It’s been almost a month since Sky Becomes Water closed and I probably have enough perspective now to write about it. I was very pleased with this body of work– it felt authentic and vulnerable and like a step forward which I haven’t felt about my work in a long while.
Although I didn’t begin with any hard and fast direction, I did take my jumping off point creatively from two paintings I’d put aside the summer before– they felt like a different direction from the other work I was doing at the time so I stopped working on them and let them breathe for a long time.
It turned out that they were already complete. As I began working on the show, I kept these still as they were and they felt like the touchpoint for where I wanted to take the new paintings.
Ten Thousand Years, Maybe, 2025, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40x48x2, private collectionMy Being Was a Swan, 2025, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40x48x2, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
As we hung the show at J. Rinehart Gallery, it was a challenge at first. It seemed like the work wasn’t naturally finding its rhythm on the gallery’s walls. But we persevered and I left that day feeling very happy and proud of producing this group of paintings and my 3rd solo show with JRG.
The show’s opening coincided with Pioneer Square Art Walk and we had a nice number of visitors, a great mix of folks already familiar with my work and some fresh eyes.
The gallery hosted an Artist Talk with me on a Saturday afternoon. Between us, I dread these. I love talking with people one on one about my work but a group setting is pretty uncomfortable for this introvert. So perhaps it’s for the best that these tend to be smaller in attendance, ha! That said, this small but mighty group had some really wonderful questions and insights and I was incredibly grateful for the time we spent together.
A few paintings sold and honestly, in this current economic climate, I am happy with that. Many are still available and I’m hopeful they will find their places and the people who love them.
I’m incredibly grateful to be able to do this work and to Judith, Alexandra, and all the team at J. Rinehart Gallery who support me so well and so fully.
meanwhile the wild geese, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×48, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
Sky Becomes Water, my 3rd solo exhibition with J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle opens for a Collector’s Preview this Saturday, August 2nd 2-4pm and an Opening Reception during Pioneer Square ArtWalk next Thursday, August 7th 5-8pm.
Rather than being “inspired” by a particular theme or event, for this body of work, I began with how I wanted these paintings to feel– poetic.
Lyrical, dreamlike, beautiful in an unconventional way– perhaps incongruous or a bit illogical. These aren’t direct representations of landscapes (none of my paintings are) but interpretations of an emotional response to landscape.
my being was a swan, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×48, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
Continuing my pursuit of intuitively formed landscapes, I found myself often turning the panels upside down, so that the sky became water and water transformed to sky.
As the fluid pigment runs down the surface, from sky to sea or lake and then back again, I’m reminded of the way water is connecting us all– to the earth, to our source, to every living thing.
tasting of bread and salt, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×60, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
You can get a sneak peek at the rest of the work in the show here ! If you see something you’re interested in, you can shoot the gallery an email at judith@jrinehartgallery.com.
In addition to the receptions listed above, there will also be an Artist Talk in the gallery Saturday, August 16th at 1pm.
I’ll be sharing more from the show in the coming days and weeks. I’m excited to show you!
Without even trying, I’ve ended up in a small, burgeoning creative community. One of our talented neighbors makes Mid Century inspired furniture and has long held a dream of opening his own home furnishings boutique. So when he mentioned he would be opening a Pop Up storefront in our little downtown, it took it as a fun chance to help a friend and our local community and maybe just sell a few older paintings.
This special group of paintings we selected from my studio are very inspired by where we live in the Skagit Valley– a mix of abstracted water and vegetative views.
All the paintings available at Small Spaces can be found on their website and are available to purchase there. These paintings are only available from Small Spaces for a limited time– only through September 2025.
Thanks for stopping by for a chat with me! More to come from the studio soon.
Wow it’s been a minute. For the last several years, I’ve been putting so much energy into social media, then, like so many other artists, I’ve found my engagement tanking and just feeling like I’m spinning my wheels. It can be less motivating to share when it feels like no one is listening.
But for some reason, it feels like it could be different back here. To return to this, a space I own, and share anything I want. To not think about what might make the almighty algorithm happy, but only about my own satisfaction. I know a lot of folks are migrating away from owned blogs to Substack, but honestly, I just don’t trust a space that I don’t have complete control over anymore. We’ve seen too many apps come and then go the exact same direction. Old school blogging, along with my newsletter, feels like the answer.
While yes, I have a solo show coming up I want to share with you, I also have a renewed desire to share more about my process, my life as an artist, inspiration, etc. and to share more in depth than an Instagram post allows (although I’m still posting on Instagram, I’ll share more deeply here).
So, dear friend, if you’re reading this, thank you. Thank you for lending me your ear and your time.
Helloooooo!!! Is anyone still here? I know it’s been a long time between posts but I’m here with exciting news and didn’t want you to miss out.
Beginning today, Friday 8/12 and running through Sunday 8/14, I’m hosting my first ever virtual studio sale on Instagram Stories.
sample of works available for purchase 8/12-8/14
I’ve managed to collect a big pile of acrylic and watercolor paintings on paper and flat panel and need to make some room in my small studio. I am also selling this work to help fund my upcoming month long residency in Newfoundland.
