Growing up, Jenny Bleackley dreamed of going to art school. But her parents associated artists with the sex, drugs, and rock & roll of the 60s – not something they wanted their daughter involved in. So her dreams of being an artist took a back burner to an office job and raising a family.
But in 2003 when her kids left home, she began studying watercolor in her native United Kingdom. Discovering techniques enabling her to work on canvas, she explores and pushes boundaries, harnessing traditional form which allows the techniques to have an expression of their own, in a style of impressionistic fine art.
When she met her second husband Adrian, Jenny warned him that in the next phase of her life, she wanted to paint full-time and he was happy to support her passion. In 2011, they bought a home in St Petersburg, initially as a vacation home, realizing only after what a great arts destination was exploding here. She moved here permanently in 2013 and became an artist full time.
“I am finally doing what I always wanted to do,” Jenny said. She has worked from her studio in The ArtsXchange in the Warehouse Arts District since it opened in 2017. “Finally, I am an artist amongst an array of talented artists and in a City growing by the minute with artists and museums and exciting hip venues.”
Her watercolor-on-canvas techniques come into play with her series – Florida Flowers, Cool, Calm & Collected and Petites Fleurs. The series Florida Flowers are inspired by the beautiful, and some exotic flowers she sees in her neighborhood and are painted on canvas prepared with torn tissue paper glued to it. This creates an impressionistic style as if dried flowers were used. Concentrating on three colors she creates stunning paintings offered as duos to brighten any room.
Being surrounded by the sea is a huge source of Jenny’s inspiration – never does the sea or sky look the same, giving endless excitement to her color book. The moods of the sea inspire her in a poetic and spiritual sense and each painting in her Cool, Calm & Collected Series comes with its own poem. This series is created using a wet-on-wet technique and Jenny follows her intuition as to where the painting is going.
For more information on Jenny’s work:
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