Caution:Artist at Play-Artwork by Shana Rowe Jackson

As an artist I am faced with many choices of tools with which express myself. New mediums become available frequently, each with their own set of unique qualities. I love experimenting with new mediums and incorporating what I have learned into my work. In order to grow as an artist, I think that it is part of my job to study techniques and mediums to see what works best for me. While I get some information from “how-to” books and by speaking to other artists, I find that nothing compares to good old fashioned hands on experimentation. Two of my favorite mediums are oil and acrylic; oil, being known in the art world as “The medium of the Masters” has been around for centuries, whereas acrylic is fairly new in comparison having only been around since the late 1940s. Oil paint is often the preferred medium among professionals, because it has a long history to back up its quality and many of the famed artists such as Claude Monet and Leonardo Da Vinci once painted their masterpi

     Spring has finally sprung, and that means flowers, green grass, blue skies and beautiful weather. This kind of beautiful weather means the opportunity to get out and paint something wonderful. The apple tree in my front yard has been a great inspiration for many of my works in the past, and recently the apple blossoms have been in full bloom, making it a perfect subject for my newest painting. The sky was an awesome blue, and I was so eager to get out and paint that I forgot sunblock until it was a bit too late (big mistake...ouch!!) but I had a wonderful time, and in the end it was all worth it. I didn't realize how much I had missed my acrylic paints!! They lend themselves perfectly to painting outside, I just kept a little water on hand in case it got too breezy causing the paint to dry too fast on the pallet. Sometimes the perfect subject can be right in front of you, in your own yard. I found a day of painting outside was very therapeutic, and fed my soul. The finished p

  I read an article recently about a program that takes children's art and makes it into realistic versions. That, coupled with my recent re-do of my "Mother Nature's Kisses" that I originally painted two years ago, got me thinking. It inspired me to go through my paintings that I did when I was a kid, and see if there were any I could revive and make realistic versions of now that I am an adult.  "Revival Painting Comparison, The first was done when I was 13!!   This project is really exciting because it takes the simplicity of my childhood imagination to a whole new level. It brings me back to my roots. It is fun to see where my style started and to see how I've grown as an artist. It's interesting to see the things that I use to come up with. I would sit for hours painting, making things up from my head, and it has been inspirational to revisit those ideas.  Original version 11"x17" Acrylic on Cardstock  Shana L Rowe Jackson 2001