Paint Party Friday: Week 20, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Jessica Sporn

image courtesy of Jessica Sporn

Welcome to Week 20 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!)  This week's featured artist provides inspiration by combining mixed media with meaningful messages.  Please welcome Jessica Sporn!

1. Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting.  (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)

I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember.  But I never thought I'd make a living from it! I always wanted to be an actress, and went to the "Fame" school in New York City, the High School of Performing Arts.  After college, I performed here and there in the city, but then decided I wanted to change the world.  So I went to law school and practiced law for 7 years.  When I was pregnant with my first child, I painted her birth announcement.  While I was home on maternity leave, a friend asked me to paint a mural on her child's wall in the style of the announcement.  Then a friend of her's asked me to do that as well.  I thought - here's a new career!  And since I couldn't bear to leave my daughter for what had been a 60 hour a week workweek, I started painting murals and other decorative painting techniques.  One thing led to another, and I stumbled upon the world of art licensing.  I was lucky to find a relationship with Recycled Paper Greetings, and also with my agent, Creative Connections.  When I first started illustrating, I mainly used watercolor and gouache.  My style was very controlled -- I drew everything out in pencil and then painted in the lines.  As the years have passed, I have experimented with different mediums and materials and grown freer.  Now, I strive to color outside the line!

image courtesy of Jessica Sporn

2. What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?

I love cold pressed water color paper.  And I love combining stencils, stamps, acrylics and watercolors in my work.  If I had to pick one media, tool and technique, it would be good watercolors and high quality brushes.  I don't feel comfortable with oil or encaustic, but hope to learn someday

image courtesy of Jessica Sporn

3. What is your favorite thing to paint?  Why?

Probably flowers are my favorite thing to paint.  I am an avid gardener and nature never ceases to astound me.

4. What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?

I have a few... One was having one of the menorah's I designed featured in the New York Times. (You can read about it here, and here's the menorah.) Another was designing a tableware collection based on the "Woman of Valor," from Proverbs (You can see the collection here).  And finally, having Amazon.com describe me as "famous artist Jessica Sporn" in the description for this whimsical menorah definitely made me smile!

available here

5. What's next in your painting future?

I am excited to say that I have recently been asked to join a design team.  I can't say which one, but I'll be able to share in September.  I am currently working on a new Passover line for Aviv Judaica, and continue with my licensing work.  I am excited to have attended CREATE New Jersey, where I learned new skills and techniques.  I've also been asked to teach an art journaling class at a local crafting store, which will start in September.  


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Thank You Jessica - We look forward to learning more about your upcoming design work!  To learn even more about Jessica, please visit her at:


http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com/

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN...
WE WANT YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR STORY!

**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!**

We recently learned that a few PPF Featured Artist submissions got lost in our Spam filters. :( If you have sent a submission and we haven't yet contacted you (especially if you sent it month's ago!), please let us know and please resubmit. Thank you! We are terribly sorry if that has happened to you and will be checking regularly now to see what else gmail has misinterpreted as spam...

Now, here is our check-in for this week's party:

As always, please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a wonderfully fun and creative week everyone!