Manny, Moe and Jeff

Manny, Moe and Jeff

Oil on canvas, 36x60

Please click here to email me for price and availability

This painting started its life looking a little different. The sky was pretty much the same, and the road to the left was pretty much the same, and the mountains were sort of the same, but the cows were smaller, the trees were smaller, the water was smaller, and the colors - still a little out of my comfort zone - were a little more quiet. 

I wanted to like it, but just couldn't, even though people liked it, and I was going to paint over it. Instead, I really looked. I searched for what was bothering me, for why I wasn't in love with this cowscape. It took a while, but it came to me, and I was able to make the changes that are making it work. 

This is a process that's happened a few times to me now. It is still a new process, of improving rather than tossing out. And it's a process I hope I can bring to other parts of my life, including my own sense of self. 

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Shows! 

I'm sending a big thank you to everyone who came to the shows this summer, took the time to look at my paintings and talk with me! And a special thanks to all of you who bought paintings! Each sale is a miracle, and I appreciate each one very much. 

I'll be on the road for a few weeks, starting tomorrow. Here's my schedule: 

Stamford, CT, July 29-30, Harbor Point, Booth 20

Uptown Art Festival, Minneapolis, MN, Aug. 4-6, Booth 3407 on the mall

Mystic Outdoor Art Festival, Mystic, CT, Aug. 12-13, corner of Willow and East Main

and Centerfest, Durham, NC,   Sept. 16-17

Hope to see you there! 

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Dog of the Day

Pals! Saw these guys at the show in State College, PA. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send me a jpg at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

“Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. … 

It is a kind of talent in itself, to be an audience, whether you are the spectator in the gallery or you are listening to the voice of the world's greatest soprano. 

Not everyone can be the artist. 

There have to be those who witness the art, 

who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see.” 

- Ann Patchett

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Rex

Rex

Oil on canvas, 12x48

Please click here to email me for price and shipping/delivery info

On Jan. 1, I celebrated 30 years clean and sober. It's really a miracle! I was high, on one substance or another, for most of my 20s. I am quite sure I'd be dead now if I hadn't found AA, and my Higher Power, and Peter, and the strength and spirit I needed to get and stay sober. Interestingly, stopping the drinking and drugging was the smallest part of the process. Learning to live again, that was the most of it, and continues to this day.

One of the things AA promises is that "We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness." Look at Rex here. Isn't he all that and more? That's what he says to me, and what I felt while I painted him. He's realistic and abstract. He's dark and bright. He's got the essence of "longhorn," and also the essence of  "art." He's everything I learned before my Big Skies Painting Trip, and everything I learned on it - and was able to bring back and do In The Studio, as opposed to out in the air, where everything is easier for me.

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Speaking of Out in the Air, what's your guess as to the location of  this telephone pole? Haiti? Bangladesh? Mumbai? Nope. Mystic, CT. Go figure.

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Dog of the Day

Good-looking chow, isn't he? Looks like he owns the world - as all good chows should. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"The point is that you learn how to make your work by making your work, and a great many of the pieces you make along the way will never stand out as finished art. The best you can do is make art you care about - and lots of it!" 

- David Bayles and Ted Ormand

from "Art & Fear / Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. I'll be quoting passages from this small, amazing, inspiring book for the month of January.

Robert

Robert

Oil on black canvas, 10x10
sold

When I posted the first stage of "Double Four Time" on Facebook, many folks suggested that I do some cowscapes on black. I've done some of these large, and while people delighted in them, it was hard to sell them. Maybe the smaller pieces will sell more easily? It's worth a try - and it was great fun to paint Robert here!

I've managed to bring home two techniques I discovered on my Big Skies painting trip . One is to not hold the knife with my typical death-grip. I remind myself to hold the knife loosely, and it helps the paint glide on, with interesting not-straight edges.

The second discovery that shows up in this painting is that it's great to use the mixed/unmixed gobs of left-over paint that, in the past, I'd just wiped from my knife. Now, I pile it up in a corner of the palette, and use it as is - randomly, chaotically mixed colors like the ones at the top of Robert's head.

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OK, of course we all know what they MEANT - "Truck Drives Off Bridge." But I had to laugh at this dog-bites-man kind of headline. "Truck Drives Over Bridge," really? 

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Dog of the Day

I'm making Lulu the Dog of the Day because if I don't, I might murder her. She just destroyed my spare glasses. 

I was having sleeping trouble last night, and moved to the couch to see if I could sleep there. I watched TV for a while, then took off my glasses to turn over and catch some Zs. I was barely awake. 

This morning, Lulu jumped up on the couch and stole my glasses from the table, where I'd stashed them. Yes, it was my fault for leaving them there, but damn, this is the second pair in as many months. I'm contemplating writing a children's book, "Twenty-Nine Pounds of Trouble." 

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A Final Thought

"Art is made by ordinary people. Creatures having only virtues can hardly be imagined making art. It's difficult to picture the Virgin Mary painting landscapes. Or Batman throwing pots. The flawless creature wouldn't need to make art."