In case you aren’t on Instagram, you can also access the sale via this link.
The linked document will expire on 8/15. Please read the sale guidelines at the top of the document.
This sale is open to US residents only.
I hope you’ll take a look and perhaps find something to love!
It’s that time of year to look back at where I’ve been and ahead to where I’d like to go!
To say 2019 was busy is definitely an understatement! Eleven shows turned out to be an insane pace for even this over-productive artist. AND we bought and furnished a house this year.
I always find this review process such a helpful exercise, so I hope you’ll indulge me (and maybe even enjoy it a little?)
acrylic paintings completed: 80
Somewhere around 75-80 acrylic paintings seems to be my norm, judging by 2018-2019. I think I might like for that number to go down a tiny bit, but as long as I have galleries requesting (and selling!) small works, it looks like that quantity will continue.
Each year I explore a new series, even if briefly, and this year it was ENTANGLEMENTS. This series felt right and even exciting at the time, but my interest waned, as it seems to do sometimes. It may be something I revisit eventually, but for now, I don’t have a desire to go any further.
I continued to revisit VENTERS seascapes, my tiny SCINTILLA series, and my series of water abstractions, ECHOES. In the ECHOES series especially, I explored ways of expressing more texture and movement within the context of water. I loved experimenting, but find myself longing to go back to the more calm, peaceful expression of water reflections.
Sometimes we have to diverge from the path only to find our way back to where we are headed..
My LEMOLO series continued to evolve and I was very pleased with where these took me this year. Things brightened and softened for my two person show at Art & Light and then, after signing on with a new Seattle gallery, I allowed myself to explore more mountainous terrain in these memory journeys. I’m looking forward to seeing this series and my landscape work continue to evolve in 2020.
watercolors completed: 28 plus lots of sketches and a super secret commission
I’ve been painting these abstracted tree watercolors for 2 years now and took on a couple of new challenges this year– the first being a big commission/licensing deal with a major outdoor brand (stay tuned for that announcement in 2020!) that took a lot of time in phone calls, emails, and negotiations and then an incredibly fast turn around. This wasn’t my first foray into licensing but it was the first time I’ve created paintings specifically to be used as a textile pattern design and definitely the quickest turn around EVER for a commission.
The second watercolor challenge was to create these little watercolors on a larger scale for the New Additions show at J Rinehart Gallery in Seattle.
In my biggest personal news of the year, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. After 8 years of traveling, we were both ready to settle down and in 2018 we decided Western Washington was our spot, especially after hubby was offered a job in Everett. We started casually looking at houses around March and found a little house that felt warm and welcoming, that seemed perfect to grow old in (ugh, we have to plan for that now), and in an area we love and neighborhood where affordable houses go FAST. So we pulled the trigger much sooner than we’d planned and hubby actually closed and started moving in while I was on the East Coast for the Breath | Air show and my niece’s graduation. Insanity!
So any creative juices and energy not expended in creating over 100 paintings has gone into planning, painting, furnishing, organizing, cleaning and all the work that goes into a new home. It is coming along, I’m hoping by this time next year I will no longer be laying awake at night designing rooms in my head.
Compared to years past, we didn’t get much hiking or adventuring in this year (see paragraph above about new house, ha!). But we did finally get to see Mount Hood, Lopez Island, and British Columbia!
With such a busy year, I didn’t quite get to all of my goals that I laid out at the end of last year, and priorities shifted so that some of these weren’t even on my radar..
Expand my gallery representation in the West/Northwest and beyond.. CHECK but this is still a goal for 2020, specifically representation in the West (Colorado, Santa Fe, Jackson Hole, etc).
Expand representation for corporate and healthcare artwork placement in the Pacific Northwest.. applied to a few opportunities but other priorities came first.This is an ongoing quest.
Build a new website (ugh! this needs to be done but I am SO not looking forward to it).. This is at the top of my list for 2020. Stay tuned!
Merge this blog into the new website.. Artsy Forager has been around for almost 9 years but having this blog separate from my artist website just doesn’t make sense anymore. I will probably continue to have both domains functioning for a while, but clicks to AF will redirect to lesleyfrenz.com. I will still blog it just won’t be under the Artsy Forager domain. This goal has been a long time coming, so fingers crossed I can get it done this year!
Explore more IMMERSIONS work in acrylic.. nope. This didn’t happen. I still think about it occasionally but don’t feel a strong pull. So this is dropping off my Goals list.
New goals for 2020:
Streamline my accounting, inventory systems
Streamline, do better organizing and planning for social media
Create and foster community with other artists in the Northern Puget sound area
Attend at least one workshop to either learn a new skill or improve existing skills, explore new ideas
Apply to at least half a dozen artist residencies
2020 is already shaping up to be commission heavy (looking at somewhere around 10 commissioned paintings already in the planning stages) and I’m looking forward to seeing where the new year takes me!
