I had a window of time tonight... unexpectedly... and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered... it seems to be something I have less of these days than I ever thought possible. I have always been a busy person... not by accident but by design. I thrive on chaos. I've been told more than once to slow down... this is neither an option or a viable plan of attack for me. I don't have the luxury of idle time and I would wither and die if I did. Multi-tasking in my personal and professional life is what fuels my fire. 

In 27 days I will get on an airplane. Alone. And touch down in Barcelona, Spain. The goal of this forced solitude is to find time and inspiration... I have zero of the first and plenty of the second... but no way to put paint to paper.  Tonight I took 2 hours to myself. I have had several people ask me for a venue online to view and or purchase my art. The timing couldn't be more perfect... I haven't created many new things this year. My day job has ramped up to a magnitude I had only dreamed of and my painting has taken a back burner. If there is one thing that might set me apart from other artists... it's that I have been insanely prolific... I blame most of this on insomnia... and a restless spirit. So... that being said... although I've been too busy to sit in my studio this year... I have a plethora of paintings from past shows that I would love to share with you. So... this month's project is a blog a day... featuring one of said works... with the story of how it was conceived... this serves more than one purpose. I hope to not only sell some of these pieces to help pay for my art adventure in Spain... I am also devoting that time blogging about things I have created in the past few years... to reminding myself why I created them at all. I need to remember why I fell in love with being an artist in the beginning... because it's a part of me that I love... that has gone totally dormant. I photographed and cataloged as many paintings as humanly possible in the past couple of hours... but there will be more tomorrow and then next day and the next... hopefully by the time I leave town I will have fully remembered who I was back when I had time to do this thing I love.

So here is the first story... 

http://www.jenniferdsandquist.com/store/p52/I_Found_Her.html

I fell in love with New Orleans a few years ago... It seems like a place that I should have always been. Or somewhere that I belong. The city is dirty and beautiful. It is steeped in history and scandal. The food is amazing and the music is omni-present. If you know me... these things are pretty much all I live for. 

I was in New Orleans for the Satchmo Summerfest two years ago... I had a room with a giant balcony that faced a side street. It was hot... like 90 and 100 % humidity... so just after setting my suitcase and the trumpets I had hauled half way across the country... on my giant antique bed... I opened up the windows with tricky latches to let in some air. As I did a woman strolled past on the street below. She was clad in red from head to toe... she was a beacon on a dirty street and I scrambled to the bed to snatch up my camera... and I shot a photo of her just before she passed behind a tree. I did this rather impressionistic painting of that moment about a year later... it feels rushed just as that moment was... and I can't help but always hear the above song every time I look at this... 

Incidentally... my room (that I later found out used to be a hospital during the civil war) was totally haunted. If you'd like the details I can tell you about them sometime. I am not much for ghost stories... but some strange things happened in that room in the light of day that I can't explain. 

So there you have it... the first story behind the first painting to be featured here in the coming month. If you'd like to see all of them you can here: http://www.jenniferdsandquist.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

It's a truncated list at this hour... but I Hope to complete it this week and do a little tid bit about each as I go. I continue to make my way to New Orleans about once a year for work... someone once told me that the third time you go to New Orleans you decide to stay... I did leave a part of my heart there... and I can't wait to return. Maybe one day for good.

if you know me... even a  little... you know i love to dance. something about dancing makes me feel so free... and ridiculously happy... i think it's because when you are dancing you get to physically enjoy something  that already makes me feel so good... music. 

dancing is a way of connecting your whole body to a song. and when you are dancing... you can't think all that much. i think too much most of the time... so it's this freedom to stop thinking... and start moving... that releases me (and likely those of you  out there that like to dance too) from reality for a spell. what an awesome feeling. 

i have been plotting an art adventure now for about a year... i want to go to spain for a month to escape. and by escape i mean... dance in my own skin. i have been so busy the last couple of years... i feel my art slipping away from me... my day to day life is so full that when i do have a moment to collect my thoughts... the last thing i feel like doing is painting. i remember a time... when spending a night with some paint and some music... felt just as beautiful as dancing. so... i am going. 

