New Work Post the Cape Collection

 Autumn's Approach - Acrylic on 16" x 20" canvas - SOLD

Tangled Up in Blue - Acrylic on 16" x 20" canvas - SOLD

Saying goodbye to summer isn't ever easy for me but alas, time moves on and so must I. These two paintings were a couple of new works post my Cape Cod series that sold to a local collector. She happens to be super awesome and I love her enthusiasm about art and artists. Honestly, it's needle in the haystack people like her that keep me painting. (THANK YOU! You know who you are!) 

Shades of Love - Acrylic and oil pastel on 24" x 30" canvas 

Tropical Dreams - Acrylic on 16" x 20" canvas

I have been loving the delicate brushwork of circles, white in particular, and even bought a new brush to fully accommodate this look. That brush is the star of all of these paintings. I have since changed ever so much in what I want to create and so this particular brush, and its marks, may not be seen again for a little bit. Or not. You never know!

Triptych Commission

Custom original acrylic and oil pastel painting on three 20" x 30" gallery wrapped canvases, 2014

This piece was commissioned by my cousin and his wife. Scroll down to see each canvas larger.

 

I'm so pleased with how this turned out and I can't wait to see it in its new home!

Sanctuary

Sanctuary - Acrylic on 20" x 30" canvas, 2014

Original painting: https://www.etsy.com/listing/186225165/abstract-painting-original-art

Prints: http://society6.com/JessicaTorrant/Sanctuary-m9H_Print#1=45

Week In Review 4/29-5/3

This was probably my most productive week ever!  Thanks to nearly perfect weather all week, I was able to really dedicate myself to painting every day.

Monday I completed this painting...

 ©2013 Jessica Torrant
THAT AND SO MUCH MORE
Acrylic, 16 x 20 inches

This was a fun piece that incorporated wet/drip techniques, sgraffitto, and palette knife painting.  

On Wednesday I completed this painting...

©2013 Jessica Torrant
THE SUN'S RETURN
Acrylic and oil pastel, 16 x 20 inches

Thursday this one came together... 

 ©2013 Jessica Torrant
THRIVE
Acrylic and oil pastel, 16 x 20 inches

And today (Friday) I worked on a larger canvas that is still a work in progress.  I like the movement and larger, gestural swatches of color.  I still want to keep working on this one, but hopefully I won't overwork it and lose some of that initial energy. Working on this piece makes me realize how much I want to work exclusively on larger scale canvases right now. 

You can find all of the above original paintings at www.jessicatorrant.com. 

I'll be spending the weekend with my family so everything has been put on pause until Monday.  I hope you enjoy your weekend and Happy Spring!

Between Two Worlds

©2013 Jessica Torrant
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 16 x 20 inches

CLICK HERE for purchasing information - $350

All of It

 

©2013 Jessica Torrant
ALL OF IT
Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

New Work

 ©2013 Jessica Torrant
TRANSCENDENCE
Acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 inches

©2013 Jessica Torrant
SPRING'S DELIGHT
Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 16 inches

Looking Ahead Take 2

"Softly She Whispered..." - Acrylic on 24" x 36" canvas, 2011

If you happened to catch one of my earlier posts from about a month ago (I just took it down so there is no confusion), I had set up a new website to sell my paintings. After some time figuring out how things worked on that site, I realized there were some problematic issues that prevented me from being 100% convinced I made the right decision. Facing "make it work or move on", I decided to let it go and refocus on my Etsy shop. Etsy isn't perfect either, but weighing the pros and cons, it became a no-brainer to make the most of my Etsy shop. So! There ya go. Once again I have publicly jumped up and down about something only to say, "No, wait, um, hold on a minute, actually..." But that's how it goes when you share your process on a blog, right? 

Anyway, I am excited to get back into the flow again on Etsy and more importantly IN THE STUDIO! I am going to share two of my new 2012 paintings that got deleted in that older post. Thanks for bearing with me! 

