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gallery buy prints flat files thursday march 2 2023 my blog has moved i ve moved over to a wordpress blog you can find it here posted by jane davies at 4 40 pm no comments thursday february 16 2023 heart collage zoom workshop aftermath we had a great group last friday for the valentine card workshop i ll do it again next february here are just a few of the pieces made by participants all of these are small greeting card size it s a great format for exploring contrasts in color value and pattern how do you make an image lively without making it too busy where is the line between visual excitement and visual confusion how simple can you make an image and still maintain a sense of excitement or mystery hope you all had a good valentine s day posted by jane davies at 9 31 am 2 comments labels collage hearts valentines workshop zoom thursday february 2 2023 re imagining using your own artwork for collage i recently had a bunch of my paintings drawings and sketchbook studies printed by a local printer to generate new collage material i always scan my smaller work at high resolution and my larger works i have professionally photographed so i have high quality digital images of everything in adobe photoshop i re sized some of the images and then ganged them up on 11 x17 files ready for the printer you could do this on your own printer if you have plenty of ink here are a few of the files i sent to the printer a few images from my sketchbook more from the sketchbook original and re sized more from sketchbook with the red pear in several sizes here are some paintings and studies ganged up on 11 x17 sheets in addition to all this new collage material i used some found material and began playing take a look at this video i found this to be a very freeing way to play with imagery and generate fresh visual ideas posted by jane davies at 8 13 am 4 comments labels collage sketchbook video tuesday january 24 2023 scribble paintings i ve been scribbling a lot lately layering marks in various materials you can see previous posts about this work here and here like many techniques scribbling is easy making an interesting image with it takes some effort careful judgement lots of micro decisions and practice her is a video showing one way that a particular scribble painting developed processes vary quite a lot between individual works but there is some consistency among those that i do in one sitting a sitting doesn t mean all at once start to finish but that i work on the group continually until they are done i don t leave them for weeks while i work on something else so there is a continuity of thought process here are some of the pieces in this series they are all 11 x14 on bristol thank you for visiting my blog please do comment i check every day and post them the ones that are real comments and not spam thank you posted by jane davies at 1 33 pm 3 comments labels acrylic paint crayons graphite scribble scribble painting friday january 20 2023 valentine card workshop on zoom actually it is a workshop on elements of abstract visual language disguised as one on making valentine cards get details and sign up here friday february 10 4 00 pm 5 30 pm eastern time all who sign up will get the recording so if that time is not convenient you can still get the workshop posted by jane davies at 11 47 am no comments labels abstract art valentines visual elements workshop zoom tuesday december 27 2022 committing to play it is a commonly held idea that giving ourselves time to just play to experiment without a particular goal or expected outcome is important to making art it may be important to living a healthy life generally as well but many of us through cultural conditioning have a hard time with this if we know it is good for us then maybe that makes it easier what are your experiences with play as it pertains to your art practice or to your life i feel that my art practice is a some kind of pivot point there is some old stuff i am shedding stuff i no longer feel compelled to work towards and i m excited to explore new stuff though the idea is a bit amorphous at the moment the thing i feel like chasing is play creative play what does that mean what does it look like i have no idea but for starters i m going to call it a state of mind a little visual joke on one of my moving targets as a teacher i say all the right words and give good advice regarding the necessity of play and experimentation but am i really practicing it myself i don t know if my work has become more work and less play but something feels stuck or stale or in need of a re think i would like to commit to a practice of play of noticing when i am in the playful state of mind while doing creative work and when i am not are there activities that can induce the play state of mind are there some that squash it or smother it yes my working hypotheses are i will make better work if i am having fun if i am really playing i will discover more possibilities more ideas more ways of executing ideas and ultimately my work will be better i might make less of it which is fine but it will reflect my sense of humor and my perspective more authentically cultivating and valuing that play state of mind will enable me to let go of the external voices the imagined expectations of others that seem to still be getting in my way see this blog post by learning how to play i can help others as a teacher tap into their own playful side more effectively learning to play will help me be a better teacher i do have fun in my studio at times and i definitely have fun teaching i just want to pay more attention to the play and fun aspects of it all and see if i can lean into that a little more i would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences on this topic please comment below here is a post from 2018 about art for fun it expresses some similar thoughts through a different lens ok i do get a bit silly while teaching that is part of the fun posted by jane davies at 5 23 pm 6 comments labels art practice fun hypotheses play wednesday december 14 2022 2023 calendar is here putting together images for my 2023 calendar offers a chance to reflect on the work i ve done in the past year as usual it is various and to my eyes all over the map but it s my map and i am sticking to it i ve decided not to apologize anymore for being inconsistent and trying new things all the time you can read more of my thoughts on that subject here in the 2023 calendar i ve tried to choose images that reflect most of the scope of my 2022 explorations however i did find myself favoring the most recent work i wonder if this is a common phenomenon is your favorite work is the work you ve done most recently download my 2023 calendar here print it out and enjoy in the months to come here is a preview of the first couple of months posted by jane davies at 6 23 pm 5 comments monday december 5 2022 selling prints and products on fine art america i offer prints and products on fine