when i was a little girl... i loved to dance just as much as i do now. i was the little girl at the wedding... doing the hokey pokey and spinning around for hours until i fell down from exhaustion. that's pretty much how i am now. i went to a wedding dance a couple of years ago... two old friends were married and i had friends fly in from as far away as stockholm... people i love dearly... and have known for a lifetime... that all love to dance as much as i do... about halfway through the wedding dance... (in red patent leather high heels).... i twisted my ankle and came down weird on my foot... it hurt terribly... but nothing... and i mean nothing... was going to stop me from having that night of dancing with those people... and so i danced all night anyway... only to find out i had a broken foot in the morning... i don't regret it... at all. 

i went home to visit my parents this weekend... and my mom said that when i was a little kid i was always trying to escape. i would just go out wandering around at all hours of the day or night. i ran away from home a lot... they installed a lock on the front door... that was taller than i was... so i used to bring a kitchen chair to the door and pop the latch... and run free anyway. i am guessing i was maybe 4 years old.... i remember this... and the feeling that i always wanted to go just a little further than i was allowed. i could never sleep well... i just kept imagining all of the things i was missing out on. i was and still am a terrible napper. 

i guess what i am trying to say is... i think that for some people (and by some people i mean... i hope it's not just me).. really need to get lost to be found. sometimes the world around you is so loud... that the only way to quiet it down... is to dance... or in this case... go to a foreign country alone to get out of your comfort zone... mute your reality and give yourself the gift of time. i can't imagine what i would be like today... if whenever i wanted to spin around for an hour at a wedding when i was 5... someone told me to stop... instead everyone would cheer and smile... and marvel at my ability to dance all night long and not throw up. 

i'll be honest... the endeavor of being all alone... in a strange place kinda does make me want to vomit. i think that's a good thing. i can't remember the last time i was so thrilled and afraid like this... and so... i believe it can only be good. in the long run. 

also... on a side note... if you see someone doing something brave... wild... maybe think twice about telling them to stop. those people are only trying to be as much as they can... and do as much as they can... and they might feel just as scared or awkward as you about it... just tell them to keep on dancing!!! 

one more thing... that i haven't been able to shake from my brain since saturday night (at my parents house)... 

when i was a little girl... my parents were also just babies... the fact that my mom and dad raised my sister and i... without injury and managed to teach us right from wrong... and how to love and be good human beings... is an amazing thing to me... my parents got married when they were so young... but they love eachother so much. more so today than ever before... it's inspiring. i feel very blessed to have two such amazing souls to come back home to... whenever i can carve out time for them... that i wish i had more of. 

Some of the most extraordinary people "in my life" i have met quite by accident. total strangers that have somehow come into my life in the most happenstance ways. although i have had zero time to pontificate about my art in forever... tonight is a great example of such a coincidental meeting. years ago... long before I had ever done an art show of my own... i stumbled upon the paintings of Todd Holingsworth online... i thought then... as I do now... that his paintings captured something unexplainable... that I hoped to capture in the portrait/people paintings i was doing at the time. the moments in life that no one really talks about much... but that we can all remember... Todd paints moments of AHA... moments when you and a total stranger share a secret... or a thought... without speaking. this secret moment was the driving force in all of the art i did back  then. 

fast forward many years... and todd has asked me to share some space with him at palmers for his latest show. i am beyond flattered... to be chosen by someone that inspired me (quite by accident) long ago... to keep creating. 

I am showing some of my sign paintings alongside Todd's lovely ladies. .. and the combination somehow works splendidly... it's as if you've met these women in the establishments that lurk over their heads. (or that's how I see it)... 

Todd and I both share a love of the mystique that is Palmers... and we have a mutual appreciate for the art that each of us creates... so... if you stop out tonight for the opening party (it's Todd;'s birthday too ... so don't forget to buy him a stiff drink)... know that you are witnessing an sort of accidental union of two artists that admire one another. Hopefully that feeling will permeate the exhibit... and the evening. I heard a rumor there will be a ham.... and music by the Rank Strangers and Front Porch Swinging Liquor Pigs... it's sure to be an evening that won't disappoint even the mildest art, music or alcohol appreciator... come say hi. i have to work all day tomorrow for a brass symposium... so i have to be good and leave by around 11/12... but the party will go all night long. it is palmers afterall...