Bella the Busy Bee Blog

The Harvest is Near…

Happy Art for Kids — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:50:50 +0000

Hi there,
I had a great summer of being in my studio and just creating. The posted 12 pieces were a wonderful, liberating gift and I absolutely love them. I have 3 more I am working on and will be redoing my “Paintings” page to somehow allow for all these new pieces. In other news I am on the verge of successful reproduction and I am so excited to see where that will lead. I’ll keep you posted, but for now the blog is the only place you can view the collection as is, hanging all together. Enjoy!

Fresh and Delicious

Happy Art for Kids — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 04:15:22 +0000

Hey there,
I’m dusting off the old blog again to give all my faithful readers an update on what is going on in Bella the Busy Bee land. I am happy to report it is good news, however, changes are afoot

So, despite my love of traditional characters; I have to confess I have moved on to another form of art.

This is the story of how everything changed (insert very mysterious music here…or not): My last traditional character piece was “Bubbles”, the huge 36 x 36 painting of the colorful sheep.

Although Bubbles and I had our moment and I still love Bubbles, to some extent, Bubbles burnt me to a crisp. It was a creation conceived out of love at first, but then with all the details and circles upon circles upon circles, it kind of became a rainbow nightmare.

No offense to Bubbles of course, after all I did create her and I am proud to have her as part of my collection, but she did become the bane of my existence for a time and a challenge to say the least. Sort of like a labor that can start off so exciting and sweet as you ponder how you will be meeting your precious child soon and then over time, you, the sweet mother to be turns into a raging, sweating, cursing, and screaming, “Get this thing out of me NOW!!” kind of experience. I guess it wasn’t that bad, but it was pretty rough.

What Bubbles did do for me was to close the door on a way of painting I have been doing for the last 7 years and open a completely different door for me to express myself artistically.

My heart has unleashed a new form of abstract work that I am absolutely in love with. To try to explain it metaphorically: I am looking at each new piece as a poem vs my previous pieces being more like a story. The new work gives homage to different parts of the animal or object being conveyed without being literal. The first letter of the animal or object is hidden within the piece, but it is not necessary to find it if that doesn’t float your boat The pieces can stand alone as well.

This new form has liberated me beyond belief and I am so inspired to have no constraints and no need to make sure the work makes sense to everyone else. It makes sense to me and it allows others to find their own interpretation or they can always search for the letter if they enjoy an interactive experience I can do whatever I want and that is awesome!!!! Anyways, I hope you enjoy them as well. I have done another one since the attached photo was taken, but this gives you a little taste of the new collection and the road I am on.

Till next time,

Jen

Link to new collection: http://abusybella.com/BBBGalleryConCollectionThumb.html

The Gallery Archive, it is finally here :)

Happy Art for Kids — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:54:41 +0000

Click to view slideshow.I have plumed the depths of my computer files and found what I think to be every piece I have ever painted since 2004, in hopes I may finally have a complete gallery archive of my work. Most of these paintings were sold through the features on Daily Candy and Urban Baby back in 2006. It has been crazy to look back at my old stuff, I see so much change in the steadiness of my hand and my style. My is hope is that seeing where I started, with no formal training, will give those looking at my new work an appreciation of how my style and ability have evolved. I hope the archive will possibly encourage you if you are beginning a new art form later in life to keep at it and to not stop trying. Basically if you are loving something new you are exploring you can’t go wrong, just enjoy the process. Some background on the first two pieces: The first pic of the sparkely ladybugs was the painting that started me on this journey when I was 42 weeks pregnant, from there I was hooked. The next pic of the little caterpillar was my first piece sold at my first art show in SF. This is how it happened: I came in to the show elated that I was at a real show and that my work would be seen. I arrived a bit late and saw the little caterpillar painting on a table to the right as you enter the show. I looked at it and thought, oh it must have fallen down from the little set up I had created for my stuff, I thought it may have been damaged or something. Suddenly a man pulls out his wallet and plunks down some money on the table. I then realized what was happening, he was buying my painting!!! I was so overjoyed, I cannot tell you. I sold about 3-4 pieces in that show and I was over the moon. It truly was one of the top 5 nights of my life So, on to the Archive…I have inserted a slideshow and it turns out it is very slow so if you mouse over the image some buttons come up and you will be able to click your way through the show much faster. I hope you enjoy this archive as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. Have a wonderful day, watch for my next posts with updates on a new series coming up. Okay, on to the show, enjoy

Milk, Happy Tears and Sweet Dreams

Happy Art for Kids — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 05:14:00 +0000

Hey there,

I have added some new pieces to my “Paintings” gallery. You may notice that they are much less detailed than my usual work. it seemed after “Bubbles”, which was incredibly detailed, I sort of got burnt out on detail and wanted to do something more free-form. I hope you enjoy Also, I am attempting to gather images for my Gallery Archives section so you all can see my previously sold work.

