BKJ Studio

2010-08-04T15:00:00.008-04:00

Interested in viewing a little of what I am currently up to? Here is one recent favorite. It is called V-36, Poppies and Hummers. This gourd, along with another, called V-9, Chickadees, Asters and Shrooms, won an AWARD! Yep! This show is called "The First Earth Show, Part Two" It is currently winding down as it runs from June 11th through August 8th.

Here is location information if you might like to go see it. I would be honored if you do. It is located in ... The Florence O’Donnell Wasmer Gallery at Ursuline College , 2550 Lander Rd. Pepper Pike, OH 44124
For more information on this show, you can email the Director, Frank C. Frate, at ffrate@ursuline.edu

Well, thats one thing. I'll be off now for a little bit. Catch you later.

2010-08-04T14:46:00.004-04:00

Hey folks, I am back. Sorry I have been away so long. I just read a comment made on the Blog way back a year and a half ago. I HAVE been away a long time, haven't I? Well, it was actually very helpful, from a guy named Frank. I tried to get his comments posted and I wrote a reply, but can't get it to post. Sorry here's a summary though. His comments were to this effect ...

1. ... That he didn't like the black background. I still do, though. It really pops the art I think. Never-the-less, I think it would be a good idea for me to experiment with some other choices as he may well speak for many others. Thanks, Frank.

So, if I can figure out how to do this, I will indeed play around a little. Also with the fonts. I definitely know I would like the fonts a larger size. Ditto.

2. ... He also didn't like having to join Google to make a comment. Perhaps that is an obstacle to many others? Might that be why I never seem to receive many comments? All this time, I thought it was because I bored you all? I suppose that was one reason I didn't happen to get back til now. But ... Frank makes a good point. Well, I am not sure what to say there though. I have not had anything to complain about with Google. That's about all I have to offer there. They have not even hounded me with any spam, you know? I just have no complaints.

So, I encourage anyone who wants to comment, don't fret about Google. Its OK, go ahead, PLEASE. I truly want your input. And again, that you Frank. Please keep in touch.

Show updates

2009-02-09T09:08:00.004-05:00

Well, the February Display is up at the Stow Munroe Falls Library for all to see. PLease visit the Library this month. Often, I will actually be there demonstrating too. I will post soon, a schedule of when I will be there demonstrating so you can come and talk with me if you would like.

February 3rd through February 27th, 2009
Gourds on display in showcases plus 22 Paintings in Art Gallery (back where the Tax information is, in the back of the first floor)
When: February 3rd through February 27th, 2009.
Location: Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library
3512 Darrow Rd.Stow, OH 44224
(on State Rt. 91, between Rt.303 and Rt.57)
Contact Information: Phone: (330) 688-3295 (Ask for "Annie")
Library Web site: http://www.smfpl.org/

Hope to see you there!

Art Display in December

2008-10-08T14:02:00.007-04:00

Here is the PR I prepared for a show coming up in December if anyone is interested in seeing some of my work up close and personal.

Who:
Akron Area Artist, Barbara Krans Jenkins

What:
Art Show featuring a retrospective of Wildlife, and Botanical Art.

When:
December 6th through December 27th, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday. December 6th, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where:
The North Water Street Gallery 257 N. Water StreetKent, OH 44240
Contact information:
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 1-5 pm.
Or by appointment
Jeff Ingram/Executive Director 330-673-4970 http://www.standingrock.net/

Why:
You will feel her passion for the woodlands we all live in here next to our wonderful Cuyahoga Valley National Park. In addition to viewing Barbara's Wildlife paintings, this show will also feature her newest direction into the realm of 3-D art ... Gourds. These gourds continue with the same subjects she loves doing in her 2-D paintings. However, they contain line drawing done with a Wood Burning tool, and sculpting done with Dremel Tools. Finally, she finishes them off with colored pencil and coats of UV protecting clear acrylic spray to seal her art permanently on the surface of these gourds.

Shows and Gallery Representation

2008-10-06T01:04:00.007-04:00

Up-coming 2009 Show Schedule:

February 3rd through February 27th, 2009
Gourds on display in showcases plus 22 Paintings in Art Gallery (back where the Tax information is, in the back of the first floor) from February 3rd through February 27th, 2009.
Location: Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library
3512 Darrow Rd.
Stow, OH 44224
Contact Information:
Phone: (330) 688-3295
Library Web site: http://www.smfpl.org/

April 3rd, through May 14th, 2009
Reception Date: Friday, April 3rd, 2009
Location: Holden Arboretum
9500 Sperry Road
Kirtland, OH 44094
Contact Information: (440) 946-4400
(Holden Arboretum is open daily from 9 am until 5 pm)