- "Art & Fear / Observations on the Perils and Rewards of Artmaking," 

by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Kim's Farm

Kim's Farm

Oil on canvas, 40x40

Commission

A long and wonderful project has come to a happy end, and I'd like to share the story with you. 

At the start of the fall, I got an email from a woman I'd met at a show in Omaha. She wanted a painting of the Nebraska farm where she grew up. She wanted a big painting, with heavy texture, of the farm and a cow or two. 

Unlike many artists, I love doing commissions. Ones that are projects, like this one, are especially fun and intriguing to me. Maybe this comes from working in newsrooms for so long and seeing how the energy and ideas expand and improve when others are involved. Kim sent me a bunch of photos of the farm, but for some reason, I couldn't put the photos together in my mind into a cohesive whole. The poor woman explained it to me, walked me around the property virtually, and answered my questions again and again, and still I couldn't see it. 

So I decided to actually go and see it. I knew I could pass relatively near the farm on my Big Skies Painting trip. Kim gave me directions, and on my way back, I stopped in and saw the farm. 

It still was not without its issues! First, I drove right by it and got more than a little lost. I called Kim, and she suggested that I facetime her - and she was able to look through my phone at the landscape around me, and direct me to the right place. 

I walked around, took a bunch of photos, and, when I got home, made a sketch of the farm. Kim had a couple ideas, I had a few more, and I made a small painting. It was at this point that we both realized that I was situating the farmhouse incorrectly. I had my norths and wests mixed up. It took a while of patient Kim's coaxing and explaining before the whole thing fell into place in my head - and then I was able to paint. 

I had some ideas while I was painting, and Kim had some ideas, and we communicated back and forth, and in the end, this is the painting I made - and the painting she loves. 

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2 pancakes

2 eggs

2 bacon

The most incomprehensible sign ever! And it's been up for years. Hahahaha!!! 

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Dog of the Day

Toby (the dog) and Ira (the human). I met them in a hotel somewhere this summer - Indiana, maybe? Ira rescued Toby after the dog escaped from a fire, and was abandoned by his humans. Toby is old now, partly deaf and partly blind, and much loved.

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A Final Thought

"Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult." 

- Hippocrates

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum

Oil on black canvas, 36x60

Please click here to email me for information on price and shipping/delivery

I said I was going to paint bigger and bolder, and so I'm pleased to show you this new one! It's hard to get a feel for it on the computer here, but it's five feet across and three feet deep, so you can see how big the images of the cows are.

You might not be able to see very clearly in this photo, but there's a little house and red barn in the saddle of the hill under the mountain in the far distance. That helps give a little perspective, I think. Also, the sky on this one is really wonderfully rich and thick and swirly!

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For a few years now, a friend and I have exchanged photos of the sky nearly every day. It's a project I've grown to love. I really look forward to receiving her sky photos, and to taking a photo myself that says something. This was my photo from Jan. 1. I took it through the new window in my studio. It was about the 1,000th gray day in a row (well, that's what it felt like), and honestly, I hadn't taken pix for a few days. There's only so much you can do with unrelenting gray. The paperweight belonged to my mom, and reminds me of a crystal ball. 

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Dog of the Day

I met this guy at the SoNoArt show this summer; he's the dog of a nice couple 

who collect my art. Can't remember his name, but he was a great guy! 

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A Final Thought

"Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it."

- Salvador Dali

Dixie - and 101 Dogs

Dixie and Friends

Oil on black canvas, 36x48

commission

I was quite excited, back in August, when I received my first big cowscape commission. I usually paint cowscapes from photographs of cows I've never seen in real life, so it was a thrill to meet my model and her friends, and to be able to take photos to my heart's content. 

I'm very happy with the way this painting came out, and am thrilled that Dixie's owner loves the painting, too. 

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101 Dogs

THE 101 DOGS project is up and running, and I've dedicated it to the memory of Jojo and Zoe. 

The project brings together three big loves of mine - art, dogs and rescue dogs. In 101 Dogs, I'm going to paint portraits of the first 101 dogs whose owners sign on to sponsor me. I'll make the paintings into a book and a poster, and anyone signing up for $375 or more will receive a painting and a book or poster, and some other goodies, too.                                                                                 People sponsoring me at levels below $375 will receive fun goodies, though no original art. I'm going to donate money from each sponsorship to one of four dog-related groups that I've chosen, or to a dog-related group of your choice. 

There are seven sponsorship levels, starting at $25 and going, well, as high as you want. Sponsor me at $5000 or more and you'll get paintings, prints, a boatload of goodies, and I'll come to your place and cook dinner for you and your dogs. 

To find out more, click here to check out the main project page . You can also find the project by going to jacobson-arts.com, my website. Please take a look at the related pages, too, if you have a chance. And let me know what you think - do you have questions or ideas? I'd love to hear them. 

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Dog of the Day

I am back up on the horse, yes. This is Abby, one of our dogs, 

who's missing Jojo about as much as I am. 

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A Final Thought

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, 

and those who matter don't mind." 

- Dr. Seuss