Featured Artist Jody Ahrens

Jody Ahrens presents a collection of colorful landscapes painted in a fresh and spontaneous style. See more by visiting her website.

 

 

My earliest memory of purposefully creating art was around four years old. Sitting alongside the laundry basket under a floor length dining room tablecloth with tiny blunt nosed scissors in hand, I made my first art.

 

 

With my older brother’s only white marching band shirt in hand, I gathered the fabric up in a tight cone shaped pucker and cut the tip off. The little star shaped hole was amazingly beautiful, so I did more. Soon I started evaluating where my unique little stars were placed. I carefully made a grouping. Then a couple satellite shapes were needed farther out. Cut farther down for a larger star, cut at an angle for a more abstract shape.

 

 

The shirt was now so much more interesting! I continued to decorate a tablecloth, napkins and then T-shirts. Even though I wasn’t very popular at dinner that night, it didn’t dampen my artistic nature. Wisely, my parents supplied me with a variety of more appropriate art materials and supervised my use of scissors.

 

 

Both of my parents were highly trained and accomplished Impressionist oil painters. By the time I was ten I understood the Golden Mean, structure and composition, how to use a color wheel and choose a mother color. I created prolifically.

 

 

I attended Chouinard School of the Arts in Valencia California, just up-valley a bit from my home in Sierra Madre. Chouinard was all about no structure, no rules, and freedom of expression. The exposure to a new abstract style of painting was a fun and exciting experience. Over time representational images began creeping into my abstract work, until the distinct style you see today emerged.

 

 

For years, the meadows and trees of Colorado’s High Country have been a major inspiration for my work. I call it Edgy Impressionism. Most paintings are created in plein air, with finishing touches added in my studio.

 

 

Upon arriving at a location, the first question I ask is, “Why did this location attract my attention today and what is the mood and feeling I would like to capture?” The answer dictates the size of the substrate and the colors used. I start by pre-mixing the sky color and maybe some of the far background colors. Then it is time to slip into a totally unstructured, creative mind set and let the painting evolve as it will.

 

 

I love to share scenes that offer a tempting little path to explore. Perhaps an intriguing shady woods just across the meadow, or a quiet welcoming pond to wade in. When viewers are invited to participate in the creative process and make up their own story, their connection and enjoyment of the piece will grow over time.

 

Jody Ahrens invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram.

 

 

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