December 15, 2024

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I'm so grateful for all of the Christmas commissions I got to fulfill this year! There were six small paintings and those kept me very busy throughout October and November. It is always a challenge to make someone else's idea a reality, but it is also very satisfying when it works out.

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Now I'm back to the 100 Roses Project and I'm about to complete the sixth rose. Each rose takes about two to three weeks to complete. They are almost like painting miniatures because their details are so small. I'm hoping to show the first 12 or 15 of them at a solo exhibition that I'm planning in Dallas for April - June 2025 (more news to come).

 

The latest rose is Rosa Gallica 'Rosamundi'. This is a very old rose that I encountered growing in its versicolor form in California. It is also one of the most beautiful roses that Redoute illustrated for Marie Antionette. I found that rendering the leaves accurately was pretty difficult for this rose.  Because I was working from a photo, it was difficult to get the surface texture just right.

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Thank you for visiting my website and exhibitions. I hope you're having a beautiful holiday season.

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Thanks for following along,

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

November 2, 2024

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October was a month for roses. I planted six new roses in my gardens and visited The Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, California. The botanical garden was at the height of its October rose blooms. Although I couldn't bring home any of the roses, I took the opportunity to gather references for my paintings. Among my favorites were 'The Fairy' a delicate, tiny rose and a giant planting of Mutabilis in full, multi-colored bloom. California is a beautiful place for roses and The Huntington rose garden amazed me. It seemed a little magical to be standing among so many roses. As the sun began to set, I sat close to a row of blooms and just breathed in their fragrance and studied all of the soft petals.

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In the studio, I have been busy with commissioned work for the holidays and a new still life painting for my Farm to Market series. The latest rose in my series of 100 roses was Rosa Dortmund, which I was able to finish just before traveling. These paintings take a very long time to complete but are meditative and relax me. Rosa Dortmund is on the homepage of this website.

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As the fall and winter descend, it's time to buckle down into some serious studio work. Luckily I have bountiful inspiration.

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Thanks for following along,

Jennifer

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September 2, 2024

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The rose paintings are bringing me a lot of joy. It's a highly detailed process from start to finish. Even though the heat here has been relentless, I spend the first part of every painting studying the specimen outdoors. Did you know that there are over 300 species of roses? Every rose has nuanced differences. Roses that look very similar in bloom may exhibit differences in their growth patterns and plant structures. I look carefully at stems, leaf shapes and colors, veining, the way the rose buds look before they open, and the way the petals change color. And these differences don't even scratch the surface of what makes each variety unique. So the process of getting to know my subject is an important part of each painting. It's like the way writers are always given the advice to write about what they know. How can I portray the beauty I see if I don't fully understand it? This train of thought has also led me to reading a lot about roses. It helps that I work in a public library and have access to a lot of information. Often, the roses that I find are not clearly named. In public gardens, labels might be faded or moved. That's what happened with the rose pictured above. I think it's a called Rosa Falstaff due to its appearance and a nearby label in the garden. I'm currently painting and learning more about a rose called Rosa Dortmund. 

 

Thanks for following along,

Jennifer

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