Caution:Artist at Play-Artwork by Shana Rowe Jackson

Hello everybody and Happy 2017!! I have had a lot of questions lately about how long I have been an artist, and how I decided to get into art. I started saving my artwork and scrapbooking it by the time I was 8 or 9 years old, and since it is a new year, I thought it would be fun to share some of that artwork with all of you. I decided to choose one piece for each year that I have been creating. Even though I have created everything from landscapes, to portraits to animals, I decided to keep the theme to people to keep it more cohesive. There were some years that I did not have a lot of artwork depicting people to choose from, so I decided to share whatever I had, even if it was not my best . Here is my newest YouTube video, I hope you enjoy!!  For more on my artwork or for prints feel free to visit my website!

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

10 Reasons Why We Need Art "Before the Music Died" © Shana L Rowe Jackson 2012   History . Since the dawn of time art has served as a pictorial guide to where we originate from.   From the earliest cave drawings, to religious paintings and everything in between it has served as a way to look back in time and see how different cultures lived, what they went through and how we have grown as a species.        Cultural and political expression . Art serves as a very important purpose when it comes to getting a certain message out. If you look at art from specific cultures you can learn a lot about that culture and the way they live. From longstanding traditions to political views, if it is important to said culture chances are it has been depicted in their art. Street art is a good example of this, as it often expresses the needs of the community in which it originates.       Therapy. Art is proven to be therapeutic, both in the creation of it and in be

I have to say Autumn is my most favorite season of the year!! The gorgeous leaves, no humidity, even temperatures. The colors are wonderful, the smells are intoxicating. Pumpkins, Candy, Apples, I love everything about this season.  This year I have been particularly inspired. From Halloween, to fallen leaves, here are a few of my newest fall paintings done this year, and there are more on the way!!! "Free as Autumn Leaves" "Trick or treat?" "Fallen from Grace" "Morning after Autumn rain" "Pumpkin Palooza" "Life is Golden" Here are a few of my old favorites inspired by fall!! "Self Portrait 2" 2011 "New England Drive" 2011 "When October Comes" 2012 "I'll be the teachers pet for sure!!" 2012 "What's for dinner?" 2012 "I want THAT one Mom!!" 2012 "Thanksgiving Dinner" 2011

"Caution:Artist at Play" 10"x10" Acrylic     Art, in itself is fun. It is it's own rewarding adventure from day to day, it's relaxing, and therapeutic. I absolutely love being an artist!! It's also a lot of work. I'm not just talking about challenging myself to be better at my craft, reading and learning, pushing myself, experimenting, and the years of work and personal growth. That is a factor but I consider that to be the fun side of art. What I am talking about is the menial things that most people don't think about when getting into art. The things behind the craft to make it possible. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and not all of them are fun. Here is my list of top 10 tedious things that I do for my art, in no particular order as they are all in the same boat in my eyes. 10. Cleaning my brushes. This is a simple task, but it bores me to no end. It can also be time consuming depending on what medium I have been