Galleries currently representing my work:

The Harris Stanton Gallery in Fairlawn, OH handles some of my Gourds. Location:
2301 West Market St.
Akron, OH 44313
Phone: 330-867-7600
Email: Info@harrisStantonGallery.com
Web site: http://www.harrisstantongallery.com/

The Hudson Fine Art & Framing Company has a few gourds, and also some 2-D paintings.
Location: Brewster Mansion
9 Aurora Street
Hudson, Ohio 44236
Contact Information: 330-650-2800
Web site: http://www.hudsonfineartandframing.com
Email: hudsonfineartandframing@gmail.com
Hours: Monday thru Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Thursday Evening till 7 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

The Dovetail Gallery and Studio
Location: 7901 Hwy 42
Egg Harbor, WI 54209-9602
Gallery Owner: Kathy Mand Beck
Phone:(920) 868-3987
Web Site: http://www.treasuresof.com/
Email: kathydovetail@hotmail.com

New Cardinal art

2008-10-05T05:58:00.004-04:00

Just finished this one yesterday and took it out to MD Garage in Boston Township (on Boston Mills Rd. just north of Peninsula, off Riverview Rd.) where it will be on display through October. It's quite small (5"x5" image), but, nice.

BTW, next weekend, Oct. 11 & 12th, the Art @ M.D.Garage Show will be temporarily closed because of a Marathon for the weekend. "Art @ MD Garage" will then continue, Sat & Sundays, Oct 18 & 19, and 25 & 26th. Then, M.D. Garage closes until next Spring.

Thanks to those of you who have stopped by to see these shows on the weekends this year. I have enjoyed working there often. I like "Gallery Sitting", because I can get in a whole day of work on art. I set up in the Garage there beside the Towpath which runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We artists (many of us are original members of the "Crooked River Gang" ... I am one of these) take turns manning the Garage Shows for the National Park and each other.

Later-Gater (dating myself, I know) Barb

Crinson and golden leaves in the woodlands as Chipmuunks gather the Fall harvest!

2008-09-29T09:40:00.000-04:00

Just thought you'd like to see something seasonal here...

Today I am working on finishing up some small pieces for the October final M.D. Garage Show of this year. Perhaps I will post a few later.

MD Garage is an old garage located on Boston Mills Rd. just off Riverview Rd near Boston Mills Ski Lodge north of Peninsula, OH. Its located next to the Towpath as it meaners along the Cuyahoga River through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Park service gave our Art group use of this building and made us panels to display our work. So, next time you are riding your bike, or hiking along the Towpath between Cleveland and Akron, do stop by the MD Garage there in Boston, grab a bite to eat and drink across street from us at the "Trail Mix" Country Store, and come see our Art Displays. They are manned by the artists, and open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many of us bring along whatever we are currently working on and paint during our time minding the Gallery.

BTW, re: MD Garage artists ... we are called "The Crooked River Gang" after the translation of the Indian title of the river, "Cyuahoga". I am part of the original group of Artists started up by Don Getz (fellow artist) who lives in the Park. Knowing we love to paint in the Park, Don would get a bunch of us together with him during Peninsula events and we'd set up our gear and work wherever we wanted along the Towpath. Don encouraged us to stop often to talk with interested hiking visitors about our love of working in the Valley. The National Park enjoyed having us around, so, thats why they offered to bring us on board with their other activities and gave us the use of the Garage on the weekends, May through October each year with show themes that vary each month. Our displays have really grown and now feature many other artists also from the area who love working in the Park.

Come see us some weekend in October!

Just finished

2008-09-23T00:52:00.000-04:00

Anyone out there? No one seems to go visit this Blog. Hmmm, not sure tis worth while. I'll send a new drawing in and give ti a little more time. Whn my son comes to visit late in Oct. He can help me by putting a link to it on my web site home page. (http://www.bkjstudio.com/) I am still needing to learn to edit my web site.

Well, here's one just finished and going to framer tomorrow. Small study. Might make a large study similar, of the same flower. (Matilaja Poppy)

White Feather

2008-09-03T23:27:00.000-04:00

Missing White Feather. Hope he's OK.

Its so nice to again have the woods somewhat quiet again (children in school). Enjoyed sitting quietly in the shadows, feeding Chickadees and watching all that is abuzz in the late summer woodlands. Perhaps, I say to myself, I am feeding some fo White Feathers offspring ... anyhow. Possibly. There are Coopers Hawks who also nested in these woods as well, though. I know. I always know life in the woods is a delicate balance. What a wonder and an honor it is, that this brave hearted tiny bird considers me so carefully. Then does indeed, swoop down onto my hand and after pausing to cock his little head at me and eye me mysterioiusly before scooping up a seed (or two, or three) and fliting off to a nearby perch.

