Life & Work with Jenny Nester

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Nester. 

Hi Jenny, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My grandmother is an award-winning painter and folk artist so of course any visit to her home growing up always included painting. As I got older, she taught me the discipline of Norwegian Rosemaling, but it didn’t connect with me and I lost interest for about a decade. About four years ago, I decided to start painting again as a form of self-care. I started just painting trees and simple landscapes and remembered how therapeutic it was to got lost in a painting. The hours would fly by without me noticing. After a while, my style and interests started to form. I love painting nature. Landscapes, wildlife, but especially birds. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As I’ve started doing art shows and selling on Etsy, I’ve struggled to remember that painting is, first and foremost, my self-care. It’s for my own mental health. Monetizing my passion has always been a hesitation for me because it can slide so easily into a job that I could start to resent. So anytime I catch myself thinking of expenses, or poor sales and start that stress cycle, I have to pause, and remember those are secondary to why I paint. I paint for myself, and if other people happen to like it too, that’s just a bonus. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a wildlife and nature painter. I use acrylics exclusively on either canvas panels or wrapped canvases. Bird portraits are really what I’m known for, but I have started challenging myself with other animals, motion, and close-ups. Landscapes have always been a secondary subject I love painting but it’s really animals that draw me in. My borders are probably the other thing that really identifies my work. I love painting little borders around subjects at the end to frame them. 

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Probably that the first form of painting I learned was the strict discipline of Norwegian Rosemaling and folk art. Of which I have retained very little… don’t tell my grandmother. The philosophy of folk art is all in the brush strokes and loading up the brush with the right paint in the right order. It’s beautiful but very difficult. My grandmother is a master at it. But I tend to flourish without rules and techniques. I do almost the complete opposite and can take 100 brush strokes where my grandmother could have done 1. It may not be the most efficient but I enjoy it. 

Pricing:

• 5×7 typically $25-$30
• 8×8 typically $75-$90

Contact Info:

• Email: Artsterstudios@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtsterStudio?ref=search_shop_redirect
• Instagram: @artsterstudios
• Facebook: Artster Studios