Boston Harbor Islands Research

I'm currently working on a fairly large painting (for me) for a show inspired by the Boston Harbor Islands. This show will be curated by the lovely Elizabeth Devlin with the Isles Arts Initiative.
  
 To inspire my paining process I have compiled a lot of  visual research and stumbled across some cool facts, charts, ephemera and data. 

The Boston harbor islands served a wide range of uses through out the years including, city landfills, fortifications, farmland and industrial operations and a home to hermits and outcasts.

With these changes in use, the environment flora and fauna also has changed. In 1635 farmers began to plant non-native plants including orchards. By the end of the 17th century most of the islands were inhabited, cultivated and mostly deforested for firewood. During the 19th century the islands were often being used for recreational purposes, and to beautify their environment an initiative began to reforest the islands. I have found some very nice resources that list a in depth analysis of the current flora of Raccoon island. Here are some scientific illustrations:

The subject of my painting was Raccoon island. Raccoon island is a small island off the coast of Quincy, Ma. At low tide it is possible to walk to it from the mainland. The island was likely used by Native Americans as a seasonal campsite. Later, in the 1600s, colonists grazed sheep on the island at this time it was called "Sun Island." In the 1880s to the 1930s the island was used for recreational camping parties.

A history left behind, I am fascinated by old abandoned buildings and things left behind that tell a story. In this painting I am using a society's left overs, foliage and a little bit of allegory to tell the story of Raccoon Island.

34 at Boston Sculptors Gallery, will be on view July 22nd through August 16th, 2015 with an artist reception on Sunday July 26th from 3-5PM, and a First Friday reception on Friday August 7th 5-8PM.

Winter Wonders

A big thanks to everyone that made it out to the FPAC fall open studios.
It was great to see all the old faces (and some new ones).
It is always nice to meet other artists and catch-up.
Below are some images from open studios, if you were not able to make it.
 

This year I will be showing my work at the
RISD HOLIDAY SALE – SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014

I usually do not do any sales around the holidays. I have been using the time to catch up on illustration commissions and take a little break between work and classes. This year Nicole of Honeydew Studio asked me to split a table with her and I figured I could not pass-up the opportunity.

Hopefully I will have some more Life Science wordless card games printed out by then as well as some new business cards and prints.

Mauzer and the Guttersnipe Warriors

Recently I have been inspired by the old-timey street gangs of London (something along the lines of Oliver twist). I have been watching a lot of Sherlock Holmes, Ripper Street, and doing some on-line research. There is something so grungy and primal about of the stories of those children that have been dealt the worst hand and manage to scrape and claw their way through the muck of London. Ripper Street is very similar to the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes with beautiful movie sets based in the 1800′s. “Ripper Street” offers high budget filming locations and consuming that are dressed superbly in city soot.

In my searching I discovered a new show, Peaky Blinders. It looks like it may just be my cup of tea. This is BBC2's new epic British gangster period drama. The story follows of an infamous street gang, a terrifying Brummie mob who ruled the industrialized areas of Birmingham through the 1880s and early 1900s.

For a recent show, (Story Time) at the Monkeyhouse gallery, I created a character that was very much inspired by these shows.

This is Mauzer he lives in city a similar to 1920’s London. Mauzer is a “mouse hunter” he finds mice that are down on their luck and recruits them to join his Guttersnipe Warriors gang.

This group of misfits live on the dirty city streets banding together to make their way in the world. They sometimes fight crime, but they are also known to fight for scraps of fish by the docks. Mauzer’s lady-friend is Kitten-has-claws, she is a strong-willed spirited lady that is a pro at the slight-of hand.

When they travel to other cities, or need a little extra cash they will operate a side-show circus. This mouse gang will use their various street-smart skills to impress the carnival attendees.

In the future I may make a comic out of these characters, there are so many great stories to develop!

So, I've been frequenting Kickstarter more and more recently, and it is starting to become highly addictive. One of my favorite pastimes is looking at art and comics and trying to support underrepresented artists by collecting my small change and purchasing little things that they are selling, sometimes I can afford an original piece.

Well, Kickstarter gives you a chance to support a project that is not completed yet, still in production, think of it as investors in a company, sort of.

Often, an creator (usually someone with some experience on the subject) will pitch an idea and ask for a specific amount of monetary support within a certain # of days. In return the creator will offer various different incentives (available only through kickstarter) such as inclusion of your portrait in the comic they are drawing, credit, creative input, a thank you or original art work (some people come up with really inventive things).
If the kickstarter is funded and succeeds your rewards often increase in value and you get the satifaction of helping launch a project at the ground level, sort of like a producer.
If the Kickstarter dose not reach its goal in the allotted time the project will not go into production, you will not get your incentives and your card will not be charged.
So there is a little bit of a gamble involved as well.

