Jennifer Ferris

My work involves constant exploration.  Color energizes me, and so I want to use all the colors, and all the tools, and all the techniques. I want to play and pour paint and see the visions in my head come to life. At other times, I want to paint without a vision, and just see what comes out of me. I want to act, and then re-act, and continue working as if in a dance with the canvas and the paint.

I give myself challenges, such as using all the leftover paint from my students after a workshop on a single-session painting. I take on new, harder subjects, such as pet portraits, and more recently, 3-D paintings and sculpture. I take workshops to push myself to think differently. The process is what drives me.

Despite commercial pressures, I strive to be an artist on my own terms; to do my best work, and work that is authentically me. Accepting that there is no "magic formula" for succeeding financially as a fine art painter, that is the only way this journey will be a journey of joy.        

I love talking about painting, and I love to help others with painting, so it is only natural that I love to teach workshops.  Painting workshops are so wonderful whether I am the teacher or a student.  The feeling of community while we are all learning is just bliss!