Until next time....I'll be painting!

Hello!  It's May and spring is in the air!
How appropriate is it then that I am giving away this original flower painting on my Facebook Page?  

I've been having fun giving away a small original painting every month on my Facebook Page since December and I've made some new friends along the way!  For me social media is a great way to connect with other like-minded people and artists as well as a way to spread the word about my work!

​Here you can see me working in my studio on this painting......how cool is that???

Painting flowers can be contagious and in an effort to not waste the leftover paint, I added some to this lotus flower painting that has been unfinished for awhile now:

You can enter the May Giveaway for a chance to win the beautiful Flower Painting by simply going to my page:  

GODDESS ROCKSTAR ARTS

and commenting on the giveaway post that is pinned to the top.
It's that easy!
I would very much appreciate it if you share the post with your friends to help spread the word!

​~NAMASTE~

What else have been up to you ask?  That's a great question because I have also been working on this pet portrait commission and it is almost complete:

Meet Chance and Livie!

Aren't they adorable?  I was commissioned to do this very special PET PORTRAIT and I am having a lot of fun working on it!  

I will be finishing this painting this week and I always post updates on my
FACEBOOK PAGE & INSTAGRAM, so be sure to follow me there if you wish to see my progress!

Also, here's a fun video of me working on this painting yesterday for you to enjoy!

I'll catch ya on the flip side my friend!
See you soon!

​xoxo, Jennifer

Oh what a journey I have been on for the past few months!

When my dear friend and fellow LifeLineTM practitioner, Nikki contacted me the end of January,  I had no idea what I was in store for!  It was the end of my son's winter break and he was getting ready to go back to school for his 2nd semester at the University of New Haven.  I was taking him out to brunch for his final day home when...

 Nikki called me to say, "I wrote a book."

She was looking for an artist to illustrate her book cover and she wanted lions.
​I was already doing a lot of meditation and inner work and painting cheetahs.

Well of course I said, "HELL YES!"

Low and behold that dive into this super star project has started me down an amazing path of awareness, self-discovery and creativity that I am STILL on as I continue to work on this project!

Without giving too much away, Nikki's book is about relationships and our subconscious mind's role in them.  Of course it's about so much more, but the lions are the metaphors.

So basically, Nikki's invitation catapulted me into this intense lion energy in my studio and in my life and it was mirroring the work I have been doing in therapy and meditation.

This has become the alchemy for some very powerful paintings
as well as strong shifts in my consciousness and my creative fire!

​Here is the book cover, which was originally going to be the only actual painting for the project:

This painting really kicked my ass and went through lots of transformation!
Mainly because I had a poor reference photo.  But what happened was that it forced me to dig deep inside of myself and channel what was to be the finished painting that you see above.

This was about trusting my intuition and believing in myself.

Well, I became so inspired and in the flow of this powerful energy that...

 I ambitiously took on the challenge of creating 5 more paintings!

I had an incredible experience working on this lion painting (to the left) where I felt completely connected to source and creative energy flowing through me!

While I am still working on these paintings,  I continue to receive new inspiration and guidance and ultimately, it has led me to a path I have been resisting lately, oil painting.
​

I purchased new oil paints and mediums several months ago in an effort to get back to oil painting that I had learned and practiced when I was in college.  My first couple of attempts were not great and it is hard to get used to the nature of the oils that can take days, even weeks to dry when I have become so accustomed to the fast drying properties of the acrylic paint.

Well, to make a long story short, it has become clear to me that I need to finish the paintings in oils.  

I need to let go of the limiting belief that I will "mess" them up.

So, I'm hoping to dive into some oil paints in my studio over the next several days, wish me luck!
I look forward to keeping you posted with how things develop with these lions!

If you would like to meet my friend Nikki, here is a painting in progress
​of her and her lion that will also be in the book:

Hello, how was your January?  I can't believe it's already February 1st!  I said good bye to 2018 by barely being able to stay awake until midnight!  Then I received a wonderful, surprise visit from my son to ring in the New Year with him so that was awesome!