art america pixels which are print on demand sites faa in my shorthand they are two sites same company practically identical but pixels offers a few more products than does fine art america a few products available from faa acrylic print throw pillow tote bag and pencil case people often ask me if i like the way faa sells my work i read this as emphasis on they are they meaning faa doing a good job for me they in this case are not doing anything to sell my work other than provide a fabulous in my opinion platform and process for me to sell prints and products in the question is embedded a little confusion about marketing a gallery markets your work they get the potential customers in front of your pieces and try to match buyer with artwork in a satisfactory fit i see this as a kind of highly skilled matchmaking it takes experience insight and knowledge to match the right client with the right artwork and it takes serious curating a gallery will not show just anything they will show work and dedicate resources to that they believe they have clients for faa and other pod print on demand sites do not do marketing they offer a convenient platform for the artist to offer prints and products it is up to the artist to get the clients to the site they also do no curating so the platform is open to anyone framed print of line of fire 1 if you have work up on faa or another pod site and nobody is buying it it is not because the site is not doing its job it is because you are not doing your job don t give up on pod if your work is not selling send people to your pod page via links on your website social media posts newsletters etc and see what happens this is a screen shot of my new website s navigation menu i personally love the pod concept for me it means that people can have images of my work in whatever form suits them for very reasonable prices not everyone who likes my work is in the market for original pieces of art i love it that they can have phone cases notebooks tote bags etc as well as fine art prints at a size and price that works for them it s not for everybody and it doesn t pretend to be original art i would like to hear your thoughts on print on demand and to know what kind of experiences you have had with this kind of platform posted by jane davies at 9 18 am 4 comments labels faa fine art america gallery marketing print on demand thursday november 24 2022 residency in truro ma my residency at truro center for the arts in october resulted in some new directions and new thoughts about my work and processes that is exactly what i d hoped to get out of it i developed a practice of making studies or études as a kind of warm up exercise read about that in the previous post drawing from life and from photographs also crept into my practice like something basic and essential i have considered how introducing a recognizable subject into my otherwise abstract paintings might give me a broader capacity for expression i don t know but it is something to explore so far these house shape elements or fishing stages or barns are in a few pieces i also explored scribbles for their own sake to see if i had something to say in this vocabulary here are a few examples perhaps i ll write more on that at some point line of fire 3 18 x24 acrylic and drawing on paper under the wire 1 18 x24 acrylic and drawing on paper here is the real takeaway though i ve been examining this idea periodically for a couple of years it was my time in truro that allowed a new level of understanding though it is still a work in progress i let imagined expectations of other people get in my way imaginary or hypothetical people not real ones here are a few of the voices is this new idea consistent with work that people have already seen does it make some visual sense to them in terms of my previous work or work that has sold or been shown will it look good will it stand out will it grab the viewer does it look like art no matter how much i embrace the idea knowledge that i make my best work when following my own inner urges and curiosities it is very difficult to let go of the urge to please or impress others i want my work to find success and approval in the world outside the studio is that so bad my guess is that it is perfectly normal and serves a real function the problem comes when those outer voices the imagined expectations of others start telling me how and what to paint i am trying to identify the questions and assumptions that may be getting in my way they are the voices i let in without knowing it my task now is to identify these culprits so that i can recognize them and put them in their place i d love to know if you experience this struggle between inner curiosity and outer voices or imagined expectations of others please comment posted by jane davies at 3 50 pm 11 comments friday october 28 2022 studies warm ups practice many artists have warm up practices or do a bunch of studies before plunging into real work this sounds like an obvious good way to start your painting session so why haven t i been doing it on a regular basis i dip into it once in awhile but have not managed to sustain it on any regular basis here is a post about quickies it is almost three years old it is not the last time i engaged with small studies but still here is a video on collage with scraps from almost two years ago one of the many things i learned or re learned in my residency at truro center for the arts is the value of this practice whether you call them warm up pieces or studies the essential aspect is that they are not art they are your playground a way to warm up the hand the eye the creative muscle that makes visual decisions quickly you don t have to show any of them to anybody i don t keep a regular sketchbook as such because i like to work in wet media paint or collage and in multiples i d have to let one piece dry before turning the page but these warm up studies i ll call them studies or études are like a sketchbook do you have a regular practice of working in a sketchbook or doing quick studies i d like to hear about it please comment below what is the value of this practice you to what format to you use here are études from the last couple of weeks here they are on various papers in various media and the sizes are around 6x8 or 5x7 varying a bit posted by jane davies at 9 05 am 16 comments older posts home subscribe to comments atom my book purchase in print or pdf version sign up for my newsletter get my newsletter here instagram facebook badge jane davies studios promote your page too followers blog archive 2023 5 march 1 my blog has moved february 2 january 2 2022 32 december 3 november 1 october 2 august 2 july 1 june 1 may 3 april 4 march 6 february 4 january 5 2021 35 december 5 november 3 october 2 september 3 august 4 july 3 june 3 may 4 april 2 march 3 february 3 2020 36 december 5 november 1 october 1 september 3 august 2 july 4 june 6 may 2 april 4 march 3 february 2 january 3 2019 42 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