Light Beneath the Clouds - and the Funniest DOD Ever!

Light Beneath the Clouds

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100 plus shipping

Please email me for availability

I love this painting because it captures that eerie, greenish light that you get beneath the clouds when a thunderstorm is moving in. I think it's mostly created by the combination of the purple and yellow in the sky, and a pop of light on the field and the roof of the main building. 

I'm continuing to love the black canvases, and the ragged edges of the painting showing on it. What do you think? 

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ORIGINS PAINTING TRIP! Sponsorships! Art! Travel! Adventure! Find out more by clicking here! 

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'Nuff said

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Dog of the Day

IN THE KITCHEN, where I do my morning computer stuff, I sit at a gateleg table. Usually, the extra part of the table is down, but the other day, it was up. So when the dogs came into the kitchen, clamoring to be let out, I didn't see Woodreau. Then he was in the scrum of dogs at the door, and I still didn't see him. But when he got to the bottom, I just had to laugh. He'd somehow gotten one leg and his tail through a leghole and the waist of a pair of Peter's briefs. The sight has kept me laughing for days. 

Three Houses - and the Origins Painting Trip

Three Houses

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100 plus shipping

I'm having a great time experimenting in the studio, on these raw winter days. I've been pushing myself with new colors, new strokes, new approaches - and working to strengthen what I like and let go of habits or ideas that don't work for me. 

 I really love this 10x10, and another that I did just after this, and will post soon. I made this one on top of a painting that I made a couple years ago, and never liked that much. One of the difficulties about making this painting - but one of the things that makes it interesting, I think - is how the texture of the painting beneath this one affects and changes the texture and content of this painting. 

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The Origins Painting Trip

I'M LEAVING IN less than two weeks for the Origins Painting Trip, and I'm pretty excited about it! I'll be starting in Tubac, Arizona, visiting my dad and stepmother, and doing the Tubac Arts Festival with my friend Cynthia Battista, an amazing jeweler (click here to see her website) . 

After the show, a good visit and a couple of workshops I'm teaching, I'll head to Ganado and Fort Defiance, Arizona, to paint for a couple weeks. Fort Defiance is on the Navajo Reservation in the northeast corner of Arizona, and is where I spent the first months of my life. 

The photo above shows one of the awe-inspiring rock formations in the area. It shows the huge sky and the red earth, the amazing muscle and flow of the land. It's easy to imagine the quiet of the day and the brilliance of the stars at night. 

This is the first landscape I saw, and by painting and exploring, I am hoping to unearth some connections between those first sights and my artist's eye of today. 

You can come along with me, in a way, on this trip, and have art that I paint in plein air on the trip. Sponsorships start at $50, and run to $1000. They all include access to a sponsor-only blog of my travels, with photos and stories and all my new paintings. Sponsorships include chances to win art, a calendar and a book from my travels. They include postcards from the road, and my deepest gratitude. 

Click here to see more photos and choose your sponsorship! 

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Dog of the Day

IT'S SMOKEY, totally crashed out on his bench after a walk in the cold. 

Poppies - and the Origins Trip

Poppies on Black

Oil on canvas, 12x24

Please email me for price and availability

I love painting flowers, and I really love painting flowers on these black canvases. The flowers themselves delight me, with their colors and their depth and their movement. It's a challenge to capture these qualities and make them new.

The other thing that intrigues me is the tension between the background and the flowers. These backgrounds remind me of concrete. The play between the fragile, graceful flowers and the rough, tough background helps make these paintings work, I think. Add in the nod to stained glass, and then that's another level. 

What do you all think of these flower paintings I've been making lately? 

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Origins

At the end of January, I will set out for the Southwest, to visit my dad, do a show in Tubac, Arizona, and go back to where I was born and paint. During the Origins painting trip, I'm going to spend time in and around Fort Defiance, Arizona, on the Navajo reservation in the northeast corner of the state. I lived the first short part of my life there, while my dad was in the civil service. 

It's an amazing, spectacular landscape, rich with deep colors and brilliant light. The rocks and buttes are red and yellow and pink and gray, and the earth seems to go on forever. I'm planning on spending a couple weeks in the area, painting, and I hope you will sponsor me on my trip. 

Sponsorships run from $50 to $1,000, and include access to a sponsor-only blog with photos and stories from the road, postcards from the road, the first look at all the paintings I make, a chance to win a painting - and my undying gratitude. For sponsorships at or above $125, you get all that plus one or more original oil paintings that I make on the trip. 

Sponsors have told me they not only love the art, but also really enjoy the blog. It's the next best thing to taking the trip yourself! A sponsorship makes a great holiday present - for someone else, or for you. I can email you a nice gift certificate that you can give. 

