Solo Exhibit Progress and Art Classes

25 Tuesday Feb 2025

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in art class, Art on Exhibit

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100 Mandalas, Art, art class, artist, collage, Colorful art, creativity, Drawing, Mandala, mixed-media, painting, Wisconsin art, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA

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 Jeanette Clawson in Art, Zendala, Zentangle Inspired Art

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100 Mandalas, Art, botanical art, botanical collage, collage, floral art, floral collage, floral mandala, fragment of your imagination, fyoi2025, Mandala, meditation, mindfulness, mixed-media, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method, ZIA

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.

Lots Going On! Exhibits, Sales, Classes and Carving

06 Friday Dec 2024

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in Art, art class, Art on Exhibit, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method Class

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100 Mandalas, Art, art class, Art Exhibit, blue art, blue block prints, botanical art, botanical collage, collage, Colorful art, Drawing, Mandala, mental-health, mindfulness, mixed-media, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method, ZIA

Today I was notified that a piece of mine was accepted in the juried show “Midwest Seasons” at the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau, WI. It’s a piece I just finished called “Olbrich Summer Dreams.” The orchid stamps are inspired by the orchids at Olbrich Gardens and there is a map that includes the gardens in the background. It’s a combination of block printed flowers, stencils, Zentangles and a lot of different kinds of paper.

Next week I’m going to be demonstrating gelli printing at Crestwood Elementary (5930 Old Sauk Rd in Madison, WI) from 6-7 pm. It is part of their Explore Arts Night and I’m curious about how it will go. It looks like there will be eight other artists doing demonstrations at different stations. It seems like such a great idea. That same night is the first open studio at Kindling Community Art at my neighborhood community center and I hope to stop in there for a few minutes.

On Thursday, December 12, I will be participating in a holiday art shop at Weichart Realtors at 2045 Atwood Avenue in Madison, WI from 5-8. I will have a selection of handmade books and little coloring books as well as some smaller pieces of art that would make wonderful gifts. There will be 5 other artist there and I believe their work includes jewelry and ceramics in addition to wall art, prints and cards.

Then on Saturday, Dec. 14 I’m teaching an Introduction to Zentangle class at the Art Hub in Cambridge, WI. It costs less than forty dollars and you will leave with your own Zentangle kit. It’s not too late to register here. We will learn some introductory patterns and then play with them in some festive ways. The circles of paper are called Zendalas and you will go home with your own finished Zendala.

After all that in one week I will be ready to rest. However it is Carve December on Instagram and I’m trying to carve a block/stamp every day. I think I may need to take a few days off next week. I’m also still working on my 100 mandalas challenge and I’m trying to use my new blocks to make mandalas. I have been taking a class from Clarissa Grande on Golden Geometry and it is fascinating. I will have a lot more to post about that class when I get caught up, but in the meantime I’m carving blocks to create golden spiral mandalas. The bottom 3 prints are the beginning of that and I have so many ideas of how to use them!

This is my most recent big piece and I call it Blue Skies. It’s kind of ironic because my sun sensitivity this summer was really bad so I stayed inside and worked on this off and on since June. The central picture is very early in the process and is mostly the original block print. I added Zentangles and watercolor and acrylics and colored pencils and I am calling it a mixed media monoprint. I think I’m going to submit it for an exhibit at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in January. At least every other week I walk past the place that local art is exhibited. Seeing my own art in medical facilities I go to was one of my main goals when I started making art again 10 years ago. It makes me so happy to share it with the nurses and medical professionals and they love it too. It makes us all more three dimensional to each other.

Another 100 Mandalas Project

28 Saturday Sep 2024

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in 100 Day Project, Zendala

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100 Day Project, 100 Mandalas, 100 Zendala Challenge, Art, collage, Colorful art, handcarved blocks, handcarved stamps, Mandala, mandala art, meditation, mixed media, mixed media collage, mixed-media, stamping, Zendala, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method

In the past I have done my own challenges during which I aspired to make mandalas (almost) every day for 100 days. I have been able to work on a mandala almost every day but a lot of my work takes more energy than I have on a given day. Frequently when I try to make a simple one it becomes complicated. So I once again am aspiring to make 100 mandalas by the end of the year, or make a whole lot and finish up a lot of works in progress. I started the project when there was a little more than 100 days left in the year.

