous. It really made a difference in my display. I also used a wire picture holder turned on its side to display the hanging necklaces.

Thanks to all who came out to see me and supporting the festival!

Starlight-6x6 series

2009-10-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, this one has been sitting on a shelf for weeks unfinished! I just couldn't quite figure out how to get this piece to come together. I knew I wanted it to be a night theme on the beach, but just wasn't sure how to work with the spiral imagery. So black starfish-like flowers is what I started thinking about and then stars in the sky, starfish on the beach....a visual theme came together-an easy one at that!

Short on time here, K and M are both sick today and dinner has just arrived! I'm off to Home Depot tonight to get some wood cut for a piece I sold this weekend and picking up some other odds and ends for my show this weekend. More on that later!

The white queen and a wonderful night

2009-10-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight was book club, a most anticipated night of the month for me. I bailed around 11 pm to go home and decompress, this week has been crazy and my head has been spinning. But as it pours down rain again, I feel relaxed and exhausted, so ready for sleep! This month, we read The White Queen and this lovely lady was inspired by Elizabeth and her very heavy headpiece. I can only imagine what is was like to dress up in such a dramatic, cumbersome way. This little bat trainer is one of my faves and turned out so perfectly spooky for Halloween.

I'm inundated with all kinds of preparations for next week's festival and it was nice to go out and be distracted and relax with friends. The second in my Lovely Mystical series is now framed and ready to go, I'm working on the Spider Queen which has been put on a shelf so I can finish up some other projects. But I hope to finish it this weekend! I will be working furiously to get some last minute pieces created, so if I am MIA for the next week, forgive me and I promise to give updates after this upcoming whirly wind week! have a great weekend! In the meantime, here is the little sketch of her to tide you over.

Ruby blooms on Cumberland

2009-10-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Ruby blooms, the second in my 6x6 series on cradled aquaboard.

While on Cumberland island last weekend, I noticed a lot of blooming wild flowers. Not very typical for September! There were these tiny red blooms in the grass and lots of vines with purple and white flowers. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they looked stunning against all the lush, green growth that resulted from the deluge of rain Georgia has been getting the last month. The palmettos were huge! And the wild horses looked better than they usually do, sometimes they have ratty coats and look pretty rough. Butterflies were everywhere too, big monarchs as well as little yellow and white ones. It was truly magical to see. I also received the wonderful gift of spotting two great northern owls-just stunning. Additionally, a few ospreys, wild turkeys and my favorite, an albino deer. Now that calls for a painting! stay tuned...

Ribbon dance

2009-09-22T12:13:00.001-07:00

Ribbon dance, the first in my 6x6 series on aquaboard blocks, which are wonderful two inch thick blocks with watercolor paper mounted to the front. These little studies are an experiment of using a limited color palette and clean colors on neutral backgrounds. Ribbon dance is available as a print in my shop.

Ribbon dance

Off to Cumberland Island this week

2009-09-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, JT and I leave for Cumberland Island, GA to stay with friends at High Point. This is probably the most anticipated trip of the year, no kids!! My parents are flying down from MI on Tuesday and staying until next week with the kids. The idea of going to this island and spending time with friends in a big, old family lodge, going to the beach where NO ONE else is, driving 4-wheelers and my favorite, spotting wild horses. Especially on the beach. And we have low-country boil, go clamming, take long walks in the woods, just stare out onto the marsh, the greens and variations of greens are absolutely amazing at different times of the day. The wild turkeys, sitting on the lazy, southern porch staring at the water oaks with loads of spanish moss hanging, swinging in the breeze. Absolutely magnificent.

A couple years ago, I captured this beautiful white pony on the beach and I did a pastel painting, the original is actually pretty large, like 15 x 30. It's in my Etsy shop available as a print.

Chastain Park Art Festival

2009-09-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, well, so I'm going to do my first festival, the inaugural Chastain Park Arts Festival, October 17-18. Patrick at the Decatur Market and Gallery has been so generous to offer me and 3 other artists 10x10 tents to exhibit our brand, spanking new works. Boy, do I have my work cut out for me, I can't even begin to share all my ideas, because I don't think I'll be able to accomplish them all in such a short time! One thing I know is that I'll be doing a Halloween series entitled "Lovely Mysticals," a series of characters sharing quirky, spooky themes involving bats, bones and wigs. Seriously, so excited about this that I'm going to do a limited edition postcard series, yes, you heard it! Hopefully I can crank this all out before then. In the meantime, here's the "bone collector"

hello Bluebird

2009-09-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on this adorable website called "hello Bluebird" and this is what they're all about:

"We are a community of artisans and crafters who feel that shopping can be guilt free, affordable and socially conscious. A majority of our products are sold on consignment so that you are directly supporting crafters and allowing them to do what they love! We also believe that business can be built on a community rather than a marketing scheme."

