I am honored to announce that I am a Sous-Chef of the awesome
Soul Food 2015!!

Soul Food is a 3-month long art class consisting of twice weekly video tutorials from a wide variety of talented artists. For more info and how to sign up, please click here.

As a Sous-Chef I was asked to make an intro video where I answer a few interview questions. Please check it out:
 

Now to the fun part!
I will give away 
ONE FREE SPOT
in Soul Food 2015!!

You can enter the draw by:
1. Comment on my Facebook post
2. Share my Facebook post
3. Comment on this blog post below

For each of the above 3 actions you will enter the draw i.e. you can enter the draw three times:-))

I will pick a winner on Christmas Day:-))

Good Luck! I can't wait to see you in class in February:-))

 

I have finished a very fun commission project for a fabulous woman who ordered this painting for her lovely husband's 40th birthday.

To start off my inspiration and to add a very personal element to the painting, their three kids, 9, 7 and 3 years old, were taking part in the creative process. I invited them over for a couple of hours play with paint, both on separate paper but also on the actual canvas, as one of the first layers.

Their marks and imagery as well as the hubby's favourite song, "You Raise Me Up"  by Josh Groban, kicked off the inspiration for the painting and guided me through the process. A flower that one of the kids painted and the word Eternity from the song set the framework for the painting. 

It was for sure a challenging and very fun project and I loved every bit of it. Have a look at the photos:-)
 

"You Raise Me Up" - JOSH GROBAN

When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up to more than I can be.

You raise me up to more than I can be.
 

Three fun days at the Stockholm Art Fair. Not as many visitors as I had hoped but I met many new artist friends. What a fantastic community of artist:-) I will miss you all!!... and I am looking forward to next time! .

..and here are some photos...
 

I am exciting preparing for my next exhibition
at the Stockholm Art Fair at Nackamässan, Nacka Strand, Stockholm, 21-23 of November.
We will be 100 artists from Sweden, Denmark and Finland exhibiting for 3 days.
Hope to see you there!
 

I often get the questions "What inspires you?". So I thought I will start sharing how I get inspired on a regular basis!

Poems is a great source of inspiration for me. I find them in books and on-line. I often write them in big letters on the canvas in an early stage of a painting. In the end there might be parts of it visible but sometimes the actual text can not be seen but the inspiration of the words are all shining through!

One current source of inspiration is Kaveri Patel and her poems! (see more here). The following poem is written in the blue of the painting below... and yes, Kaveri is ok with me using her poems as inspiration:-) She has used one of my paintings on a cover for one of her books:-))
 

Walking Meditation

letting go of destination
no place to go but here
sacred steps, feet on the Earth
aware you're already there

-Kaveri Patel

What a fantastic afternoon.
In a spectacular setting, an old villa from 1904 right by the sea, with family and friends,
an afternoon of pure love and happiness.
The flow was definately present and I sold 8 paintings:-))

...and as usual I let the pictures tell it all!!
 

Proudly presenting a newly published book with my painting "Stillness" on the cover. The book is a lovely poetry book by Kaveri Patel. Her work has appeared in Buddha Chick Life. She also won third place in the 2011 international Spirit First poetry contest for her poem Forgiveness.
Read more and buy the book on Kaveri's web.
 

Cool, cool, soooo cool!

I was part of an exhibition on Time Square in New York. My art was displayed as part of a collage of paintings from a set of artist from around the world. Here are some cool pictures from the event
 

My painting "Stillness" is displayed on the left half way up:-)
 

My painting "Dream" is displayed in the middle half way up.
 

It is such a great feeling to deliver a commission and see the smile and love that radiates from the new owner!! Here is the story about my latest commission "Back in Eden"
 

The woman that commissioned this painting has dogs and I knew she would love her dogs to be part of the painting... the problem being I have never painted dogs... BUT I am brave and I let go:-)... I started as I always do with a lot of layers of collage, paint and patterns... and funny enough dogs started to appear in the painting! I then read this lovely quote by Milan Kundera and I knew there would be dogs in my painting:-)
 

"Dogs are our link to paradise.
They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent.
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon
is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring...
...it was peace!

-Milan Kundera

 

Had a great weekend at the Art Expo in Älvkarleby. Many arty visitors and the atmosphere was very special. I met many special people and made friends for life. I miss you all! More photos to come:-)

 

I am preparing for my next exhibition "Magic Happens" at the Art Expo in Älvkarleby. We are 50 artists exhibiting in an old mansion in the middle of Sweden. Here are some work-in-progress pics and my latest batch of bags and throw pillows.