​My goal has always been to be consistent with my painting.  The end of 2018 brought me to a place of being very focused with building my social media presence and being consistent with online marketing.
I implemented a monthly Facebook giveaway on my Facebook Page:  ​Goddess Rockstar Arts

This has been very successful in helping me build my fan base as well as my relationships with the people who love my work!

​It just so happens that my one and only finished painting of the month was my January giveaway painting of this beautiful tabby cat!

I must say that I'm really having a lot of fun with the Facebook marketing and giveaways!
​Especially the live videos like this one here:

​

What's really cool is the new relationships I'm building with my fans!  I'm meeting some great people on Facebook who are very supportive of my work!  The woman who won the giveaway painting last month also happened to be someone who purchased a different painting of mine earlier in the  month and this is some of what she had to say:

WOW!  That kind of response to my work is overwhelming!  This is just reaffirming that I'm doing the work I was put on this planet to do!  So thank you, to all of you!  If you're just meeting me online for the first time....WELCOME!  If you have been following my work longer, NAMASTE... I'm honored to be on this journey with you and I hope we can make each other's life brighter.  Isn't that what it's all about?



Here's a look at the other main painting I have been working on on January.  I was inspired by the wildlife programs on NatGeo Wild on TV.  This one is dear to my heart and still a work in progress:

As I reflect back on 2018 and the intentions and "goals" I had set for myself, I can appreciate what a journey it was!  There were a few personal challenges for me that involved releasing a lot of fear and letting go of circumstances that were out of my control.

When I look at the achievements I made I can see how far I've come.  I finally returned to painting regularly!  After a 5 plus year battle with excess weight I lost 18lbs and won the Meltdown contest at my job as a result!  And, holy cow, I painted a WHOLE FREAKING PIANO!  And that was like, a lot of work but it really didn't seem like it at the time.

And I also realized that in 2018 I only completed 4 paintings (3 if you exclude the piano project)
Here they are:

All in all, when it comes to welcoming the New Year and setting a vision and intentions, I've come to realize that my "inner goals" are more important than my "outer goals".  Reaching any achievement involves me having the right mindset and way of thinking.  I've felt a tremendous shift in my thoughts and feelings and this has given me new confidence to move forward in the direction of my heart's desire!

I've also been working on consciously releasing 2018 in order to step into an amazing 2019 with new possibilities and opportunities!  I've had to focus on the parts of myself that needed to die and other parts that I still need to work on letting go of.

This has been a huge help!  Also, I catch myself "rationalizing" or "overthinking" about my feelings, especially if I'm sad or angry.  So now I'm working on just allowing myself to process my feelings and let them move through me, rather than trying to mentalize them.

So, here's to 2019 and continuing to learn and grow!  I will focus on releasing regrets and not worrying about the "unknown"  ~NAMASTE~

Last spring I had the amazing opportunity to paint an entire piano!

As a new member of the Goshen Art League, I was eligible to submit a proposal to the Keys of Goshen.  The Keys of Goshen is the project that is the collaboration of the Goshen Art League and the town of Goshen to provide arts to the community through local artists.

​Here are the rough sketches I submitted with my proposal:

There were only 2 artists selected to paint pianos this year and I was one of them!
​I was so excited to be selected!

Well it was certainly a huge undertaking and a first experience for me!  The pianos are donated to the project from generous members of the community.  Here's the piano I was to paint:

The Goshen Music Hall donated the studio space for us to work in, it was time to get started priming the piano and applying the first layers of paint!  I removed the top and the front of the piano to make it easier.

​Here are photos of the early layers:

Here is a slideshow of the progression of the back of the piano.
​This was the most challenging part of the painting for me.

This truly was a labor of love and took many hours of work at the Goshen Music Hall.
​Here are some photos of the work in progress:

Working in the Goshen Music Hall.
My boyfriend Joe helped me with the varnish.

The day came for the piano unveiling in the Town of Goshen.
​My kids and many friends of mine from the Ymca came out to support me!

Here is a video of the unveiling...

The piano was on display in the town center for the entire summer and we had opportunities to visit!

Being a part of the Keys of Goshen 2018 was such an amazing experience!
I'm so grateful that I got a chance to paint a piano, it was very challenging and worthwhile!