Isn't that cool? And they are having their first gallery opening called Show and Tell, works combining art and words, which I love, because one of my favorite things is to add poetry or words to my work. These are some gorgeous works, check out their site to see a closeup of the featured artists!

Revolve-5x5 art blocks

2009-09-02T11:41:00.001-07:00

My work is installed at Decatur Gallery and I'm so excited! The gallery looks great, nice and full of diverse, creative work. I could wander around in there for a VERY long time. So many talented artists, I feel privileged to exhibit alongside them all!

I'm debuting my 5x5 blocks in the gallery and will be interested to see how they do at the opening on Sept. 12. I've got one of these listed on Etsy, and will be adding more soon. Each block has an archival print mounted to the front and a different image on the back, either the original sketch or a vintage image that relates to the piece. My signature and date is printed on the back. I love these sitting on a shelf or mantle, and they look fantastic displayed in groups!

Tumbling for you-6x6 gallery

2009-08-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm sending my piece in for the 6x6gallery exhibition that will be held in October in New York City. This is a really cool project where artists of any level and medium can submit work to be exhibited in the gallery and online. I just love all these opportunities that pop up all over now where artists can get seen virtually, and then connected in real life.

The ideas to get your work seen seem endless, and I feel like I can hardly keep up with my to-do list these days! This piece is inspired by one of those bright orange retro kid's chairs. The primary color's in the painting really make the chair pop, and for some reason while I was creating it, I couldn't get that Culture Club song, "I'll Tumble for You" out of my head, so that kind of stuck for my title!

High frequency

2009-08-20T05:51:00.001-07:00

So I've been super busy preparing for the upcoming show on September 12 at the Decatur Market Cooperative Gallery and it's been hard to do all my online duties when I need to be painting and getting work done! This will be a short one, just wanted to show my latest piece, High frequency. This is part of my series on energy of circles, momentum and creative energy. One of my faves so far, because I loved composing the ribbons flying off the umbrella clothes line! I'm going to be working on some large pieces this week, so the challenge will be to preserve the looseness of my smaller pieces on a bigger format. As always, the print is available in my Etsy shop. Until next time!

Decatur Cooperative Gallery

2009-08-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

The latest is...I'm going to be one of the exhibitors at Decatur Cooperative Gallery! I'm very excited to start a new path with my work, and that means I will need to really PRODUCE. Not just a painting here and there, but start to paint on a daily basis and move towards painting more full time and making graphic design less prominent. Being a member of the the cooperative gallery will give me an opportunity to really connect with other artists, get more recognition in the community and, most importantly, to really get my groove on with creating inventory. This will be a growing year for me, heading into the holiday season, I'm hoping that I'll actually sell work and be able to keep my little space full.

Now that I'm out of the haze of "babydom" and on the edge of exiting "toddlerdom" opportunities are starting to emerge and I'm hoping this is my time to create a reputation and get some local followings. Stay tuned for a lot of work in the upcoming weeks to be posted in preparation for the opening on September 12 that welcomes new artists (me!)

Turn kinetic- collage painting

2009-08-11T05:40:00.001-07:00

This piece is part of a new watercolor and collage series on paper. I've been working with acrylics and gouache on wood panels for awhile and needed to mix it up a bit. These are going to be larger pieces, around 20 x 30 and focus on imagery related to spiraling movement and creative energy. Hopefully I can produce a good collection to show this fall, there are a few galleries I'm submitting to and it would get me in gear to follow through if I have a goal in mind! Turn Kinetic is available as a print in my etsy shop.

The big 40 party!

2009-08-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

So I realized I haven't posted any pics from my fabulous 40th birthday party that my husband and friends threw for me on July 25! I truly believe this party will go down in history as one of the best we've thrown ever. I mean, all my true blues swooped in and decorated, cooked, organized and arranged the most kick-a&*$ gathering anyone could ask for.

Miles, the mixologist was the highlight of the party. There was a drink list (pictured) and lo and behold he actually created a version of a gin mule for me! Seriously, it was the yummiest drink ever!

The night was very laid back, casual and we were able to sit outside on the deck and screen porch with all the doors thrown open. A delicious summer night, cold drinks with sexy ice cubes (Miles had to bring his own cubes!) and all of my buds from the hood. An amazing and memorable night!!

Jai ho

2009-08-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

I've started some more watercolor pieces on different kinds of printmaking and drawing papers. This one is just straight watercolor and pencil on Rives BFK, one of my favorite papers. It has this nice off-white buffed feel and is so nice to draw on! I'm going to integrate some collage and embroidery eventually, I had done one other piece called Routine and it has been a pretty popular piece. This next batch will be much larger, like 20 x 30, in order to get some spontaneous brushwork going.

