I'm now back in the studio full time after a long, unintentional and unavoidable hiatus. It has been a difficult two years since my husband's death and it's taken me a long time to really be able to muster up the creative energy it takes to break new ground with my work. But I'm happy with the new stuff I've been working on this month. I moved back to Albuquerque and the near constant sunshine has got to be helping, too.
But I've got to give credit to my friend Todd, who I've written about before, one of my oldest friends. He's moved out here to help me out, he needed a break from NYC too but either way he's a god send right now for sure, handling all of my shipping, computer work, inventory and all the stuff that has been taking up more than half my time so now I can focus on what I do best. Paint.

Todd in his Badass Rubber Chicken Viking Helmet. He can't work without it. Rest assured that he'll be donning it as he packs up your painting. It's the studio rule.
So now that he's got my back, painting is about all I've done for weeks now. Usually 16-18 hours a day or until I pass out, most of the time not even stopping to eat. I think it's been worth it so far and I'm not showing any sign of slowing down. It feels great to be back in ABQ and working again.
I just finished this one today. Ironic, for sure. Some sort of commentary on our culture and hypocrisy, I suppose. I try not to think too much about things when I work or I think the end product can be ham-fisted. If I keep the process as unconscious as possible my cynical nature seems to find it's way to the surface without even trying.

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Eye Candy No. 4" - 31 x 41
These images are vintage candy and other ads that I've found odd or ridiculous and for whatever reason I've collected them over the years. I've made a large digital collage and then printed it out and hand transfered it to the canvas... a painstaking process that takes longer than it would to just paint the things from scratch... but I really like the distressed, worn, ghostly effect that the transfer backdrop has behind more vivid effect of the painted bottle caps and candy cigarette packs (the ultimate symbol of irony). If I'd painted the entire backdrop it would just feel like another iconic 70's pop art piece to me. The transfer changes everything.
I've worked the paintings below simultaneously over the last two weeks. Starting with a basic black and white transfer of a nude and then working back into them with various mediums until they felt "done". In art school my concentration was figure studies and I always seem to end up back here. I like starting with the transfer sometimes because it feels more like a sculpture than a painting to me.

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Urban Nude No. 1" - 36 x 50
I've read about how Michelangelo was so meticulous in choosing his marble because if he got into it and then found a flaw it would take him so much longer because he'd have to work around the flaw... or scrap the whole thing. That's what it feels like to me. I lay in texture randomly first and lay down the transfer and then, of course, because the transfer always fights and the texture never seems to be where I want it, I'm forced to fight it out until it works.

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Urban Nude No. 2" - 50 x 36
Of course, it would be so much simpler to just plan out the piece in advance and lay everything down so it works like it should and doesn't fight me... but where's the fun in that? For me, art is in the struggle. Problems arise. The artist solves them. I think it's how I improve. So I make sure and make extra problems for myself. I've always been an over achiever. But I really believe that if I stay in my comfort zone I won't grow or get better.
© Jenny Berry "Urban Nude No. 3" - 36 x 50
Yes, I know, my signature bird paintings are well within my comfort zone. I basically repeat them over and over and I sell a lot of them. But as I push the envelope with my other work the birds will follow and evolve as well.

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Urban Nude No. 4" - 31 x 32
Urban Nude 4 (above) was the first painting where I've started to push away from the solid black silhouettes and bring in the very Banksy and Shepard Fairey inspired high contrast, black and white images, something I've been wanting to explore for a while. I've now started exploring this with the birds as well and I'm happy with the result... so fair warning, you'll be seeing a lot of these in the future :)

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Birds On Wires No. 433" detail
Last year I started exploring a series of nudes based on some mildly provocative images of women. Below is the latest in that series. I don't know why I find these images so compelling. Could be the implicit cultural taboo and the series of emotional responses we have to these images that I find interesting. I don't know. They pull a completely different emotional response from people than the more serene nudes. Even though the poses are not provocative at all, more evocative if anything, they seem to hit a different cord than the other nudes.

© Jenny Berry 2011 "Dark Nude No. 3" - 50 x 27
This one pushes the envelope with the addition of the red drips and the zippers for sure. I've always had this thing for zippers in my work. They seem to imply something hidden. Whenever I feel myself having an automatic response to something I see (graffiti, facial piercings, provocative images, whatever) I try to stop and analyze it. Instinct can protect us but letting our culture think for us can be dangerous. I think that questioning process is what draws me to these images and to street art as well.