Thank you, dear friends, for continuing to follow along on this journey, especially between the radio silences here on the blog. I won’t promise more blog posts next year, but I do to come and check in more often.
Hiya! I have a couple more shows opening this month to tell you about, just in case you missed them on my social media feeds.
SHELTER, a mixed media, group art exhibition featuring new works from Janet Eskridge, Kim Ferreira, Lesley Frenz and Duy Huynh. We explore various themes of ‘shelter’, from man-made and naturally occurring structures that nurture and protect, to symbolic spaces that offer emotional respite and refuge.
my work in SHELTER
SHELTER is up at Lark & Key in Charlotte and shoppable online on their website. The show is now through November 27th, their regular retail hours are 10am-3pm Wed- Fri and by appointment. They are open the 2nd Saturday and Sunday of each month, as well!
Something New, is a group show featuring new work by Robert Adams, Najin Bae, John Karl Claes, Jaime Longa, Manuel Nunes, Abigale Palmer, Justin Wheatley, and moi.
like a siren, acrylic on canvas, 36x36x1.5
Something New will be up at Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento until November 7th and also shoppable online (isn’t the 21st century great?! You can buy art in your pjs!)
Also, a bunch of new work is coming to J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle next month! I am super pleased to be joining the roster of artists in this new Pioneer Square gallery and happy to add a retail gallery to my Seattle representation!
Stay tuned for more on that new round of work– it’s an exciting bunch!
Here I am again, sharing news of another show! I promise there is more going on with me than just creating work for shows, but well, I’ve been blessed with opportunity this year and they are just flowing one right after the other!
Enormous Tiny Art 26 is my fourth ETA show and with each one, I’ve tried in these tiny landscapes to channel what I see as visual connections between the coastal Northeast and the Pacific Northwest. These SCINTILLA were inspired by the changing of the seasons from summer to Fall– the melting of marshy greens in golden ochres and orangey reds, crisp blue skies mixed with early morning fog.
If you’re in the Portsmouth, NH area, I hope you’ll make it to see ETA 26 at Nahcotta, Sept 6th- 30th. There is so much amazing work in this show! You can also see all the work on the Enormous Tiny Art website.
I feel like I should apologize, friends. It seems like lately the only time I come onto the blog is to announce a new show or venture. I really never wanted it to be this way here when I shifted the blog’s focus from the work of others to my own. But my studio work has been keeping me so very busy that there really isn’t much time or energy left over for the blog. I would love for that to change and perhaps over time it will, but for now, here I am, telling you about a new show!
My work was happily accepted into the 2019 Emerging Artists Show at Anne Irwin Fine Art in Atlanta. Work from a new series, ENTANGLEMENTS, debuted in Atlanta on August 2nd and will be at AIFA until September 2nd.
This new series has been germinating in the back of my mind for a long time and while maybe I should have taken a safer route by sending tried and true LEMOLO landscapes or ECHOES for this show, when I began painting, these came out and I felt like I needed to take a chance on them. Call it a gut feeling.
ENTANGLEMENTS is based in part on quantum entanglement (“During entanglement, the physical characteristics of the individual atomic components become blurred beyond recognition..” ) but it goes beyond that– as intrigued as I am by quantum entanglement, I am more interested in what it means for us as spiritual beings in human form, our connectedness with our Maker, each other, and the material world around us.
You can see all the work in the AIFA show online here and my specifically my work, here. If you’re in the Atlanta area, I hope you’ll stop by Anne Irwin Fine Art to see the work in person!
I hope to have more to share about this series and my thoughts behind it in the weeks to come. It is a truly powerful thought to consider how intricately we are all connected to everyone, everything.
Anne Irwin Fine Art is located at 690 Miami Circle NE #150, Atlanta, GA. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 10am-5pm and by appointment.
It’s been 3 years since my last show at Art & Light Gallery and I’m so excited to be heading back to Greenville on May 3rd for the opening of Breath | Air, a two person show with Asheville artist, Alicia Armstrong.
Alicia paints beautiful figurative work in which she intertwines the female figure with intricate, vintage wallpaper-like patterns. We both approach our subjects from a desire to create from a place of memory– our paintings are not literal but layered in atmosphere and color.
such tender dreams, 2019, acrylic on canvas, 24×20
From “Oxygen” by Mary Oliver “You are breathing patiently;
it is a
beautiful sound. It is
your life..
Then it settles
to quietude, or maybe gratitude, as it feeds
as we all do, as we must, upon the invisible gift:
our purest, sweet necessity: the air.”
We are in a constant state of exchange with our environment– we are one, as the air that fills our lungs and gives us life is the same air that sustains all of the life that surrounds us. We breathe the air that becomes the breath, that breath becomes air– a continuous, interdependent cycle of life.
If you’re in the Greenville area, I hope you’ll come by the Breath | Air opening on Friday, May 3rd to see the show and say hello! The show will be up at Art & Light through the end of May.