Working small has it's advantages, quicker, easy to move around-but I want to do some shows this fall and would like to have a collection of works on paper to choose from. We'll just see where this goes. For now, here's a peek into a study of a bhangra dancer, Jai ho. Sort of inspired by my fave show, So you think you can dance" I know, cheesy, but I love watching all those talented people dance their tails off! And they started featuring some Bollywood numbers and the costumes are absolutely amazing. Ok, off to paint before I pick up my daughter, time just flew this morning!

More art blocks

2009-07-31T12:49:00.001-07:00

I've been experimenting with more art blocks and trying to figure out the best way to present the images. I came up with a little signature authenticity card to put on the back of each piece, which seems a bit more clean than signing and dating in pen.

It just seemed too amateur looking that way. I think I'll try doing some unpainted blocks next with a natural protective finish and rounded edge imagery instead of the hard corners I've done so far. Some new paintings are in the works and looking forward to see how they translate on a small scale. I have some 2 x 6 lengths of wood that were accidentally purchased by my husband, so I think I'll try creating some 6 x 6 blocks too that can hang on the wall. More to come!

The most unique mushrooms

2009-07-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was walking home from the pool with my daughters and we decided to take the scenic route. Along the way, I spotted these really cool mushrooms growing off of an enormous oak tree root near the sidewalk. There was this amazing moss surrounding it and the purples, blues and rust colors against the bright green were just stunning.

I had to pluck them from their little home and take them with me! I photographed them at sunset in my front yard, fortunately had some moss to shoot against to get a similar effect. Hopefully, I can keep these little gems for awhile. I wonder if they can be preserved? A little research to do here. These photos are definitely going in my reference files for some future paintings.

Silver Beach

2009-07-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

oy, so sorry it's been so long since my last post! Out of town and slow summer movin'! We just got back from a visit to St. Joseph, MI, where I grew up. As always, a great time at the beach, picking berries and just plain relaxing! The girls love hanging out at pop pop and mu mu's, so it's totally worth an annual week-long trip. There were some amazing sunsets and the beaches have the most wonderful sink-your-feet-in sand.

Since it's summertime, St. Joe has become quite the resort town and it's actually difficult to eat somewhere without having a wait. We went to Silver Beach pizza and waited an hour to sit down! With a hungry 3 and 6-year-old, very challenging indeed. It was great to catch up with my brother and sister-in-law, we visited a cool brewery in Benton Harbor called the Livery, walked out on the pier and checked out a flea market on the bluff. It's always great to visit my home town, but definitely by the end of the week was ready to come back home. Leaving you with a wonderful pic of the girls running on the beach.

Crap shoot

2009-06-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Another one of my 3x3 canvases for the Canvas Project. My word was crap shoot, and I had these really cool red dice to work with. I need to photograph it better, but for now you get the idea.

I had the dice and loopity-loop going on and asked my daughter what to do for the background and she suggested a game board, well I was sort of thinking gambling, casino themes, etc. But then I started thinking about the graphic elements of a game board and added the blue tissue squares to make a sort of Mondrian-like piece. Also, I must be in a patriotic mood with the red, white and blue theme. It ended up being a nice little study. fun, fun!!

I heart griffins

2009-06-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Not really, but "griffin" was one of my 5 words that was given to me for the Art House Co-op Canvas Project 2. I racked my brain for creative imagery that would not be so obvious or cliche. But all I could think of was a tattoo or clip art.

Well, I actually decided to go obvious and a bit mainstream anyhow. The rainbow colors are a reference to the groovy 60's and the griffin itself is royalty-free clip art that would most obviously be used as a tattoo! The mystical Chinese characters give a sort of "underground" feel, like if your were getting your griffin tattoo done in Chinatown or something. Fun, eh?

Madame Lapin on a block

2009-06-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly building a collection of little blocks based on a lot of work from my show. Madame Lapin proved to be a favorite, so I'm doing a few of these and start some giveaways. I sold the original to one of my good friends and thrilled that I get to visit the madame if I want!

I'm thinking of creating some other characters in this series, but trying to decide if I should do a woodland theme (which is hot right now) or maybe a rain forest theme? Just throwing around ideas. I should ask my girls "what kind of animals do you want to see in a dress?" LOL! Maybe I'll go through their stuffed animals, dress them up and see what inspires some sketches. Seriously people, is this some crazy talk? I'm laughing at this post now.

Lillibands for fall

2009-06-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! I'm working on the fall catalog for lillibands and it is always so much fun to design. I'm trying to come up with some fall-like imagery to incorporate in the background and borders. I think I'm going to use some watercolor and pencil drawings of acorns, tree branches and red, orange, yellow impressionistic-like leaves.

This season, Jen is introducing LilliWear, and collection of tshirt dresses, pocket skirts with matching tees and, my favorites, the little linen safari dresses pictured here. They are adorable and I especially love the ribbon tie on the back. I hope they are received well and can't wait to hear how Jen does at the next Mart show in July!

The models, Marly (my daughter) and Lilly (Jen's daughter) were so excited to wear these little numbers and show off with some dance steps in the lawn.