Blizzard - Acrylic on 18" x 24" canvas, 2012

Four Seasons - Acrylic on 18" x 24" canvas, 2012

Reckless Abandon

Reckless Abandon - Acrylic on 16" x 20" gallery wrapped canvas, 2011

This title pretty much sums up how I've been approaching painting the last few months. To push myself to be more free and expressive with marks, and let color dance all over the surface of the canvas. I'm still painting inside my house, which is limiting, and I often look longingly out at my studio out in the cold anxious for spring to arrive. But it is coming! The days are getting longer, the sunlight feels a little stronger and just a couple of "warm-ish" days is all it takes to start thinking about those first spring buds to blossom and bits of green popping up here and there.

Torch Song

Torch Song - Acrylic on 16" x 20" canvas

This painting was inspired by listening to an unknown (to me) jazz singer's torch song on the radio and wanting to give her vocal pain a visual voice. I may not be in "torch song status" in my life right now, but I can certainly draw from other times in my life when I was.  

What is a torch song? Wikipedia says "A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship." 

I was raised to a soundtrack of jazz, so there are a ton of ballads/standards/torch songs that move me but there are modern torch songs such as Adele's Someone Like You that take this genre from the past to the present, and I love that. For me, Liz Phair, Jeff Buckley, and Fionna Apple have been the ones in my generation to continue the light the flame, but I'm sure there are more modern performers I'm just not aware of that carry the torch today.  

If I were to name just one singer to define the ultimate torch song singer, it would be hands down Billie Holiday but of course there is Ella and Sarah and and and... Do you have a favorite torch song or singer? What is it or who are they, and if I might pry even further, why?

Fresh Impressions Preview: After Noon

After Noon - Acrylic on 24" x 36" canvas, 2011

I think this is my favorite of the new series. It is a now-not-so-secret nod to Lee Krasner's painting Noon that has firmly planted itself in my mental slideshow of paintings that have rocked my world for life. I think that Noon was the original subconscious inspiration to create this series, now that I have had the opportunity to take a step back and take it all in. Monet's water lilies were also part of that mental slideshow - the abstract moments of color and mark are spectacular when you see the giant canvases in person (which I was fortunate to do years ago at the MoMA). Of course, at the end of the day, these paintings are mine. Sometime late last year I got into circles. The circles began to deconstruct. The marks became looser. Everything became more freeing. The process is what has driven this new series but that's me talking as the artist. In time, I think I will see these paintings more clearly from the perspective of the observer and I will then understand them more completely.

This painting is one of twenty that will be exhibited at the Good News Cafe through January 31. See previous post for more information.

Fresh Impressions - Paintings by Jessica Torrant at the Good News Cafe

Alive Again, Acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

FRESH IMPRESSIONS by Jessica Torrant

In her latest collection of paintings, Fresh Impressions, Jessica Torrant explores an abstract direction inspired by Impressionist techniques, brush strokes, and color chemistry. Rather than conveying an impression of a landscape or still life, Jessica is exploring a more internal landscape of emotion and states of being. Her intention is to create works of art that resonate various energies and lead the eye into deeper dimensions. Jessica hopes viewers will respond to each piece uniquely, engaging in a quiet, personal conversation through visual meditation. 

Please join me at the Good News Cafe for the opening reception of my latest exhibit, Sunday, December 4th from 3-5 pm. There will be refreshments and I will be there, as well as the other exhibiting artist Marlow Shami, to meet and chat with visitors. If you can't make it Sunday, the exhibit will be hanging through January 31, 2012 so be sure to treat yourself to an exquisite meal by one of Connecticut's most esteemed chefs, surrounded by original art! 

"Carole Peck's Good News Cafe is a 170-seat full-service restaurant, winning top awards year after year from Zagat's Guide, Connecticut Magazine and The New York Times, to name a few. Zagat called Carole Peck's Good News Cafe one of the, "Top Restaurants in the U.S." 

New Paintings

It has been beautiful here and I've had the pleasure of doing a lot of painting the last couple of weeks in the screened in area of my studio. Whenever it gets to be August I get this anxious energy of "oh no! Summer is running out!" as if there's anything you can really do about the passage of time. It's been a great summer, and there will be plenty more fun times to come, I just wish it would streeeetttcchhh...

These are a couple of little texture paintings I'm working on. There are a handful more in the studio ready to go.

