Why I love to buy Original Art!

 Yes, I’m an artist, and yes, I love to buy original art from other artists I admire.  It’s not something I can afford to do every week, but now and then a painting comes along that I just NEED to have in my world !

The first piece I purchased is by Marilene Sawaf; I first saw a piece of her art in a local Gallery about 10 years ago – I remember staring at her painting of a group of beautiful exotic women, marveling at the beauty, technique and sense of mystery she conveys in her work.  I later became friends with Marilene and was lucky enough to purchase a small piece from her several years ago… her women are beautiful, accomplished and strong and I love the sense of friendship and camaraderie they convey.  Sawaf captures the imagination… leaving the viewer wondering who these women are, who is the mystical figure in the background?… I love having this piece in my home !

Marilene Sawaf :  www.marilene-sawaf.com

 

I was lucky enough to purchase a small piece by the wonderfully talented Trevor Jones from Canada who now resides inEdinburgh, Scotland. I was originally introduced to his beautiful abstract art through Facebook; I participated in the terrific Trees for Life exhibit which Trevor organized in 2011 with hundreds of artists from all over the world, joining together to raise money for the Caledonian Forest in Scotland. 

 

I love this piece, free flowing, layers of mixed media, there is rhythm, pattern, depth, a sense of mystery and storytelling emerging with materials such as acrylic paints, oil pastel, collage, ink, and graphite.  I feel energized and inspired when I look at this piece… it hangs in my studio and welcomes me each day as I pick up my paint brush.

Trevor Jones : www.trevorjonesart.com

 

 

I fell in love with this piece by Heidi Keyes the moment I laid eyes on it ! An instant connection !! Don’t you just love it when that happens?!

Heidi Keyes is a dynamite artist from Denver CO, who I also first met on Facebook. This piece is called “The Weird World Beneath my Balcony”. 

I couldn’t get this painting out of my head for a week after I saw it… just like a song gets stuck ! It’s so strange but on a deeper level this painting was calling out to me. I think a small part of me felt like the red house… the windows and door are a little battered and bruised with time… perhaps challenged by the elements of life and has gone through some adversity… yet the home emits a powerful positive energy of strength and courage through the use of the vibrant colors… there’s an honesty and truth about this piece that gets to me every time I look at it.

Heidi Keyes : www.heidikeyesart.com

 
Buying a piece or original art is like having a tiny piece of someone’s soul in your world.  As an artist myself… I understand the love and passion from which a painting can be born.  I love the conversations which occur between me and the original art paintings I have purchased – we go back and forth… always finding new hidden treasures to uncover.

I’d like to share a piece which I did last year with my friend Albine Vermot Gaud.  It is called L’Amour et La Vie (love and life). 

This piece recently sold to a buyer who had an instant and very deep emotional connection with it.  There were many tears on the day she first saw it and a feeling of understanding.  As an artist that’s the biggest compliment you can ever receive.  It’s like listening to a love song which can tug at your heart strings.  The painting is about the three stages of love… innocent first love, passionate love and wise love.

I hope to paint many more pieces which connect with the hearts of others… and I look forward to “meeting and falling in love” over and over with new pieces I meet on my journey.  I encourage everyone to connect with original Art !!!!! If you don’t normally have “visiting an Art Gallery’ or ‘art exhibit’ on your calendar, make room for this… I assure you you will LOVE what happens when you just show up

Jacqui Hawk

“A Scottish Affair”

I was born in the beautiful,  historic city of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Life events uprooted me several  times throughout my life yet I have always returned to my roots, each time with more pride and appreciation for my Scottish culture and ancestry. 

Each painting in this collection represents a special memory, capturing special moments in my connection to Scotland.

In November of 2011 I returned to Edinburgh for a family reunion with my sister and brother and also participated in the world art exhibit “Trees for Life” organized by Trevor Jones.   It was also memorable in that I was finally able  to  meet my father who I had not seen since the age of 6.  This reunion was very special and provided me with lots of answers to questions which had remained unanswered for so many years.  It was no surprise to me to discover that my father and I share the same birthday and that the exhibit hall where my painting “Love Story” was on exhibit at “Trees for Life”, was the hall my father used to attend weekly as a boy scout.  The Universe works in mysterious ways sometimes !

Scotland will always have a special place in my heart – from the rich, historic city ofEdinburgh with its ancient olde town to the moody, melancholic and dramatic highlands.

Please join me  for the preview of a new collection of works inspired by my recent trip to my birthplace, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Artist Reception

 Saturday 12 May, 2:00pm – 5:00pm

263 Art Gallery, 263 Main Street, Nashua NH

(opposite Southern Regional New Hampshire Hospital).

