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Glory and gore

4/30/2014

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Glory and gore go hand in hand...
 you can try and take us... but victory's contagious... " ~lorde
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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... 

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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.

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