Pieces 1 - Acrylic on 6" x 6" box canvas

Pieces 2 - Acrylic on 6" x 6" box canvas

Midsummer Glow - Acrylic on 6" x 6" box canvas

Come to Life - Acrylic on 6" x 6" box canvas

I also have been working on two 22" x 28" canvases, and one is a work in progress that I don't have a picture of yet, and I finally finished this one yesterday.

Interwoven - Acrylic on 22" x 28" canvas

I don't know which way I like this hanging - they both work for me. What do you think?

Documenting "Layers of Life"

Layers of Life - Acrylic on 16" x 20" gallery wrapped canvas

Here are some shots of this painting as it evolved...

I began working on this painting this weekend and found that I was getting too tight and too literal with my "circle" theme.

Today I went in with bright colors to open up the space and get a lot more action happening.

I was really feeling the turquoise/orange/yellow combo...

And then I started to get into the feeling of lots and lots of layers in various levels of translucency...

The finished product has this wild, frenzied action all over the surface with a gradual lightening as it works towards the top. I am feeling inspired by Lee Krasner's Noon - a piece that has moved me for years - as well as the abstract qualities of the great impressionists. I still have farther to push this series but I'm really liking where I'm headed right now.

Alive Again

Alive Again - Acrylic on 18" x 24" gallery wrapped canvas

As I look around at the bursts of green popping out everywhere, there's no question that spring is fully marching ahead and I can't help but feel like I feel alive again. Connecting to the earth, the flora and fauna - the energy feels like everything surrounding me is exuding a feeling of joy and a celebration of life. Happy spring everyone and have a great weekend!

Autonomous Connections

Autonomous Connections - Acrylic on 24" x 30" on box canvas, 2010

Every painting informs and inspires the next. This piece is an evolution of the circle theme I've been working with, the Connections series, and also something very new as far as color and composition. The way that the individual colors stand on their own and relate to the other color groups remind me of people trying to work together with differing points of view. We're like unified pods of like-minded thought - clinging to others that make sense to us but still always connected to our opposing thought-groups whether we like it or not. Even within the pods, each circle (individual) is unique, and in some cases these individual beings have their identity almost dissolved/covered-over completely by overriding color/persuasion. I could continue on an abstract tangent about this, but let's just let the art speak for itself...

Seeking Order

Seeking Order - Acrylic on 9" x 12" canvas, 2010

No. I really am. Today has been one of those stub your toe, forget something, misplace something, ad naseum days. It's like I woke up and just knew it, felt it, something is off and it's going to stay that way until tomorrow. I painted this painting yesterday and I enjoyed the zen like construction of it. I need more order in my life, I feel out of balance right now. After a good night's sleep tomorrow will be a new day and I have a feeling that I'll have sorted it out in my subconscious and be ready to rock in the morning.

Balance. Clarity. Awareness.
repeat

Expansion

Expansion - Acrylic on 17" x 37" unstretched canvas, 2010

This new painting was created on unstretched canvas and I've worked all the way to the edge so that when it is stretched, the painting will wrap around the sides and the buyer won't need a frame (if he/she so chooses). I like this piece both horizontally and vertically and worked on it by flipping it back and forth.

Art Books 1 : Facing Eden

The images above are from an art book that's been in my collection since 1997. The title of the book is Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area and it's been in my collection since I bought it used at the main bookstore in downtown Santa Cruz (at the time) when I was studying abroad at UCSC . I've poured over this book so many times, always returning to the pages that include these select works as well as several of Diebenkorn's paintings that absolutely take my breath away every single time.


This picture of Diebenkorn's Seawall doesn't do it justice so see it here. This photograph, however, does represent the changing, supple, reactionary-to-the-elements nature of images in an art book. They become your own the more you live with them and return to the pages again and again. The oil of the fingertips turning the page, the residue of dank apartments and the wear of every place you've lived in the last X amount of years, the evidence of paint and of being an active inspiration... all of this adds to the energy of the book, which has now become a voice that is either perfectly present in a "one on one" mental crit or quietly beckoning and ready to offer A HECK OF A LOT at the drop of a hat on the bookshelf, without judgment. My collection of art books are quiet friends, they demand a lot of me, they will tell me without question that I've gone in the wrong direction or if something is not working, but they will never, ever judge.

Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense - Acrylic on 12" x 16" box canvas