 

 

“Come Back To Me” – 8 x 10 on Canvas Board;

Acrylic and Mixed Media

 

“Tartan Garden” - 8 x 8 Acrylic and Mixed Media

on Wood Cradle

 

 

 

 

 

 ”Highland Memory” - 8 x 8 on Wood Cradle, Acrylic and Mixed Media
For Sale : $100.00

 

 ’Loch Katrine Trees” 6 x 6 Mixed Media on Canvas

Delighted to be a featured artist in the European Magazine “Kunst Trifft Wien” (Art Meets Vienna)

http://artmeetsvienna.blogspot.com/2012/03/jacqui-hawk-boston-ma-usa.html?spref=fb

 

JACQUI HAWK | Boston MA – USA

 

“My paintings show the energy and beauty of the sea… as it ebbs and flows….as it delivers, cleanses, enriches, and takes away…. and reminds me how each day of our lives are different, each with their own degree sadness and happiness and how we must learn to give and take…. some days are peaceful… the gentle sea laps gracefully at the shoreline… some days it roars…crashing cruelly, clawing away the foundations of so many…. it is a circle… a circle we must learn to accept with grace and understanding of the values and treasures to be found in both stormy and calm waters….” 

Jacqui Hawk

 

 

 

 

I am a native of Edinburgh, Scotland and began my career in the arts over 20 years. Each of my paintings is emotional in nature and a metaphor for my life’s journey, from Scottish origins, travels around the world, personal struggles and challenges. It embodies the magic and whimsical illusions of a child and the strength and wisdom of a woman with an old soul. My work is intuitive in nature and very spontaneous and always reflects what is going on inside of me. 

 

 

I work mainly in mixed 

media, including acrylics, oils, wax, pearlescent powders, gesso of different consistencies, stained glass pieces, decoupage, and unusual objects I find washed up on the beach. My recent compositions are organic and primitive in nature and reveal a range of emotions from sadness, hope, peace, renewal, right through to euphoric joy. 

I am drawn again and again to beautiful ancient oak trees. “There is something so magical and stoic about them which resonates with me… from the roots that forage underground with determined courage to find their way to lofty blue skies and weather the strongest storms, yet remain steadfast in their purpose”. 

 

More recently I have been lured by the beauty and replenishment of the seashore. My most recent collection is called “Holding on and Letting Go”… this collection symbolizes how we hold on to love, memories, respect, boundaries and “Let Go” of outcomes. My paintings show the energy and beauty of the sea, as it ebbs and flows, as it delivers and takes away, and reminds us of the ever evolving treasures life reveals.

 

 

Gallery Representation: 263 Art Gallery - Nashua NH

 

Current and upcoming exhibtions: 

 

Through April 2012
ART REACH, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Nashua NH

April – June 2012
La Boniche, Lowell MA

 

To see and read more about Jacqui Hawk please visit her website , the blog  and her page on Facebook. 

“A Scottish Affair” Solo Exibit at 263 Art Gallery – Saturday 12 May, 2-5pm

"Come Back To Me"
8 x 10 on Canvas Board
Acrylic and Mixed Media
For Sale : $150.00

 

Please join me for the preview of a new collection of works inspired by my recent trip to my birthplace, Edinburgh, Scotland.

263 Art Gallery, 263 Main Street, Nashua NH (opposite Southern Regional New Hampshire Hospital).

 

“Tartan Garden” – 6 x 6 Acrylic and Mixed Media on Wood Cradle
$100.00

 

“Highland Memory” – 6 x 6 on Wood Cradle, Acrylic and Mixed Media
For Sale : $100.00

Featured Artist : Artsy Shark Magazine

December 28, 2011

Thrilled to be this week’s “featured artist” in Artsy Shark Magazine for Emerging Artists :

 

When I was a little girl I’d take a red ball of wool and disappear into the forest on my Grandfather’s farm, tying the wool from tree to tree, disappearing into a childhood world of magic and fantasy.I would look at a tree and see a castle, never settled at what was, rather what could be, my mind crowded with beautiful colorful visions which I now recollect as an adult and which have found their way into my paintings.

I love to paint, everyday, it allows me to process and connect my heart, mind and soul and wrap them all up harmoniously in a way that helps make them understood and validated. I want my art to connect with the viewer in the same way and help unravel within them some of the forgotten memories of the past. I communicate this through the use of mixed media, oil and acrylic paints, glass, textured gesso, found objects from the beach.  I am passionate about texture, almost wanting the viewer to imagine him/herself sitting in one of my paintings to understand its vision and message.

“Childhood Illusions” was one of my earlier collections.  As a child I would look up at the sun and then close my eyes tightly; these paintings show the beauty of pattern and color in my innocent, childlike mind and symbolize the innocence of childhood.