Colors beginning to change. The brightness of the Dogwood leaves make me want to get out that little sketch book I vowed to myself would be ONLY for leaves. A single leaf per page. Yes. Perhaps tomorrow.

The Chickadees, though, do tempt me to again get my pastels out. Messy, but, its fun to create something quickly for a change. I love colored pencils most of all, but, lately have put up with the messy pastels, for the sake of just completeing something faster. One local Gallery is makng that worth while too, though. I admit i like that also.

When I went back to my car though, I still enjoyed working further in cp's on the beautiful little study of the Matilaha Poppy. I fell in love with these out in Northern CA. A few years back I had an Artist Residency in Mendocino and the garden outside my room was just alive with these beautiful flowers! They stand, if I recall correctly, about 5' tall, with beautiful crinkly white petalled blossoms nearly 10" in diameter with big golf ball sized (well, almost!) center's. Perhaps I will post it when i finish it. Its just a small study to work out some shadow play from the stamens cast across the white petals. I would love to do a large painting of a closeup of this flower! Maybe. I will see how this little study goes first.

pic of me feeding birds

2008-09-01T08:25:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I couldn't get the insert picture thinggy to work when I posted that text about feeding the birds.

Lets see fi I can do it here, folks. Sorry. I am jsut trying to learn to do this. Patience, please. Haven't figured out how to do spell check either, so, please add to your patience enough to get through my typos if I miss any of them.

Chickadees nesting

2008-09-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

In the pastel I posted yesterday of White Feather excavating a nest last spring, it turned out that he and his mate left that one for a new one after I did my painting. I heard from Ann Rohr (wrote book called "Mr. Picky and Me") that "T-Bird" and his mate actually used that nest for their brood. This happens alot. Birds work hard to make nests, then abandon them to go off and make another. This can happen becauseperhaps another bird chases them off, or, something abtou the nest doesn't please the birds and they go off to another excavation site. Well, thats my own feelign about the "why?" anyhow.

I was traveling at the time of the final nesting and fledging, so, sadly, I didn't get to see it this year. It may be that "T-bird" rousted "White Feather". You can see these birds depicted on some fo my past posts "White Feather" portrait is "Chickadee #6" (excavation pastel) and "T-Bird" (Ann named this little guy) is "Chickadee #5", for your reference in my past posts.

I need to mention, since I brought up the fact that I feed the wild Chickadees and in turn, get my photo refs for my art work, that there is only one place I do that. The reason being that this particular location is a "safe - zone" ( ... my term). I mean, it doesn't pose a threat to their lives to hand feed them in this location. The particular location is an education center and the birds are territorial, pretty much stickign to one location. So, you see, this place is known to eb "safe" for them.

Anywhere else around here where I spend my time, to hand feed the Chickadees, would be to endanger their lives. Why? you may ask? Because, as will ALL WILDLIFE, its not good for them to learn to trust humans. We who love them can't take that personally, though. For wildlife (like deer, too, for instance), to get them to trust humans ... signs a death warrent for them unfortunately. Why? because too many or our kind (humans) would welcome their closeness to us with a gun for an easy kill. Sad, but, fact.

Still love working in Charcoal too.

2008-08-31T18:38:00.000-04:00

more Figurative practice

2008-08-31T18:34:00.001-04:00

Occasional Figurative work always excellent practice

2008-08-31T18:18:00.000-04:00

Cuffy and Parrot Tulips

2008-08-31T18:14:00.000-04:00

Chocolate Mix

2008-08-31T18:10:00.000-04:00

Chickadee on Hand

2008-08-31T18:04:00.000-04:00

Now you know how I gather my Photo refs to work from for my favorite little bird.

Chickadee # 7

2008-08-31T17:57:00.000-04:00

Chickadee # 6 (White Feather Excavating)

2008-08-31T17:45:00.001-04:00

"White Feather", the name I have for this particular Chickadee because of his unusual two white feathers on his right back, is continuing to excavate a circular hole begun and abandoned by a Woodpecker abotu 8 feet up a broken tree trunk. When he and his mate finished, this nest actually had a heart shapped opening. Tooooo cute.