For more information and to sign up to sponsor me, go to the Origins Painting Trip page on the Jacobson Arts website. Click here to get to that page! 

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Dog of the Day

This is King, and he needs a home! According to the Eastern Shore SPCA, he is about a year old, weighs 33 pounds, has been neutered, and is up to date on shots and vaccinations.

 If we didn't already have five dogs, I'd be at the SPCA this morning to bring this guy home. If you know anyone who needs a dog, please let me know! As an extra added benefit, you could spend the night with us when you come to the Eastern Shore to get King. 

Here's a link to the shelter: http://www.shorespca.com/?page_id=21#25824329

Pat's Cowboy - and My Next Painting Trip!

Pat's Cowboy

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Sold

My next painting trip is taking shape, and I couldn't be more excited! Near the end of January, I'll head for Arizona, to visit my father and stepmother, participate in a show, and make plein-air paintings for my sponsors. I hope you decide to sponsor me, and come along for the ride!

I was born in the mission hospital in Ganado, Arizona, where my dad was working for the Civil Service. For the first couple years of my life, we lived in Fort Defiance, about 20 miles from Ganado. All of this is in the Navajo reservation in the northeast corner of the state, relatively close to Window Rock, site of the seat of the Navajo government.

It's a wide-open, richly colored, sparsely populated part of the country. There is deep poverty in parts of the reservation. The towns are small and dusty, the buildings low and generally simple. The beauty and power of the landscape overwhelms and enriches everything that man has built.

I spent a little time there a few years ago, and did some painting, and can hardly wait to go back and paint again. I hope to capture the beauty and the breadth, the color and the mood and the swirl of this beautiful place.

I've often wondered if my delight in big skies and brilliant colors comes from my early exposure to this land. I don't remember it, of course. But this is the land that I first saw, the air I first breathed, the colors that I first responded to. Maybe it's a stretch, but part of this trip, I hope, will help me see and understand my birthplace better, and maybe my place in it, too.

I'm offering five sponsorship levels this year. Everyone who signs up at any level gets access to a sponsor-only blog that I'll post on the internet and also email to every sponsor. On the blog, I'll write about my experiences and post my new paintings, along with photos of people and things I encounter on the way. Sponsors have told me they love the blog, that it's like being on the trip with me.  To see the blog from my 2014 California Calling trip, click here. 

Everyone who signs up will also get a chance to win a painting from a group of special Origins paintings I make during the trip. These will probably be in the 16x16 to 20x20 size range, and the drawing will come at the very beginning of the selection process. After that, sponsors will choose their paintings according to the order in which they signed up.

Everyone who sponsors me will also have at least one chance to win a calendar of paintings from the trip, and sponsors at higher levels will also have a chance to win a book.

To see (or buy!) the calendar from the California Calling trip, click here.  

To see or buy the book from my trip, please click here. 

Here are the sponsorship levels:

$50 - You don't get a painting, but you do get the blog, the chance to win a painting, the chance to win a calendar, and my undying gratitude.

$125 - This gets you a 10x10 painting, the blog, and all the other stuff, including my sincere thanks.

$250 - This gets you two 10x10 paintings, two chances to win a calendar, my deep thanks, and all the rest...

$500 - This gets you a larger painting, from 16x16 to 30x30, or two smaller paintings; a calendar or a book, my heartfelt appreciation, and all the other goodies...

$1000 - This gets you two larger paintings or some combination of smaller paintings, a calendar and a book, my relentless gratitude, and all the rest. And if it is sanely possible, I will deliver the items to you in person, and cook you dinner, too.

All the sponsors at all levels get my true appreciation and my deepest, most sincere thanks, today, tomorrow and always.

To sign up, please click here to go to the Origins Painting Trip page on the Jacobson Arts website and click on the sponsorship level you choose. When you do, you'll be directed to a PayPal site, where you can use a credit card or a PayPal account to buy your sponsorship. If you'd rather pay by check, please email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com and let me know. You can send checks to me at P.O. Box 144, Wachapreague, VA 23480.

Last year, one sponsor sent me a $50 Starbucks card. I thought that was a great way to handle the sponsorship. If you have some creative idea about a possible trade, let's talk!

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Dog of the Day

I've been flattened for more than a week with strep throat and an additional bacterial infection. And maybe the flu on top of it, who knows. All I know is that I've been sick, bored, useless and cranky. Peter has been sweet to me, and has taken great care of me in spite of the fact that he doesn't feel good, either. Nurse Jojo, above, has plastered herself to my side for pretty much the entire time, making sure that I have that good, strong dogsbody for warmth and protection. She's really earned her Dog of the Day status.