My work is intuitive in nature and very spontaneous and always reflects what is going on inside of me.  During my life I have travelled the world, seen some amazing places, gone through loss, death, divorce, love, hope, promise and each of these chapters finds itself immortalized on canvas.  I am still unraveling my red ball of wool.

As an adult now I am relishing in my new ‘space’ in life.  My latest collection is called  “Holding On and Letting Go” which I began during a week’s vacation on Skaket Beach, Cape Cod, this past Summer.  This was my first vacation without my children in 19 years and I enjoyed reflecting on the many changes in my life.

A recent ‘empty nester’  this collection uses the power and beauty of the ocean to symbolize how we hold on to love, memories, respect, principles and boundaries and “Let Go” of outcomes and attitudes which hold us back from becoming our personal best.

My paintings show the energy and beauty of the sea… as it ebbs and flows….as it delivers, cleanses, enriches, and takes away…. and reminds me how each day of our lives are different, each with their own degree of sadness and happiness and how we must learn to give and take…. some days are peaceful… the gentle sea laps gracefully at the shoreline… some days it roars… crashing cruelly, clawing away the foundations of so many….  it is a circle… a circle we must learn to accept with grace and understanding of the values and treasures to be found in both stormy and calm waters.

I was recently told that my art makes people ‘happy’… there is no greater reward!

Artsy Shark

http://www.artsyshark.com/

Facebook :

https://www.facebook.com/ArtsyShark?ref=ts

Nashua art gallery celebrating artists who exhibited there in 2011 – TelegraphNeighbors.com

 

Thursday 15 December, 2011

Wonderful article I contributed to with Eric Stanway of the Nashua Telegraph.

Nashua art gallery celebrating artists who exhibited there in 2011 – TelegraphNeighbors.com.

Perseverence and Results : Guest Blogger on Artsy Shark !

My thanks to Carolyn Edlund of Artsy Shark for the opportunity to contribute to her wonderful Magazine for and about Emerging Artists

http://www.artsyshark.com/2011/12/09/perseverance-and-results/

 

Guest blogger Jacqui Hawk shares how she visualized and created success this year. Through giving and sharing, she received a bounty in return.

 

By Jacqui Hawk

My blog is full of posts about charities I have supported this year; The Painted Bra Art Project, which went viral on Facebook, Trees for Life in Edinburgh which I also attended and joyfully brought me together with my father whom I recently found after 42 years! Another very special post was “Paying it Forward,” a post about Jack Burke and Joey Middlemiss – two little boys each challenged in different ways, but connected with their courageous hearts and spirit and the paintings I did for each of them.

Many artists feel that charity events are ultimately not a win/win … I appreciate that you have to be selective! The ones I have given to have personally given back to me threefold. Artists could perhaps negotiate a 50/50 split of the silent auction profits if they find themselves doing a lot of fundraisers. The goal is to give quality art and raise a lot of money to achieve these goals. I believe it has to be a fair arrangement.

In January of 2011, I had a clear vision of my success and tried to visualize what that looked like and work towards it. I have been dedicated to painting every day. I get up early and paint for an hour before work and then paint for 2-3 hours in the evening, juggling a full time job at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. Managing my time - life as a Corporate Project Manager has helped me keep on task, stay structured and achieve goals.

 

I took part in 21 events this year (gallery exhibits, solo shows, and fundraisers) This clearly helped raise awareness for my art. When I google my name now, there are about 30,000,000 more than last year.

I invested in a new website. This is very important I believe. Being one in a sea of thousands on a third party website was not for me. My goal in 2012 is to build my own “shop” on my own site.

I embraced Facebook, and created a Facebook business page where I organized all my paintings for sale, sold, etc.  I network with a lot with artists all over the world on Facebook and Twitter, many of whom are becoming great friends. I make sure that I’m very visible in the art world on Facebook, and I am totally inspired by the amazing work I see being created. I make a point to share the work of artists I love; they also do the same for me and so the energy and momentum builds.

I network and collaborate extensively with other artists, especially those whose styles are very different to mine; great things can happen! Because of this, I receive many invitations to join other artists in new gallery opportunities.

An example of this is “Art Reach,” a collaboration between St. Joseph Hospital and six artists to “harness the healing power of art.” I painted a huge 6 x 6 ft canvas in the dark during the terrible October East Coast snow storm by candlelight.

I am a member of several art associations, and this year I became a regular artist member of 263 Art Gallery in Nashua. This gave me a lot more exposure. I intend to widen this net next year. I went through a huge attitude change this year. Every time I felt like giving up because I came away from a show where I sold nothing, it made me dig deeper and deeper and become so much more resilient – and I enjoyed 33 sales this year! You recognize those moments as a ‘turning point’ in your artistic journey. It’s not a race, and success is different for everyone.  I intend to pay my art dues, showing up at my easel every day because I love what happens in those magic moments.