Author Archives: Jeanette Clawson

100 Day Project 2025, Current/Upcoming Exhibits and ICAD

09 Monday Jun 2025

Posted by in 100 Day Project, Art, Art on Exhibit

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I worked on the 100 day project again this year. It’s an Instagram challenge intended to support a daily art practice and is frequently used to dive deeply into something an artist wants to explore. It starts in February and runs for 100 consecutive days, ideally. I had a lot of health challenges since last December and wasn’t able to make art at all or much for a couple months. It really set me back in my art practice so I did a very gentle version of the challenge.

Spring Metta Meditation

This piece was one of the main things I worked on and I was so happy to be able to finish it in time to get it framed for the Madison Art Guild Summer Salon. It is currently on exhibit in the surgical waiting area of UW Hospital at 600 Highland Dr. in Madison, WI. It will be up until the end of July. Seeing my art when I go to appointments at the hospital (usually at least twice a month) is amazing. It makes me happy and I think it makes me more 3 dimensional to the health professionals I encounter during these appointments. Having my art in medical facilities that I go to has been on my art bucket list and I’m grateful for each opportunity.

This piece started with some collage and gesso on mixed media paper. Then I wrote out a long version of a Buddhist Metta (loving kindness) Meditation. I found I really needed this at the beginning of this year and I hope people stop and notice that it’s in the background. We need all the loving kindness we can get.

Some days I wasn’t able to make much progress and I took a lot of breaks to participate in a few free Instagram workshops: Sketchbook Revival, Mastering Mixed Media and Workshop Week. These free classes offer me projects that can subtly or significantly impact my art process or remind me of tools/techniques I haven’t used in a while. I really think it’s a big part of keeping my art practice fresh. Usually free access is only for a limited time but you can pay for unlimited access at any point during the workshop. So I prioritize the workshops I want to try and can let the rest go. I did get long term access to Sketchbook Revival so I haven’t yet done as many of those projects yet.

Here are the results of some of these fun workshops. As you can see they are very different from my usual work and maybe you will see the influence of them on the index cards I’m currently playing with. The index cards are for the #ICAD index card a day challenge hosted by Tammy at Daisy Yellow. Check out her website to learn about the guidelines, prompts, history, and community related to this wonderful Instagram challenge. I am starting a new large piece and wanted to play around with the design and techniques I use and I’m cutting it up into index card sized pieces and trying different things on them. I am actually really liking the effect and might to this for the entire piece. Stay tuned.

I also worked on some pieces just because I felt like block printing and because I am getting some smaller pieces ready for the Eco Squared show at Hatch Art House. I will do a post on that show when I finish my final piece and submit them to the show.

Art Fair Experiment

23 Friday May 2025

Posted by in Art, Art on Exhibit

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

I had never done an outdoor art fair until last weekend. My health has prevented me from participating since I have been actively working as an artist. I have been doing pretty well for the last year and I had the opportunity to be one of four artists in the Madison Art Guild tent at the Middleton Art Walk. This seemed like a good way to try it out, especially because it was a 1 day fair.

I worked really hard getting everything ready for the show. I tried to plan for as many contingencies as possible. The weather wasn’t supposed to be too hot and I was happy about that. Unfortunately, it was quite windy with a few sprinkles. Attendance was not very good. I didn’t make any sales and I felt really sick by 2pm. I think my UVA sensitivity was too much even in the tent with lots of 50spf protection from clothing and lotion. I had a 4 day migraine afterwards.

But I did it. I had some nice conversations and many people took my business cards. I got to know some of my fellow artists in the Madison Art Guild better. And I learned that I don’t want to do it again. So I’m calling it a success.

Sold! Exhibit Closed

02 Friday May 2025

Posted by in Art, Art on Exhibit

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

I sold 4 pieces in my April solo exhibit at the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI. Jacy, the owner of the gallery, did an amazing job hanging the show. We traded out some of the art that had been on display in the gallery before the exhibit with a few pieces from the show. Go check it out with all the other amazing art she has on view.

Thank you for providing such a fantastic space!

Published! in UPPERCASE Magazine

11 Friday Apr 2025

Posted by in Art, Publication

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I am beyond excited to announce that my pattern designs have been published in the 6th Surface Pattern Design Guide published by UPPERCASE Magazine.

UPPERCASE Magazine is “for the creative and curious since 2009.” It is published by Janine Vangool in Canada. I encountered Janine in a class during the Sketchbook Revival Workshop last year and immediately subscribed to this gorgeous magazine. I was very excited to see how supportive she is of new and emerging artists. She has a variety of calls for art and I submitted some pictures for her newsletter, The Pattern Journal. I was very excited to have them published in her newsletter and it gave me the confidence to submit photos for the Surface Pattern Design Guide.

“For this edition of the Surface Pattern Design Guide, 790 artist submitted their work for consideration. …The intent of my curation is to present a representative variety of the styles and stories that were shared by designers of all levels.” Janine Vangool

I feel so honored to be selected but also excited by the possibilities that are offered through this guide. One of the artists, Sarah Matthews, was awarded the honor of her design on the cover of this issue of the magazine. There were people who won fabric design offers and classes and the cover of the design guide itself was created by Lisa Deighan. This design guide is used in the surface design industry by companies looking for artist to work with and as such may open unexpected doors in the future.