Chickadee # 5 ("T-Bird")

2008-08-31T16:45:00.001-04:00

Chickadee # 4

2008-08-31T16:43:00.000-04:00

Chickadee # 3

2008-08-31T16:37:00.001-04:00

Chickadee # 2

2008-08-31T16:32:00.000-04:00

Chickadee #1

2008-08-31T16:27:00.000-04:00

Coral Beauty, Hybiscus

2008-08-31T16:21:00.000-04:00

V-21, Naked Ladies

2008-08-31T15:42:00.000-04:00

V-30, Snow Drops and Spotted Salamander

2008-08-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

V-27, Fall Cardinals

2008-08-31T14:37:00.000-04:00

V-24 Chickadees in Treetops

2008-08-31T14:27:00.000-04:00

V-27, Nastertiums and Corgie

2008-08-31T14:20:00.000-04:00

V-23, Chickadee and Violets

2008-08-31T14:14:00.000-04:00

V-25, Chickadees and Tulip Magnolias on Blue

2008-08-31T14:02:00.000-04:00

V-25, Chickadees, Tulip Magnolias on Blue

another gourd, V-22

2008-08-31T13:50:00.000-04:00

V-22, Sweet Peas and Butterfly's

more gourds

2008-08-31T13:39:00.000-04:00

BKJ Gourd Art

2008-08-31T13:33:00.000-04:00

V-11, Chickadees and Periwinkle:

2008-08-31T12:36:00.000-04:00

Here are images of my work:

Welcome to my Art Studio

2008-08-31T10:48:00.000-04:00

I have web site you may like to view to see a large body of my work. I currently am without a web master and in the process of learning to do this myself (hense, this Blog and request for your patience ;o).

Here are a few samples of my work:

Bio and Artist Statement:

Barbara Krans Jenkins enjoys working on location, whether it is doing a scenic vista, a delicate Botanical study or a more elaborate painting, selecting forest floor microcosms from the abundant flora and fauna around her. It is always important to her to capture the delicate ecological balance of her subjects in their environment. She finds her subject matter from her Cuyahoga Valley National Park home; West, across our land to the Mendocino headlands of Northern California and East; to the coasts of northern Maine’s Acadia National Park; and North, to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Jenkins paintings hang in galleries, corporate and private collections here and abroad. To date, her work has been published in these books:
1. The Ultimate Guide to Painting From Photographs, North Light Books(“NLB”), ‘05
2. Colored Pencil Explorations, by Janie Gildow, NLB. ’02 (One painting)
3. Artist's Photo Reference - Buildings & Barns, by Gary Greene, NLB, ‘01 (Chapter Artist)
4. Artist's Photo Reference, FLOWERS by Gary Greene, NLB, ’00 (front cover, chapter artist)
5. The Best of Flower Painting edited by Kathy Kipp, NLB, 1997 (last page, inside flap USA cover, back, British cover)
6. Creative Colored Pencil Landscapes by Vera Curnow, Rockport Publication. ‘96 (Chapter Artist, gallery section, and credits)
7. Creative Colored Pencil, A Step by Step Guide by Vera Curnow, Rockport Publication, ’95 (gallery section)
8. Introduction to Figure Drawing, by Philip Wigg, Wm. C. Brown Co. Inc. Publishers ’67 (figurative drawings)

Although Barbara works in oil, pastels and watercolor on occasion, she prefers the control, blending quality and convenience of the dry painting medium of professional grade, Archaival Colored Pencil pigments (oil-based, water based, and/or wax based), often over fine ink contour lines. Her love of line is clear in her work. Some say that as she applies color, her subjects "seem to spring to life, right off the surface of the paper!"

In recent years Jenkins has been an Instructor of workshops on a variety of Colored Pencil techniques across the nation, so far, teaching in CA, CO, IL, MI, NH, OH, TX, WY, and in Ottawa, Canada. She has increased in demand as a speaker, sharing her love and passion for her art to art organizations and others, wherever she goes.

Barbara’s work is currently represented by these Gallery's:

Artist’s Collaborative at the Sargent Laessig Fine Art Museum, Hinkley, OH;

The Harris Stanton Gallery of Fairlawn, OH. will have some of her gourd art in May of ’08;

The Hudson Fine Art and Framing Gallery, Hudson, OH.

Barbara is affiliated with several art groups, among them, the

Colored Pencil Society of America;

CPSA DC (District Chapter) 119, Cincinnati, OH;

CPSA DC 104, Detroit, MI;

CPSA DC 103, Chicago, IL;

CPSA DC 210 in San Francisco, CA (Membership Chairman ’05);

Akron Society of Artists (ASA, Signature member, ’94 -’96: Secretary);

Columbus Colored Pencil Guild:

Director of the Art Gallery of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron, OH (1996-2008).

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Barbara finds her art process to be a renewing, healing process. As she works, she is transported to a quiet place. Time vanishes as she works, pondering in awe, the marvelous works of the Master Creator in nature. She says: “I hope my work imparts my vision and passion, and reverent appreciation of our land and it’s Maker”.

Please visit Barbara Krans Jenkins on line at www.bkjstudio.com