“Saving one animal wont change the world, but it will change the world for that ONE animal” Unknown quote.

It wasn’t my intention to write a post about endangered animals at this time, when the COP26 Summit is being discussed in Glasgow. I have always had an infinity with animals from a very young age, it was a family joke that my first word was “dog”. I grew up watching David Attenborough documentaries with my parents, who despite not being particularly animal orientated, nurtured my love for the animal world. I was always passionate about dogs in particular and would read so many books about them I learnt about most of the breeds of the world by the age of 10 (and I hated reading!).

My other love was drawing and I would draw animals, made up animals and creatures giving them unusual names, my friend and I made up an animal called a Kabuchei which, from memory, was a small predator like animal with a large squirrel tail. I would draw dragons, dinosaurs mythical animals liked winged tigers who could escape from the hunter and fly to a new land, somewhere which protected them.

I did a project at school for my A Levels of a mono print of a screaming monkey, cutting it up into squares and mixing it with screaming human faces. I still have this. Little did I know then what an impact the project would have on me. It symbolizes the relationship between man and primate and how were treating the animal world. The screams symbolise the words that animals cannot speak and how they are silenced. Mixing it with the human screaming face symbolized that we, humans, need to be thier voice, fight and scram for them.

This was where I was going to attach a photo of the art work. I went up stairs into the loft to look for it (sadly all my art work and materials are still in the loft due to moving). But then discovered we had a leak in the loft. Luckily it went on the lids of some plastic boxes and nothing has been damaged. Once I find it i will pop it in here #reallifeofablogger

Enough is enough and the bigger picture is that not only with a lot of out specie’s be extinct for future generations but our world is crying out, we only need to look back at all the photos and articles how how the earth healed in such a short space time time through Lockdown. The rivers in Venice were clearer and seaweed could be seen in them for the first time, in years. It was also said the air was also less polluted since canal boats and boat traffic has stopped to try and curb the COVID out break. But there was also another side of this, people acted more selfishly once restrictions were starting to lift from litter pollution, awful behaviour with out environment etc. I prayed that we would see how Mother Nature could start to heal in such a short time that we would come out the other side with more knowledge. Hopefully the summit will have better results.

Through lockdown last year I created a series of art that demonstrated the destruction of certain species. I was very lucky to be brought an iPad Pro for my birthday so got straight on it and created the following pieces.

My next step is to paint the Ephemeral series to give them a different feel and dimension. What do you think? Should I go for it?

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Over on Instagram I have been sharing my painting journey of my recent commission, a Collie x who is mostly white with black markings. As part of my journey I photograph and often video each stage of my process for the customer so they can see my progress and let me know if they want anything changed etc. It makes the customer inclusive and apart of their paintings journey from photo to canvas it makes the process more special for both of us. on the odd occasion I’m allowed to share the process in real time, this doesn’t happen very often because the portrait might be a gift for someone. I was asked on stories by a few people why I was painting the black patches blue?

Its odd isn’t it when you’ve done something for so long you just do it without thinking. like being on autopilot, and its not until your asked that specific question about why you do what you do that it really hits you, its just an automatic thing for me to paint black pets blue (haha). Saying that It was refreshing to be asked questions about my process because I actually had to stop and really think about it. Its given me the opportunity to see my process in a different light and not to just assume that everyone watching my stories or reading my posts, knows why?! So I wanted to answer the question on my blog to give it the justice it deserves.

Why blue and not black the science behind colour.

Colours that exists around us in objects like an flower, a fruit etc is the result of pigments or molecular colouring agents on the surface of an object (I know I know stay with me on this one, it wont get too heavy!) where the light reflects those molecules, in a painting the colour of an object id made from pigments. Try thinking of it like a rainbow where the sun reflects the colour prisium in the rain drops.

Going back to the blue black conumdrum, firstly black is not a colour its a shade, do you see it in a rainbow? Or white for that matter? Colour is the reflection of light, but many people consider black to be a colour because you have to combine pigments to create it so you can use it on the canvas or paper. Colour expresses light when it hits different surfaces and gives that colour i.e. red, yellow, green etc. So when there is no light you see black (think about the night) True black and white is rare, nothing can be pure white or pure black except a black hole or the darkest of nights! So now I’ve got the science part out the way I can explain why I use blue and not black in my painting. Its important to understand that black is made from mixing the 3 primary colours (colours that can not be made by mixing other colours together) these are Red Blue and Yellow. When you mix these colour together the human eye will see it as black but its not a true jet black.

When it comes to art and painting in particular I was always told that you need to build layers up. Colours and textures give warmth, dimension and emotion to a painting, if I was to paint a dog black you would get a very flat and uninteresting painting, there would be no depth or emotion or life. To give that feeling of life you build it up with blue and as each layer goes on it gets darker, Thus making it “black”! But it still has interest and you can add the textures of the fur etc as you go along.

I really hope this explains why I use blue as my base layers in my paintings.

If you would like to follow my process head over to Instagram http://www.instagram.com/jofrancesarts

The reason for me writing this blog hasn’t all been about me trying to market my art business, although it was originally why I started it. I’m not even too worried if no one even reads it, I mean it’s great if people do. But for me this blog is more than just trying to get my art out there. It’s become an online diary that I can look back on and see what and how I did. A journey, story a diary that people can follow along with my journey.

Maybe even leaving a legacy behind for my kids, so they can read what I was trying to do when I’m old and can’t remember who I am. I guess it’s also like my art, I’m leaving little footprints in peoples hearts with my work.

When I decided to write a blog I promised myself I would do it once a week. Well it’s been longer, but when the start of school here in the UK it’s been a tad crazy. My eldest boy changed schools so the transitions been a bit bumpy but he’s been amazing I am so proud of him. and my youngest started school for the first time. I wanted to take this time to focus on them and make sure it went as smooth as possible.

Now that they are both in full time I can concentrate and nurture this little corner of the creative internet while they go a grow.

And this gently leads me into today’s topic. My why. Why do I do what I do? Have you ever asked yourself why you do what you do as your job? It’s a huge question isn’t it? I sat down and really thought about this for a long time. My first thought was “for my family” and it still is. I would like to release the pressure off my husband who works so hard and in recent years it’s taking it’s toll physically on him. He’s a mechanic so he has to be 100% physically fit, but time hasn’t been kind to him and he’s starting to feel the effects of a career he’s been in for over 20 years. I want to offer some relief and pressure financially.

But when I delve deeper into why I now do this, why now, why not get a full time job that the boys are in school? Am I being selfish to want to pursue a career in Art when we struggle financially? It’s been playing on my mind a lot. Yes, the responsible thing would be to get a “proper” job that pays me and has a regular income.

But I want to make the world a more happy and joyful place, and your probably sitting there thinking how? How can one small housewife, a mum of 2 living in suburbia change the world. Well obviously I can’t, but I can at least try. I can at least try and bring some joy through my art. I hope that art evokes joy, love, even anger and injustice (all will be revealed later on on the latter). My pet portraits, I hope, bring happiness even when they are suffering a loss. Having a photo or painting of someone or some pet that we’ve lost is so therapeutic. And when I’m painting animals especially ones that have passed I know how that pain and sorrow feels. It’s immersible, I’ve lost many people and pets in my life. And each time has been different but equally as painful. But when I’m painting a pet that has past every brush stroke that hits the paper or canvas I feel that pain but I also want to paint a picture that the recipient loves and makes them smile. Evokes happy joyful memories about their pet. And for now that’s all I could ask for.

I know I have so much more to give, I have passions and values that I want to show through my art. But time is my greatest gift right now, soon I can share with you what my passions are.

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