My art supply has arrived from New Zealand and I have moved into my new studio. Great to settle in and start painting again but it is amazing how quickly I can mess up my studio... only takes a day of creative work:-) I have a big commission and an Art Expo to prepare for and the kids have already moved in too:-)

My latest painting "I'll be me" is now for sale at restaurant Delissi in Mount Maunganui.
The painting is 1,8x1,2 meter (6x4 feet).

There are big changes going on in my life... I am moving from New Zealand to Sweden:-) My studio is all packed up and ready to go in the container that will sail all the way north.  I am sooooo looking forward to unpack it and move into my "new" studio while back home... but the stuff is not arriving until beginning of April so I need to be patient:-) I am happy I have my art journaling to rely on until then.

It will be interesting to see how the move affects my art and if there will be other images or colours appearing during 2014. I am bringing some finished art with me and they might appear in my next exhibition... if not sold before that.

I already have an Art Expo and one solo exhibition booked for 2014 in Sweden.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

What a fantastic year 2013 has been. Going through all the photos and events to ad to this recap has been fantastic. Great to realize how much I have actually done... time passes quickly but it is good to stop and focus on what I have done and not only on the things I have not been able to do or finish!

As you know I am a visual person and words are not my strong side... what better than summarize my year in photos rather than words:)

Peace within - my goal for 2013

My goal for the year was "Peace within". I wanted to find peace within myself independent of what situation I ended up in. I wanted to minimize irritation, anger and frustration and meet life content and with a peaceful mind. One of my big learnings from 2012 was to listen to my own intuition; to listen to it, to trust it and to act on what I heard... so I used that skill... and it works...  it took me down the right track :-)

I have been living in Aotearoa - New Zealand, the fantastic country of green rolling hills, fern trees and laid back people, who takes life not too serious...
...perfect place to search for my own peace!

We lived just by the Pacific Ocean in a beautiful and inspiring place called Mount Maunganui...

My life is all mostly about my family. My life partner since 15 years, Simon (the guy on the left!!), that I love deeply and my 3 wonderful children that inspires me and keeps me on my toes:-)

We lived in great place just across from the kids' school.
This is my kitchen table and the school across the road!

I had the first... but not last... girls weekend with my daughter Meya...

...we built a tree hut...

and we experienced a very strong earthquake. Magnitude 6.5!!! Scary!!!

I packed school lunches 200 times!!

I celebrated my birthdays in the bush...

...Max birthday on the beach...

...Meya's birthday in her favorite restaurant...

...Simon's birthday in our own heaven... our batch in Ohiwa...

...and Lucas birthday in bed:-)

I started to take "selfies"!

We visited an active volcano Island that had an outbreak not long after!!!...

...spent heaps of time with my youngest, Max, on the beach...

...practiced yoga, played beach volleyball and finished 2 tough mountain biking races.

I tried to keep my peculiar Swedish traditions alive...

...and I painted, painted and painted!

My first paintings 2013, Stillness and Listen, set the direction for the year. I wanted to find peace within (Stillness) and the way to find it was to listen to my inner voice!

I participated in 10 group exhibitions...

...had one solo exhibition - "Life is a Journey"...

...had my art projected on skyscrapers in New York...

.
...and won the People's Choice Award with my painting "I Have a Dream" :-)

I painted my biggest painting so far... a 7x3 m (23x10 feet) mural backdrop for a primary school hall...

...I did 2 live painting performances...

...and got my art printed on different product such as bags, iPhone covers and throw pillows.

I exhibited all the kids art from my art classes in a local gallery together with
my good friend and artist Joyce van der Leley...

...and we captured all the art and great moments of the classes and exhibition

in a book for the kids... they were soooo proud:-)

I did a total makeover of my web and blog, www.flowbyjenny.com!

I started the planning and did some test filming of my painting process for an on-line class that I hopefully will have time to finish and launch during 2014! Keep updated by liking me on Facebook or sign up to my newsletter.

...and do you know what? In parallel with all this I found some peace within myself. I am less frustrated and I live much more in the moment than I have ever done before.

To live in peace with myself is a of course a continuing job... but I definitely got much more peaceful during 2013.  I have come a long way this year and the focus and determination will take me even further!!

Me and my family are going through huge changes at the moment, moving from New Zealand back to Sweden and my practice of staying peaceful and living in the moment is put to the test! So far so good...
...I will let you know how it is going:-)

Thank you for bearing with me and reading to the end:-)
Please leave a comment. They are very much appreciated.

Love to you all and happy 2014!!!