south dakota artist

New Pear Painting

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Not yet titled (suggestions welcome!), 8×10 in, oil on canvas, not yet available.


I’m so happy with how this turned out! I’m hanging onto it so I can reflect on what I like while I’m painting tomorrow…

And here’s my little setup. I’m using construction paper for some color in the background.

On a side note, you can see that everything is on a table. I set it up that way so that it would be easy to film for my workshops. But my goal for this year is to get green and healthy, and I feel healthier standing up! So I’ll be making a setup that’s at eye level while standing and adjusting my workshop filming stuff accordingly.

Have a great day!

the Value of Fear

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Plein air painting at the home of Laura Engles Wilder. I’m planning to finish Working Horse in the studio soon.

This week I spoke at 1 Million Cups about my art and business. Thanks so much to the organizers and audience!

Speaking was miles from my comfort zone, which I loved. I had been avoiding public speaking like the plague. Until this year, that is, when I changed my business plan to include public speaking as an important part.

Preparing for this talk made me think a lot about what exactly fear is for. The specific fear of doing things that are only dangerous to our psyche (potentially embarrassing).

I studied Psychology in college and I love little insights into what our brains are really trying to tell us. Sometimes it’s not immediately obvious… But in this case, I really appreciated that fear made me practice my talk a lot and think about how to organize my information so that it would hopefully be interesting to the general public and valuable to other creative entrepreneurs. The response seemed really good!

If you missed the talk and would be interested to see the notes, handout, or a video about my art and business, let me know.

Upcoming opportunities

  • Studio tours available by appointment.
  • Anyone in the area is welcome to sit for a portrait painting in my studio. If you pose long enough for me to make a portrait, I’ll give you my sketches and you’ll have the first opportunity to purchase the painting. People of all ages welcome.

Cows in progress and Giveaway

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Good Morning,

I am excited about the in-progress painting that’s currently on my easel! These are the cows that live in the field next to us. Just being around cows is very soothing to me. Do you have that experience, too?

Not yet titled, 2 x 3 feet, oil on canvas, saved for show.

I’m planning to make some nice glossy postcards with an image of this painting when it’s finished. If you would like to get one, just email me.

I watched this group of cows for a while and loved how they slowly moved across the grass like a single organism, stretching forward and then grouping back together.

One of the things I really love exploring is beings that group together, but are still individuals. That’s what I was working through with the pelicans I showed you recently, the geese below, my parent-baby paintings… How someone can be part of a whole, but also individual.

 

Giveaway

Today I am very excited to give away a few prints to people who enjoy my art enough to get this newsletter!

The first 4 people to email me (just hit reply, or email art@jessierasche.com) will win a small print of Breakfast in a Spring Thaw!

 

Have a great weekend!

Jessie

 

 

Fall has begun (only in paint!) And end of a show.

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Here’s the beginning of Fall, next to the edge of Summer. Those lines are in there to make sure the series all flows together up on the wall. The funny thing is, I’m doing a lot of measuring, but I won’t actually be able to see them all together until they’re delivered. Because, although my studio is big, the paintings are bigger.

Snow Covered Hillside is on it’s way to it’s forever home. I hadn’t taken a real photo of it before, so I took one to show you before boxing the painting up. It has some great pallet knife texture! If you click the image, you can see what I’m talking about. This is something I’d like to explore a lot more.

Thanks, Julie, for being a new collector!

On a personal note, Thursday was my son’s last day of school for the year. Yay for summer break!! And today is my B-day, so we’re off to see Solo. 🙂

Happy summer, and thank you for your interest in my artwork! Comments welcome.

New paintings at South Dakota Art Museum

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Last week I took several new paintings over to the South Dakota Art Museum. 

Two of them are paintings of Yellowstone National Park. They framed up nicely, and I just love those paintings, so I’m excited to have them out where a collector can fall in love with them.

 

My Friend, commissioned painting

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This is one of the most challenging paintings I’ve done, because it’s very conceptual. My son’s programming mentor was interested in a painting that will remind him of a crow that was a childhood friend, and which would talk to him from the barn roof.

I ended up making a painting that looks fairly simple, but there is a lot of texture in the sky and barn peak, and getting the expression to read just right was quite a challenge. Today I sent him the final picture, and he loves it, for which I am very glad!

So many ideas for abstract paintings came to me while I was working on this painting. I want to do many more birds (and have been taking photos of the crows that winter over here), as well as some paintings about texture and color.

Thank you for looking!

Aha, in art and elsewhere. South Dakota, portrait painting.

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Click HERE to see and learn about South Dakota Portrait Artist’s Jessie Rasche’s portrait paintings.

Click HERE to see and learn about horse and dog pet portraits.

Have you had an “aha” period of time where you felt like your personal style was becoming evident? Like in your horse riding method, or the way you write or do your accounting or care for your patients?

Recently I’m having that feeling. Especially with the landscape paintings from yesterday’s post… It feels really good. It’s subtle, though. I feel like something I’ve been searching for, or trying to put my finger on for a long time about what I want to say, has become evident to me.

wall-rasche-tall

The answer to the riddle (What artwork makes your home happy) is “artwork that you love.” If you can come back to a painting 6 times and it brings you joy every time, it will bring happiness into your home. As with any relationship, some people bond instantly, and some gradually. But for most people it takes 6 visits with a painting to know if you love it. Just listen to your heart.

 

Farm paintings: Do you miss the Midwest? South Dakota artist.

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farm paintings with animals. I’d love to hear from anyone who has moved away from the Midwest and smiles when they see this sort of farmland. It seems like a home town can really be in your soul, and I’m hoping my paintings can bring joy to people who miss it. That they can be a piece of the Midwest, where you are now.

(This is my in-studio collection of mid sized South Dakota / Midwestern landscape paintings.)

See the other farm paintings.

Fall colors, (progress photo). Minnesota and South Dakota, portrait painting.

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It’s a very grey day here, and I’m working on this painting of fall colors shining through the grey. Those greys are a challenge, but they’re so worth it. I’d love to hear from you if grey skies make you feel good, too.

Other news: I’m helping someone preserve a childhood memory.  On Tuesday the collector and I did some sketching / talking about possibilities, and since then the layout of the painting has been solidifying for me. I think it will be quite striking when done.