Final Piece for April Exhibit and Art Journaling Class Information

28 Friday Mar 2025

Posted by in art class, Art on Exhibit

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I call this piece Flourishing Spirals and it started with block prints of stamps I created inspired by a Golden Geometry class I took with Clarissa Grande. They started with the shape of the golden spiral and I ended up as a set of 4 stamps to create an embellished spiral. I only used the 2 largest stamps for this piece because I wanted white space in the center. I knew I wanted to enhance the prints in a variety of ways and I started with adding some water color on one side and gold paint on the other. Another form of enhancement that I had in mind was Zentangle patterns.

The above Zentangle tile is from a class I recently took. I participate in the monthly Tangle Lab online class with the talented Anica (ZenLinea) and I thought I could use these techniques on my block print. I really liked the idea of having components that went outside of the frame of the mandala. The subtle, simple background was very appealing to me, too. And I am a huge fan of Zentangled flowers, actually flowers of any kind.

Art with gold paint doesn’t photograph very well so I hope you will come to the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI to see it in person. The show will be up from April 1-26 and there will be a reception on April 4 from 6-8pm.

There is another opportunity to see me at the Art Hub in April. I will be teaching Art Journaling: Limited Composition & Mark Making ($68.00) on Friday April 11 from 6-9pm. All the supplies are provided and you will leave with a new (reclaimed) art journal with a start to art journaling. There are a few spaces left so register by clicking on the class link above.

Let’s transform old library books into lovely art journals. This class is perfect for someone just getting into making art but will also have novel techniques that will be interesting to the experienced artist. Learn how to repurpose a hardcover book using gesso, acrylic paint, writing tools and stencils.

We will introduce an element of play by using dice to make some of our design decisions. Our biggest decision will be on color selection. We will talk about the idea of using dice to take the pressure off decision making and as a way to limit your composition. We will talk about the value of setting limits when working in your art journal.

Art journals can be used in many ways to help you reach goals and improve your art skills, overall health, and satisfaction with your life. An art journal is a great place to experiment with art supplies and different techniques. We will do an art journal page layout using acrylic paints, junk mail or scrap paper and a variety of stencils, paint markers and pens.

Solo Exhibit Progress and Art Classes

25 Tuesday Feb 2025

Posted by in art class, Art on Exhibit

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have finished some new pieces for the exhibit in April at the Art Hub in Cambridge. The reception will be the first Friday in April. Here’s a few of the new pieces you can see there. These first 2 are the finished pieces from my last post and the others are some floral, block printed mandalas that I have been playing with. The red and blue one is a new direction I have been considering but I’m not happy with how it turned out. It might not be in the show. I think there is potential here, but I’m not getting close to my vision.

Here is my favorite new direction. The lady in the photo is from a page from Demorest’s Monthly Magazine from 1878. I have a small collection of these magazines that I inherited from my great aunt and I have been hording them for years. I have decided it is time to share them. This lady is modeling a riding coat for stout ladies. I have another model from this ad that I will include in another piece. They just cracked me up and I love how she fits in with the mandala and the flowers. It makes me think she is walking in a fantastical garden. The gold gesso in the background adds to the magic of it, I think.

February has been a very busy month and I have taught 2 small classes. The Zentangle class had 5 people brave more than 5 inches of snow to create some Artist Trading Cards. They were all completely or fairly new to the Zentangle Method and it was so much fun to share this lovely art form. We focused on 2 tangle patterns, cadent and paradox. Both are from Zentangle, Inc. This class was held at the Art Hub in Cambridge.

The other class I taught was a fundraiser for my Unitarian Universalist church, James Reeb UU and was a still life made from gelli prints. We had so much fun and offering a class for the auction has become an annual tradition for me. I have some action shots and finished (or nearly finished) pieces.

In these crazy times it is more important than ever to come together and create joy in community. I will be teaching an art journaling class at the Art Hub in Cambridge on Friday, April 11. Register here to create some happiness with me. Wishing you peace and beauty today and every day.

Fragments of the New Year

02 Sunday Feb 2025

Posted by in Art, Zendala, Zentangle Inspired Art

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I started the year with a slightly larger work in progress on gessoboard (16″x16″) and a Zentangle challenge on Instagram. The WIP has a lot of pieces that I am using to cover up an old piece of work that never quite worked for me. The Instagram challenge was A Fragment of Your Imagination hosted by 7F5R (7 forests 5 rivers) using Zentangle Fragments – specially curated by Debbie New, Ildica Boyd and Nina Dreher-goeddertz. They are all Certified Zentangle Teachers and put together a great collection of patterns.

I am still on my 100 mandala journey and compiled the fragments into a few small and one large mandala. They are numbers 57/100, 58/100, and the large one is 59/100.

The floral mandala that I am working on is going over an old piece that didn’t work. I sanded it and covered it with gold gesso. Then I used my torus mandala blocks to print an offset mandala that I’m using as a guide and background. I added a layer of leaves gelli printed on tissue paper and some stenciling and writing. Now I am playing with different arrangements of the leaves and flowers and adding depth and texture to the individually stamped and cut out images.

This will be part of my solo exhibit at the Art Hub in Cambridge in April. There will be a reception on the First Friday in April and I hope to see you there. Come see the finished version of this piece and so many others.

Carve December Interrupted

26 Thursday Dec 2024

Posted by in Art

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

I got a great start to Carve December. It is a stamp carving challenge on Instagram hosted by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer that I have participated in for years. I completed a set of blocks to make different arrangements of a golden spiral and some mandalas that can be made of some of the pieces.

I have also completed some squares, leaves and flowers from my usual body of work and a few more golden geometry pieces. However, I had surgery on my neck and it is preventing me from carving or doing much art at the moment. I have one more block that I hope to carve before the end of the month, but healing is taking precedence. Meanwhile, enjoy the prints of what I have done so far.