An orange is just that an orange 4"x5"

Fruit, another still life. Painting a still life is somehow soothing. Every day I know what I am painting and how it should look at the end of the process. There it is right in front of me. If it does not work I know why - maybe I can fix it or maybe not but still I know where I am. As opposed to the abstracts which I do not know, as I am searching for something that I cannot see but only feel. Expressing feelings in line, shape and color in an authentic way is a wonderful challenge and exciting (when it works) but not reassuring or soothing. It's a good thing that I learn from both. Landscape and faces are somewhere in between.

If you would like to puchase this painting it is 25.00 plus shipping of 8.00 paypal if avaiable for those who chose that way of payment. Email me at phyljan@aol.com for details.

So I moved away 16"x20" mixed media

The size of this one is 16"x20" oil and mixed media on canvas. (ready to frame)

Again, I painted what was already there. It feels to me as though she just decided to leave the old and move on to a new idea of herself. Transformation as a result of challenges. We all do this, I believe, even tho we don,t always recognize it. If you would like to purchase this painting email me at phyljan@aol. You can visit my web site at jsmileystudio.com

The essence of prey 9"x12"

The size of this mixed media painting is 9"x12" it is painted on canvas.

My process in the making of an abstract or mixed media painting is to find what is already there and remove all that it is not. I do this by adding layers of paint until it speaks to me - or not. My hope is to find the essence of whatever is there and to learn something new in the doing. At first the only thing in this piece was the skull, which is a familiar symbol to me and means many things so I thought I knew why it was there and that it was finished so I hung it up in the studio to dry so it could be varnished. Then after a few weeks I saw out of the corner of my eye the bird, and the bird was even larger than the skull! Now how could I have missed that? Why is it there? The bird is a bird of prey which one I don't know maybe none just an idea of one. "Someone said" the artist always paints themselves and I believe this to be true, especially with the abstracts, so - what am I doing with a bird of prey and a skull? What part of me is a person of prey? Setting aside the the idea's of food, shelter, transportation, war, and politics which have all kinds of polarities. What could be "good" about this idea of prey? To hunt, catch, or eat, a creature hunted of caught for food. I am a why person so I am then the hunter according to Webster. Scavenger another word that comes to mind! "to gather by searching" well this is what I do, so now it fits. The polarity is balanced. There is always good and not so good in all ideas. I am a why person and now I know the why of this one.

This is a long windy boring explanation of a painting and the process of painting it, which is why I usually only give the size and medium.

If you would like to purchase this painting e mail me at phyljan@aol.com

Two Crows and the bone 24"x36"

This is an older painting, it seems that I have been painting crows for a long time. I painted bones for a very long time too. I have a very large elk head over my fireplace, and many bones around my home and yard. People have been bringing me bones forever. I find them very beautiful. Georgia O' Keef said that every painter had a favorite shape that they painted and painted over and over. This is certainly true of me. The shape of the skull of a cow,deer,elk etc.

appears over and over in my work and when I see it in other work it always attracts me. It is one of Jung's universal symbols as well.