Hope you are well,
J

Studio-More Pics & New Piece, Work In Progress

Happy Art for Kids — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:31:43 +0000

Click to view slideshow.Hey there, here are some new pics of the finished studio space. I got some up close shots of the series I just finished and a couple shots of the new 36 x 36 piece I began painting today.

Enjoy!
Jenne

Studio-Moving In

Happy Art for Kids — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:30:09 +0000

I finally moved in to my new studio! I just have one more bookcase to build and need to put my rug down by my desk. After that I will be ready to go. The work on my desk is my new series. I plan to get some shots of the new series up in the next couple of days.

My New Studio!!

Happy Art for Kids — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:29:41 +0000

Ok everyone, it has finally happened. Just today I signed the papers on my very first art studio. It is in San Francisco and I am so excited to move in Sept 1, 2010!! I plan to really make a go of my painting this year while my daughter is in school so stay tuned for more info and more work! My space will be the whole right side of the room where the blue painting is.

I like Red Tricycles…

Happy Art for Kids — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:45:02 +0000

Thank you so much to Red Tricycle for their surprise feature on Jan 5th, 2010! I really appreciate it! I am inspired to dust off the old paintbrushes and get back to work

Also, we had fun creating this little valentine that you can color on your own. Let me know if you would like the file to print off and I will send it to you. You can contact me through my website: Contact

Have a great day!

Take care-
Jen

Here is the link to the Red Tricycle feature: http://www.redtri.com/bella-the-busy-bees-got-the-buzz-on-kids-rooms/

Entry for October 21, 2008

Happy Art for Kids — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:27:52 +0000

Hey everyone,

Ok, it has been a year and a half since I blogged last….my goodness where has the time gone?

Oh, who am I kidding, I know exactly where the time has gone…it has gone into eating a bowls of mini wheats instead of blogging at midnight or it has gone into watching project runway reruns or sleeping, yes, sleeping…the last option doesn’t often win out over anything else I can think to do in the quiet of the night when B is snoozing, but it does happen.

Things are good in Busy Bee land. As you can see we have a new website up courtesy of little ol’ moi. Yes, I had ambitions to actually pay someone to do it this time, but alas the funds were not with us so luckily I take bowls of mini wheats as a form of payment so we were all good…albeit out of milk a lot

Anyways, I hope you like the new site…it is much more stremlined and easy to navigate than the other one.

I was bummed though when I did the Shows section and realized I hadn’t done a show in 2 years….Basically what I have been up to is a load of commissions and haven’t had too much time to work on my stuff. My inventory is so low now and I basically need to paint…period, before I show again. I just LOVE doing shows. It is so much fun and I am looking forward to getting back into it this year. I am working big 36″ x 36″ for each piece, so it is taking a lot longer

So stay tuned, I will try not to let another year and a half go by before I dust off the old blog and say howdie…not sure what is up with all the cowboy references, but let’s go with it

Peace out cubscout (don’t ask)…

Jen

Cute as a Button…

Happy Art for Kids — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:43:02 +0000

Are buttons really that cute? They are little, yes, but cute? Pimples are little…are they cute?

Anyways, this pic was sent to me by a client after they had their custom name print matted and framed. I absolutely LOVE this pic of the baby and adore the way the client had the print framed with the black frame. The black frame is something I debated for a long time and thought would be too harsh, but I feel the soft pastel mat help even it out into a very clean contemporary look that I dig with a shovel

Again, blogging at midnight. Something about a little sugar and a keyboard just make me want to get witty or not.

Tonight I spent a little time updating my reviews section with some nice new reviews from clients and updating my press section to reflect my latest feature. I also added the pics of the current NY commission to my gallery section.

This weekend I sketched out the ballerina I had mentioned and Betsey (you remember Bets, my best friend from previous posts, the only one who used to read my blog and now that I am drifting back into obscurity is likely not reading my posts either because she had a new baby recently and is still in the “I can’t get out of my pajamas before 5pm” phase). Anyways, Bets said she LOVED the ballerina and had to give me a special phone call just to tell me so (she lives a few states away btw). So as long as Bets loves it I am sure the client will too. Bets is my taste barometer…I have no taste when it comes to the finer things in life and especially in shopping. I have about 4 pairs of shoes and two of them are tennis and flip flops. Bets used to have so many shoes when we were younger she had them in individual boxes with polaroids on the front so she could tell which was which. I was so impressed by this, being someone who launches their shoes into the bottom of the closet and feel I am doing pretty good organization-wise if when I go to pull them out they landed closely together.

Anyways, she is a fantastic friend and I trust her opinion implicitly when it comes to whether something looks good or is caca.

Thanks again Bets! I love you!

Love,