Here’s an overview of week 1. I’m off to a good start! I did make 7 mandalas, but one is in the same sketchbook as the art supplies inventory rainbow so it’s not in the overall photo. Another one also appears twice as I combined a completed mandala with one that was in progress and not going well.

Sketchbook Revival class on art supply inventory taught by Janine Vangool of Uppercase Magazine

I hope you have a beautiful day!

New Gallery Consignments

08 Monday Jul 2024

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in art class, Art on Exhibit

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Art, art class, Art Exhibit, Art Journal, collage, Mandala, mixed media, mixed media class, mixed media collage, mixed-media, painting, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method

The EcoSquared Exhibit is going on right now at Hatch Art House. There will be a reception Friday July 12, from 5-8. I plan to be there and I hope to see you there. There is a lot of detail in these pieces that you can only see in person. What is EcoSquared?

“EcoSquared (eco for eco-friendly, squared for square art) focuses entirely on square works of art made with upcycled materials by local artists. This year will be a massive show of upcycled artworks with nearly 120 pieces made by over 40 Wisconsin artists.”

Hatch Art House is located at 1248 Williamson Street in Madison, WI. Their hours are M-F: 11am – 6pm,
Sat: 11pm-5pm, Sunday: 11-4.

I have started working with a new gallery, The Art Hub in Cambridge. I will have 2 pieces in the general exhibit for the next six months. I will have more in the August show 100 and Under. There will be a fantastic selection of affordable art, as the title implies they will all be $100 or less. (photos coming soon).

The Art Hub is located at 145 W. Main in Cambridge, WI. Their hours are Tuesday -Saturday 10AM-5PM. Closed Sunday and Monday.

This fall I will also be teaching at the Art Hub. The fall 2024 schedule will be available soon here.

October 19th from 1-4 I will be teaching a mixed media collage workshop. “Create your own floral collage. This class is an introduction to gelli printing and mixed media collage. It is for both beginning and intermediate artists. In this class we will use acrylic paint and a gelli plate to paint a variety of papers to use in a 5×7 floral still life collage.”

November 22 from 6-9 I will be teaching an altered book art journal workshop with a focus on gratitude. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. “Learn how to repurpose a hardcover book using gesso, acrylic paint, writing tools and stencils. We will explore using what you find in the book for inspiration. An art journal is a great place to experiment with art supplies and different techniques. We will do a simple art journal page layout using mostly just acrylic paints. We will explore layering transparent and opaque acrylic paint to create a harmonious composition. You will leave with an art journal that doesn’t have blank pages, ready for you to keep making art.”

December 14 from 1-3:30 I will teach an introduction to Zentangle® class. “In this workshop you will get the tools and skills needed to create beautiful, small works of art using the Zentangle® Method of drawing. This meditative art form uses quality art supplies and simple instructions to create patterns to explore non-representational art. You will be using a Zentangle® kit that includes a professional grade Micron pen, pencil, tortillion, and 5 Zentangle® tiles. You will have 2 small abstract pieces of art completed by the end of the class and the kit is yours to keep.”

My First Solo Exhibit

31 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in Art, Art on Exhibit

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100 Mandalas, abstract art, abstract flowers, Art, botanical art, botanical collage, floral art, floral mandala, floral still life, flower, flower art, flower collage, flower mandala, Madison art, Madison wi, Mandala, mixed media, mixed media collage, WI Art, Wisconsin art, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA

My first solo art exhibit is currently open at Oakwood Village 5565 Tancho Drive in Madison, WI. It will remain open until April 30,2024. I had a reception and gave a talk on March 29. It was well attended and there were a lot of great questions.

