Seeing Stripes

Custom Zebra.
Latest pieces out of the studio.
I'm seeing stripes this week!

Leah & Zee are up for offers until
Saturday, February 24, 2018 10:00 PM Please see the following link
for full info and current offer status: Leah & Zee Zebra


So many projects and commissions strewn about in the studio work space. Some days I can focus on exactly what's on the workbench. Other days, I look at something and automatically get sidetracked!

This time around my little Leela sculpture side tracked me hard! I couldn't get the vision of her as a zebra out of my head and decided to run with the vision. Well, once that ball started rolling down the hill it went crazy and blew into a vision of a mama zebra made out of the G1 Arabian mare and a full base and so forth and so on, until Leah & Zee were fully created.

They are my latest creation and I learned so much from this one project that I'm rejuvenated for older, lingering projects. See, sometimes we must get off the path in order to gain perspective and insight. Those experiences help with every day issues and work.

My older issues that awaited me in the studio were two commissions I had been putting off and I didnt know why. I just couldn't work on them. After Leah & Zee however, I am now almost finished with the one and have jumped in full force with the other! Going off the path is good and much needed.


More photos of Leah & Zee



















Current offer status: Leah & Zee Zebra



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How I Got To This

Strawberry Jam resin completed
with layering technique.
Color is amazing. Color can be used straight from the tube or color can be mixed together to get a desired result. Sometimes, the color can be mixed and layered right onto the model to get a certain look.

In the case of this "Strawberry Jam" resin, the client wanted a chestnut with some minimal white markings. How I got to this chestnut was with a "layering" technique which requires a pretty drastic start. The very first layers required, what I like to call, a firestorm orange layer.


Primed pieces waiting for their first layers.

Almost all the pieces start off primed white and then they make a drastic shift to a brash color. For a chestnut color that first layer would be a strange and vibrant orange. What makes this color pop so drastically is the use of a cadmium yellow.

I've found no better "pop" than cadmiums and the tube of yellow and red are my constant "go to" that I use in many pieces with this layering technique. This cadmium vibrancy will continue to show though every layer. If you look closely you can still see the orange showing. It's no longer brash in the final product, but rather, a soft glow from beneath.

In upcoming blog posts I plan on discussing this layering technique and color a little further as I've chosen a "Utopia" resin from my personal collection to paint for the NaMoPaiMo - National Model Painting Month that is held every February in the Equine Miniatures Industry. I'm very much looking forward to participating again this year.

Brash color compliments
of cadmium yellow medium.


Glow from beneath seen in face.

All around cadmium glow complimenting
the chestnut color.

Good Morning. Some Finishes

Sharing a few finishes that were completed recently. If you have been searching, to no avail, for a finish work artist please note that my books are open. Just email! jenndanza@gmail.com
Oh, and I prep! No need to send your piece to several artists. Just one stop and you're done. Thanks!

Hello 2018

Inspiration from my woods.
We’ve all asked the question, “what is happiness?” Is it a feeling? Having stable circumstances in life? Or is it something that’s deeply personal and can’t be defined?

Well, according to Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, it’s simply a way of being.

As the first morning of 2018 is in full swing here, I'm excited at the possibilities of this new year. Each year holds a balance of good and bad. Each year brings new people into our lives. Each day offers new lessons.

The past year, although not the greatest, held one undeniable fact. It prepared me for this year. Without the lessons of last, I could not move to the lessons presented in the next 365 days. So, with coffee in hand, I'm off to the studios to be in the presence of "lesson one" of the year 2018. I'm happy to report that so far the boiler is holding in this cold with a small, but dwindling water supply.

Here's to a great new year!
Happy New Year!

Dear 2017...

Water, water everywhere...


Dear 2017….

I’m glad you're leaving.

It’s been a very long year with you 2017. Each month you brought bad juju and baggage into our relationship. Each month while I tried to create, you meddled and demanded my time and hence my creative fire became neglected.

The little breaks around the studio, the big breaks around the house and even the car wasn't left out in your selfish demands. You were non stop with your wants and kept me away from my studio for days. I struggled to attain lengthy creative stays at my desk, but upon reflection I’m not sure I had one straight week to work quietly this entire year. Was time alone too selfish a request? I’ll be happy to see you go out the door for good tonight.

From bathroom tiles falling off magically, required a full regrouting of the bathroom which took a week away from studio work, to the broken washer which remains broken because the protocol and politics involved in a warranty are lengthy, numbing and tiring. Your demands broke my spirit.

Yes, you were a tiring mate that brought not one water main break into our home, but as I sit here typing my goodbye to you, I’m dealing with another that just may create a serious issue with the furnace on the coldest day of the year thus far. Perhaps this is your final parting action and words for our relationship 2017?

Promise of a new year.

I wont lie, my eye has been held fast on another. Two thousand eighteen looks handsome and elegant all dolled up for the “ringing in festivities” tonight. 2018 seems to have a gentleness and understanding about him that may very well heal me. I think he “gets” that I need my creative time cause I suspect 2018 is a creative too.

Oh, no, don't worry two thousand and seventeen, I wont be going out tonight. Oh, no no no! I must sit vigilantly by the furnace making sure it doesn't shut down and if it does I have to be prepared to keep the house and pipes from freezing. So no, I won’t be having fun while you're lining up your twelve month accolades and achievements on your mantle. Sip away on your champagne while you reminisce. I’ll be keeping watch with the furnace tonight.

So, good bye 2017.
And to quote Forest Gump, “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Persistence

My china nemisis.

Persistence.

The only time limit that persistence has is the threat of quitting. There has been a continual issue in my studio that has found me wanting to quit a repair for good. This repair has required much more patience and a heap of persistence than anything I've ever encountered.

The breaks happened at
a most awful place in this design.
This beautiful break came to me about two years ago and for two years I have been trying multiple times to fix this beast to no avail. There have been a couple of times where I started to do a victory lap around the room, only to find the pieces rebroke during the sanding phase.

I remain perplexed, but confident at some point, persistence will pay off. It has to.


Stay strong!

Focus

Day one of Seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
My focus since the summer has been streamlining almost every aspect of my studio. Less time online and more time focused on my craft. Less time conversing and watching cute videos and more time organizing the studio so orders are processed faster and with much less stress. More time implementing new ways of handling supply usage so there is less waste and more efficiency. All this takes thought and time itself to put into practice. All of this demands focus.

My focus has been on reconnecting with old artist friends as well so I regain some sense of an artist's life. Many days roll into one another with a feeling of emptiness and lack of connection. Oh sure, popping up a few finished photographs of the latest painted resin is nice, but to chew the fat with artists about color theory and what something "means" to them artistically is truly nutrition all artists crave and need.

So that is where my mind has been and in the process I've rekindled a dwindling artistic flame. Any artist who claims their fire never dies is throwing a lie. It happens and it needs to be dealt with quickly.

There are many pitfalls and time sinks online, especially on social media, but there are still some good and wonderful packets of nutrition lurking about. This past week I decided to partake in a seven day photography challenge and it helped spark even more flame within my artistic soul. I felt it a nice way to help refocus the blog. I hope you enjoy.

Day two of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
Day three of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
Day four of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
Day five of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
Day six of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge
Day seven of seven
Black & white Photography Challenge