Daily Inspiration: Meet Gena Kearn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gena Kearn.

Hi Gena, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Sure! Thanks for the opportunity. I am an artist and art educator. My love of art started when I was a child. That love was inspired by my maternal grandmother who was a self-taught oil painter. I grew up admiring her work and hoping to be like her someday. Then, during my high school years, I also discovered a love for working with young people.

So, I pursued a career in art education and have been an art educator working with grades 7-12 for 21 years. It’s a great joy to share my love of art with my students, to see them develop artistic skills that they didn’t realize they had, and to see their skills and confidence grow.

In 2013, I began working on a master’s degree which gave me the opportunity to see my own skills grow. The process of working toward that degree started a journey into the professional art world for me creating what I call Celtic Floral Art – photorealistic paintings of flowers backed by elegant and intricate Celtic cross designs all made from colored pencil.

It’s a journey that I felt led to begin, and one where I feel like I can see the guidance of a Divine hand leading me to combine three sources of inspiration that have endured throughout my life – my faith, my Irish heritage, and my love of flowers. So, I continue to share my love of art with my students as a full-time art educator while pursuing and developing my own artistic work professionally during my evenings, weekends, and summer months.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Journeys in art and in education are rarely smooth, but I find that the bumps and struggles along the way are often what bring the most growth. For me, those bumps and struggles come as I try to figure out how to balance my work at school with my own artwork and the rest of life’s demands.

They also come as I search to find the right path for my work so that it finds its way in front of the people who resonate with it the most, all while battling self-doubt. But, I just keep doing what I know to do, taking one small step after another, getting back up after a trip or a fall, and trusting that I will see growth and progress down the right path if I just keep going.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As I mentioned, I love to create what I call Celtic Floral Art – photorealistic paintings of flowers backed by intricate Celtic crosses all made from colored pencil. I have been drawn to flowers since I was a little girl and I seem to keep gravitating back to them as a subject for my art. I love their beauty and artistry, their delicacy and translucence, as well as their many varieties of colors, shapes, patterns, and textures.

I think the thing that I love the most about them though is that they seem to have this almost magical ability to lift our moods, brighten our days, and bring joy to our lives. And, I think that’s one of the reasons that I love to paint and preserve them so that we can enjoy them no matter the season.

I have also been enamored with our family’s Irish heritage since I was a child. So, the art of Ireland – or the art of the Celts has always grabbed my attention and been a source of inspiration. It was a wonderful surprise to find a way to combine these sources of inspiration as I worked on a master’s degree beginning in 2013.

I’ve titled this series of work the “Enduring Roots” series because it combines three sources of inspiration that have endured throughout my life, three things that have been sources of nourishment and hope for my soul in many ways – my love of flowers, my Irish heritage, and my faith.

I love that this series gives me the opportunity to take on the challenge of painting flowers in a photorealistic way where the flowers seem to pop off of the paper, and you feel like you could reach out and pick them or smell them. And, I love that the intricacies and elegance of Celtic crosses are such a great compliment to the flowers, echoing and enhancing the divine design that I see lying in their DNA.

It’s been a real joy to create these pieces using colored pencil which provides a look that rivals the depth and richness of color that can be found in traditional paintings, but with the control and high level of detail that’s achieved with the point of a pencil. So, for me, it’s the best of both worlds, but it is a process that can take hundreds of hours per piece to complete due to the intricate, detailed nature of the work and the layering process of colored pencils.

With each new piece in the series, I enjoy seeing how far I can push the intricacies of the Celtic crosses and how much I can heighten the level of realism in the flowers. For me, though, the most special part of creating this work has to be hearing the stories from collectors of the hope and joy that my work has brought to their lives. It’s truly humbling and a great honor.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think that possessing a sense of determination, stubbornness, perseverance, or grit has to be one of the most essential qualities to success. Regardless of what we pursue in our lives, the road is bound to be filled with struggles and obstacles. If we don’t possess that sense of determination and perseverance, we will not be able to maneuver around those obstacles and conquer those struggles.

Pricing:

• Limited Edition Prints available starting at $75.00
• Original work available starting at $1,500
• Coffee Mugs – $24.95
• Greeting Cards – $5.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.genakearn.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genakearnart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GenaKearnArt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@genakearnart