Imagine Jura Art

Imagine. A word of creativity. Jura is a mountain range in Switzerland. The country of my heart. 

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Here it is! Took a month to finish! 20+ hours! (I may still work on it 😛) Titled: "Kindness" By: Hannah Schmidt Medium: Graphite Pencil Date: 11 April 2018 #imaginejura #pencildrawing #artistsoninstagram #art #kindness #iloveeyes #finallyfinished #maybe #nogrid #challenge #mypassion #myheartjob #alwaysinprogress

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Coffee, books and a cafe of charming possibilities! #coffee #books #cafed'ici #creativepossibilities #inspirational #imaginejura #ilovecheesecake #hakodate #ilovehokkaido #happyplace #thisislife #beingonmyown

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An introduction to a drawing I am working on....just wait! This is a challenging drawing but I am loving the challenge! #drawing #challenge #artistsoninstagram #iloveeyes #challengeaccepted #justwait #introduction #art #pencildrawing

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Title: “Strength” a pencil drawing I have been working on for a few weeks. Finally done! #drawing #sketch #strength #internationalwomensday #pencildrawing #art #beauty

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A quick and simple drawing for today. It doesn't always have to be complex. #simple #drawing #mixedmedia #imaginejura #art #green #nature

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A color pencil of a giraffe.

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I wanted to try out pastel and I was inspired today to do something with clouds, as it was a dreary day with great clouds. It morphed into more fog and mist, but I like the outcome.

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A pencil drawing I did on my iPad Pro, called "A Tearful Eye". #pencil #art #imaginejura #iloveeyes #aworkinprogress

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Watercolor. Switzerland. Lake Thun. Painted December 2014. 

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Medium: Pencil

Size: 30 X 35.60 centimeters (11 X 14 inces) 

This is a drawing I did 6 years ago. I wanted to show my pencil art as well as my watercolors. Two very different mediums but equally great ones to use! 

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There are no Alps without their Jura....

Victor Hugo “Les Miserables” Volume IV Chapter II

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Just Imagine

My adventure. My new chance. To see where my art will take me, every little step it takes, every place it brings me to, it is all a part of this adventure, filled with learning, changing and excelling. 

Imagine Jura, it is a name, it is not my name, but this “Imagine Jura” is how I picture myself and my art. I will introduce “Imagine”. (I will introduce Jura soon.) Imagine. Imagine this. Imagine that. Imagine ______(fill in the blank). Imagine is an integral part of art. Whether it is art filled with realism or art in the abstract. I lean more towards realistic art.  I have tried to see where abstract could take me, painting my feelings, with no actual, realistic objects to show in the piece. It may have become some picture on the paper, but I did not like how it turned out. After painting a picture, that shows a scene, a landscape, a meaning within nature, a face filled with emotion, I then feel satisfied about the art piece.  What I notice is this: before my eyes is a scene to put onto canvas, once I paint or draw the final production of said scene , it has an interpretation different from the scene before me. I have imagined how I wanted it to be and interpreted it onto paper. The colors more vibrant. The mountains larger than life. The movement more visible, than in a still photo.  

 I started out with pencil. That has been my main medium for years. All other mediums have been secondary to pencil, until now. I would say that pencil is my strongest point still, but that watercolor is just as exciting, though an entirely different medium. I love the results that both mediums present to me. Pencil takes time, a whole lot more time than watercolor, especially if I want the drawing to be as realistic as the photo. The result of pencil surprises me still. Watercolor opens the door to color. Color is an exciting world to enter! Just imagine! This past  weekend, I had the privilege to set up an art booth. The purposes was to introduce “Imagine Jura” Art to my friends and new acquaintances, to display my art and to sell my art. It took a lot of time to prepare for this booth. I had never done one this elaborate before. I enjoyed the preparation, the planning, the errands I had to do, in order to get all in to place. It was a great introduction into the life of a professional artist. (When can you say that you are a professional artist? Where is that change from amateur to professional? Is it only when art is your job, full time?)  I was not sure what would happen at the booth, how people would take to my art, but I felt ready! On the day, setting up my booth, deciding how to display the art, all of it was exciting for me. This is the job I want.  This is where I want to go, forward in the gifts God has given me, not backwards, not to be kept at a stagnant point, the motion must be forward, through the ups and downs, l still will go. 

This first, this booth, this was a great start. The support I had from family and friends, seeing my booth and encouraging me, helping me set up and set down. I was not alone. Art can be a lonely road that one travels. Sometimes, art has to be lonely. I have to get alone, to focus, to create a picture, to interpret life through my artist eye. Then there are moments, where art is a connection, it is a lonely road merging with a traveled one, and your family and friends are there to welcome your interpretations of life that the lonely road of art gave to you along the way. I am thankful for the lonely and traveled road of art. I need both. 

Where will this road take me to next. My first art booth is finished, filled with fond memories and amazing people. Now onto the next. I have two big art commissions  to start working on, a potential booth later in the summer to display my art again, and hopefully more interesting people to meet and talk Art with, and more adventures to be had, I am sure! Just imagine!

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Title: Winter Reflection

Medium: Watercolor

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TItle: “Shine Through” 

Medium: Watercolor

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Imagine Jura: Art vs Practical

I paint. I draw. I doodle. A blankpiece of paper becomes a paper with meaning. I am an artist. I have been an artist for most of my life. Once an artist, always an artist. God has given me a creative brain. The more I focus on art, the more I feel I am walking in the right direction. Even though at times, it seems to be a daunting scenario to pursue art and yet I shall.  If I run from creativity, the joy and energy slowly dwindles in my being. It is possible to say that this realization would have been more timely if it had been 10 years prior. I am trying not to stay in the “Would have/should have” camp and move on to the “start now and don't give up” camp.

That being said, it had not always been in the forefront of my life and a lot of times been put aside to focus on daily life and more practical pursuits. Running away, not making art and creativity a priority, was a practical action for me to do. That made sense and it is what provides food on the table. Practical runs in my blood, possibly a family characteristic or cultural background, whatever the case may be, it is a mind battle between the practical and the art. I am in pursuit to find the way that practical and art can mix. Currently, the practical in my life is working an 8-4 job, Monday through Friday. The art in my life: The time after. I dedicate, at the very least, two nights and a part of the weekend, to my art. Right now, art is not my bread and butter (it may never be, I do not think that that is the purpose for myself and my art). I find it intriguing to be able to make art be my living. To have no regulated schedule, no early mornings (unless that is my choice), to paint and draw to my hearts delight, seems to be a dream in the far distance. As intriguing as this is, it is not yet a decided factor for my purpose and my future. (Art and purpose will be another blog entry in the near future) I just know that I can't cut art out of my life and it cannot just be a hobby.

Art is not a hobby for me. The term hobby was for my childhood. That is past.  Convincing the crowd of that fact, my friends, that is the challenge. I will paint. I will draw. I will learn. I will pursue. I will listen. I will contemplate. I will laugh. I will cry. I will focus. It is art. It is fluid. Do not put me in a box. Do not put me with a fox. I may or may not like the green eggs and ham, but I will stay out of the box and see what variants of color come my way. (Summarizations from Dr. Suess’s “Green Eggs and Ham”).