A Year in Review: 2023

02 Tuesday Jan 2024

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in Art, Art on Exhibit, Zentangle Inspired Art

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Art, botanical, botanical art, botanical collage, collage, floral mandala, flower, flower art, flower collage, Mandala, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA

This year has been a productive year for art, but not as many big pieces as I have made in the past. My most recent larger piece is Garden Party Mandala that is an experiment for a larger piece that is in the works. This one is going to be on exhibit at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in January of 2024. Keep reading for more information on this exciting opportunity.

It was a really great year for me on Instagram. I reached 1,000 followers and successfully participated in the 100 day project and Carve December. I just finished up Carve December and I’m really excited about it so I’m going to show pictures of it first.

Carve December is an Instagram challenge created by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer 11 years ago. I have participated for a few years but this year was something special for me. Julie provides a prompt for each day and this year I followed the prompts. I was exploring hexagons and ogees from a pattern design class I had just finished (description and photos below). I threw in some other shapes and also carved a few larger stamps that I have big plans for in 2024!

I took a deep dive into repeat pattern design with Ali at 3dottedpenguins. The class was so excellent. I have so many prints! There was a very inspiring and supportive community and the instruction was fantastic. I think the progress in my carving, printing and designs show the impact! It was also very helpful to have so much carving to do so no one block became too precious. That really allowed me to experiment with design and learn so much in the process. Playing with art supplies really is such a learning experience.

Ali challenged us to create a final project and I created 3! I was exploring integrating block printing into my mixed media art and also took one design bigger.

The 100 day project is another Instagram challenge that I participated in. The idea is to make art every day for 100 days. It can be whatever you want and I chose to create a small collage that included stamps, Zentange and collage papers and ephemera every day. It was an excellent exercise in creativity and I am happy with what I created. I have sent many out as cards and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those that remain.

One of the reasons I got back into making art 10 years ago was that I hoped to see it in medical facilities when I went for appointments. This dream came true in 2023. I had 2 pieces exhibited at the University of Wisconsin Hospital last year and I’m scheduled to have 2 more in January. I joined the Wisconsin Visual Artist association and the Madison Art Guild and they each exhibit art in the hospital for one month every year. This piece, Abstract Waterlilies, was one of the first ones. The other was one of my flower mandalas from 2022.

I’m excited to see what 2024 holds.

Peace

EcoSquared Exhibit

12 Wednesday Jul 2023

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in Art on Exhibit

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Art, collage, Colorful art, floral mandala, flower art, flower collage, Mandala, recycled art, Upcycled art, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art, Zentangle Method, ZIA

Stop in at Hatch Art House at 1248 Williamson Street in Madison to see these and other small works of environmentally friendly art.

“Join Hatch Art House this July and August for the 2023 EcoSquared Art Show! Hatch showcases a curated selection of various artworks by over 75 Wisconsin artists most of the year, but opens the front two walls of the gallery to all Wisconsin based artists for the EcoSquared show nearly every year since 2012. EcoSquared (Eco for eco-friendly, Squared for square art) focuses entirely on square works of art made with upcycled materials by local artists. This year marks the biggest EcoSquared exhibition yet, with nearly 90 pieces of square upcycled art by over 25 Wisconsin based artists!”

100 Day Project 2022

24 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by Jeanette Clawson in Art

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100 Day Project, 100 days of color, Art, Art Journal, Art Journal Every Day, circles, collage, color play, color study, colorful, Coloring Page, flower, flower painting, flowers, gelli prints, handmade books, value study, Zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art

Day 100 of the 100 Day Project Sunflower to support Ukraine

This year my project was 100 days of color fun. I painted in this coloring page for the last day of my 100 day project. It’s for sale in my Etsy shop and the proceeds of the sales will go to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Emergency Response Fund to support Ukrainian refugees.

Here’s an overview of my 100 day project. Some of the color exploration that I did included mixing different color combinations in different brands of acrylic paint, playing with values of those colors or individual colors, gelli printing a whole rainbow of painted papers, compositions with a focus on value or different ways of making colors harmonize, combing color with Zentangle, much of it took place in the journal I created with Andrea Chebeleu from A Work of Heart Studio and some days just playing with color with whatever media I had at hand. And of course there are circles and flowers. Check me out on Instagram to see my full 100 day project @jeanette.clawson