In the last few days I think I have backed about four projects, it is so much fun. If the project goes into production the artist will also, sometimes, continue to update you on their progress.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/breadpig/to-be-or-not-to-be-that-is-the-adventure
This has been my favorite kickstarter to follow so far... maybe it has made my e-mail in-box overflow, but it is worth it.

Inspired by my Kickstarter heroes I have decided to launch a project of my own. I was thinking about kickstarting my comic I've been working on, but I decided to launch something a little more reasonable to begin with. This way I can see how things work and iron out the kinks.

I'm really excited about this!

Here is the project:

 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2101475072/jennifer-lewis-illustration-limited-edition-frog-r

I'm asking for $350 to print 20-500 limited edition prints of my "Robot" painting.
This is one of my favorite paintings and I sold the original fairly quickly. I would like to revive this little guy by getting some really nice prints made.
I set my goal fairly low, uncertain if  raise enough, (the cost of about 30 prints) so if we can go beyond the $350 that would be awesome! I have set additional wicked cool reward levels if I exceed the base amount and I will unlock them as we reach different tier levels.
On my Kickstareter I have some really nice incentives for your pledges such as commissioned pieces (I rarely do commissions), sticker packs and comics, something for everyone so show it to your friends.

Thanks for your support, oh and if you end up making a kickstarter be sure to send me the link so I can support you.

-Jen

Fall is in the Air

Yesterday, with the bustling of students it was evident that fall in Boston will soon be upon us.The crisp air always jump-starts my mind and inspires me to draw up a storm.
Fall may be my favorite season, but also my busiest time of year.

This year I will once again be attending the Boston Arts Festival ( I will be at booth #26)

Boston Arts Festival

at Christopher Columbus Park, between Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Boston’s historic North End.
September

8th to the 9th, 2012

http://www.facebook.com/events/403019166405166/

And, my favorite event of the season,

Fort Point open Studios

October 

19-21, 2012

http://www.fortpointarts.org


This year I will have some new stickers and buttons as well as some shiny new paintings.

Stop buy and say hello.
-Jen

Summer Give-Away

Hello all-

I was recently cleaning up my apartment and I came across this little painting. It is a tiny little thing about 2" square, painted with acrylic paints on a piece of illustration board. I could not find a frame for it so I am offering it as a give-away prize.

The rules:

Please reply to this post.

Provide your e mail address.

On July 21st I will check the posts and randomly choose a recipient. I will e-mail you and ask you for your address so I can send you this tiny painting.

-Good Luck!

It is Difficult to Paint on a Record

New Paintings

Currently I'm working on a few new paintings for the Three Graces Gallery show and trying to prepare for the holidays, so I will not be doing many holiday sales.

This week I will be re-stocking the FPAC store with prints and a few new paintings. I will also be posting some more of my work on Etsy. I still have fairly cheep un matted unsigned prints on Deviant Art.

Happy Christmas shopping

Half Finished

I often have more than a few half finished paintings laying around my studio. These pieces range from small pieces that just never seem to turn out right to huge paintings that will just take forever. I am always working on a million projects at once so the paintings tend to build up in the corner. Every once in a while I will rifle through my painting stack and pull something out. Yesterday I found this cute little painting on my desk after a frenzy of cleaning. The texture of the canvas had been bugging me and I just could not seem to get it to turn out right: I usually work on a smoother surface like wood or paper. Miraculously after a few hours of work it developed into this little gem. (I think I found my magic paintbrush)

Pay it Forward

I had almost forgot about the Pay it Forward project when I got this cute little Halloween surprise in the mail. Kelly Vivanco has such detailed work and what a wonderfully glossy surface on the painting. For her blog visit here: http://kviva.blogspot.com/2009/10/remember-pay-it-forward-thing.html

Process Pictures

Here are some pictures of my pieces in progress, for the Carnival/Sideshow at the Monkeyhouse gallery. On the top is "Wolf Boy" a side show attraction that is only fed meat. Next to the painting is a neet looking swirly-purple taro bun. Below him is the painting "Sword Swallower" and "Carnival Fox".

Cover Pic

Last month I was featured on the cover of the Weekly Dig, a local free magazine/newspaper type publication. There was a little print-up inside about my art work and the Fort Point open studios.

Upcoming events

Saturday and Sunday September 8th and 9th I will be at The Boston Arts Festival in Christopher Columbus Park. Link Oct. I will be at the Fort point open studios the 19th, 20th and 21st. A great event with over 200 artists working in all mediums of art and craft. Link

Mail Art :Woodland Envlope

This is the piece I'm mailing to: http://www.mailmeart.com/ I hope it has enough postage.

It will be interesting to see what it looks like
after it has traveled through the mail.

It is sort of a combination of fairytales.