even me | first exhibit

Even Me had its first exhibit at the Ponte Vedra Cultural Center! It was such an honor showing at their gallery for the month of March and April. The show consisted of 12 paintings including Maurin, John, Isaka, Neema, Irene, Beatrice, Glory, Frank, Kelvin, Aneth, Rebecca, and Mary (see photos above).

It was also an honor having a couple write ups about my paintings with Folio Weekly, St. Augustine Social, and St. Johns Magazine! 

As of now, I'm finishing the other half of the project (12 more paintings to go)!

one finished, one starte

i finished rebecca's painting! here's the final product. all she needs is a crisp white background and a custom frame with a unique piece of african fabric (and boy, do i have some awesome pieces to choose from)! 

and here's the 12th painting, kelvin. very early stages, but i'll post more on the progress soon! xoxo.

Neema

Neema, pronounced ney-mah, means "grace" in Swahili. I love that name, and boy, did she carry it well. Meet Neema! This is the girl I'm painting (it's actually the girl in the middle of the header photo above)! She has quite the story. Leaving out specifics, she was found at age three surviving on her own. The orphanage school I worked for, Rafiki Foundation, took her in, gave her a home and put her in school. While I was in Tanzania, I got to teach Neema art! She absolutely loved it. Her personality was a little timid, kind, and observant - the personality of a true artist. I sure do miss her!

I want to show you an Even Me painting in its early stage. The painting process is different from drawing. Instead of drawing from left to right, oil painting is about building upon layer after layer. The layers start out ambiguous and evolve into the specifics. I'm about three layers into Neema's painting. Most Even Me paintings take...I don't even know how many layers because it's so many... I want to say 50+ layers. Neema's still in its ambiguous stage, but you can see the shadows, highlights, and, if you squint, you can start to see a face emerging. After this layer dries in a few days, I'll start stippling colors with my itty bitty paint brush. 

Stay tuned for more about Neema's painting!

XO, Jenna

although i haven't posted in ages, the good news is i'm still alive. the getting married and having a baby thing really takes up a lot of time. i'm glad it does because i'm the happiest girl alive. with that being said, i want to let you know i'm still painting! i am close to finishing twelve even me paintings! i've been so blessed to have them hung in my gallery / studio space in st. augustine, florida. the greatest people have walked through those doors, which have led to many opportunities. 

the really good news is my even me project has its first showing! it will be the first official exhibit (besides here at my shop) of the twelve paintings together as a collection. the show will open march 6th at the ponte vedra cultural center from 6 - 8 pm and will be up for a month until april 17th. if you get a chance please stop by to see them in person! 

will post photos of the newest paintings soon! 

love you all! thanks for the patience.

jenna