My New Website

Dear readers,

I have published an official website!  http://www.thecozyred.com

For over five years, I have been publishing my work here at my blog.  It has been a joy, and it has been an even greater joy thanks to those of you who have faithfully followed, commented, and liked my posts.  I am most grateful and happy to have had such great company over the years.  Thank you!

Never fear, I’m going to continue my blog.  However, as I continue my path as an artist and author, my time is needed in creative ventures more than the writing about them.  So my posts may be shorter and/or fewer, but I’ll try to keep it up.

So if you’re interested, head right over and check it out.  While my blog, here, has plenty of chit-chat and information, it’s at my website that you’ll see a more concise gallery of my artwork broken down into the appropriate categories.  Plus, I have a shop at my new website.  At The Cozy Red Shop, you can instantly add items to your cart and buy stuff.  I’ve got sculptures, fine art prints, notecards, and copies of my novel for sale.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to explore it.  It was fun to put it together, and it will be updated with new artworks as I create them, so check back often.

Thanks a bunch!

~ Jenna

 

 

Bicker and the Soolivans

Hello readers,

I am pleased to announce that I’ve just finished my second novel, Bicker the the Soolivans.  It’s now available for sale as a paperback in my Shop over at www.thecozyred.com.  I hope you’ll go check it out.  If you enjoy history, Civil War era novels, and a gripping storyline, I know you’ll enjoy this book.  Oh…and prepare to be charmed by a certain man called Bicker!

In this prequel to Zeke’s Fate, I share with you the experiences of the Soolivan family. If you have read Zeke’s Fate, you may remember Andy Soolivan, a cousin of Zeke.  This is the story of Andy and his sister Penelope. When Bicker shows up at the Soolivan home, he brings much-needed comic relief to a despairing family.  Will Bicker have a future in the Soolivan family? The journalist in him would say, Read All About It!

 

Christmas Cards for Sale!

Hello dear readers,

I hope you’ve all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Just to kick off the Christmas season, I would like to share with you my Christmas cards!  I’ve just posted them for sale at my shop (you can find it at my website, just follow the link). https://www.thecozyred.com/shop

If you’re interested in purchasing some beautiful, handmade cards for your loved ones this Christmas, check them out.  Hurry, though!  They’re quite limited quantity!  Here’s a little preview:

 

I have seven different cards for you to choose from.  I do hope you’ll check them out.  And don’t forget, it’s gift-giving season.  Feel free to explore my shop to see if anything else catches your eye. 🙂

Thanks, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

 

Catching Up

Hello dear readers,

My, my, it’s been a great long while since I’ve made a post here!  It has been a busy, productive, and creative time for me.  I’ve been keeping up my new website, have started an Instagram account, have been completing several commissions, and somewhere in the background, have been working on creative writing.

But I would like to take a moment now to catch you up on some of my latest creative projects.

The Christmas Drawing.

As always, we made our annual Christmas card with a new drawing of mine.  We then went about making a card to fit the drawing.  That’s always great fun!  The original drawing is 10 x 10 inches drawn with Sakura Pigma Micron pens.  We did something whimsical this time, which was a lovely change of pace.

 

The finished card:

I’ve also been working on commissions.  Below, you’ll see a pair of 12 x 12 inch sheep drawings that I recently completed.  They were drawn in ink (brush tip gray tones for the soft areas and Sakura Pigmas for the details) with white charcoal for the wool and highlights.  They were really fun for a change.

 

 

I’ve also been working on a commission of a Great Dane portrait.  I love Great Danes – I hope one day to have one of my own.  This was such a fun portrait!  Her name was Lila, and sadly, she had passed away.  It was an honor to get to draw her.  This is 8×10 inches in my usual pen and ink.

 

 

And, most recently, I was commissioned to create a Charging Bull wire sculpture.  Did I ever have fun making this guy!  I so enjoyed creating the sense of action in this piece.  It is made with dark annealed wire of gauges 16, 18, 19, 22, and 28.  The horns are embellishments I found in an art store.  This is a big fellow, measuring 12 inches long by 6 inches tall by 4 1/2 inches wide.  He weighs over 6 1/2 pounds.  What fun to make this piece!

There are probably other artworks I’ve done since my last post, but these are some of the highlights.  Next on my drawing board is a series of three sheep drawings that I’ve been commissioned to do by a friend.  It’s been busy, but a happy busy. 🙂

Be sure to visit my website to keep up with my latest projects.  Thanks for checking in!

 

Bald Eagle

Dear readers,

It would seem as if I’ve dropped off the planet in these past two months.  Despite the long break from blogging, I assure you that I have been busy creating artwork.  I have also been devoting a lot of time to building a website at last.

In honor of the 4th of July, I decided to share with you my newest drawing.  I haven’t drawn a bald eagle for years, and it has been on my to-do list for quite some time.  I don’t usually enjoy drawing birds, but I was so pleased by how much I enjoyed this drawing.  It made the process pure fun.

Bald Eagle

– 8×10 inch Ampersand scratchboard.

– I used mostly a #11 X-Acto Blade for this, and used two sizes of fiberglass brush to really whiten the light areas.  I also used Faber-Castel Pitt Artist pens for adding depth of value and also to correct mistakes.

A few close-ups.

Thank you for looking, and happy Independence Day!

 

Golden Retriever – In Color

I recently received a second commission for a Golden Retriever, and this time, red/orange wire was requested.  I had just enough of that color wire to finish this piece, so that worked out very nicely.

It was also requested that this sculpture be embellished with some shine and sparkle, so I was able to have some fun with this piece.  This turned out to be one of my most colorful sculptures to date.

Golden Retriever

– Measures approximately 5 inches long by 2 1/2 inches tall by 1 1/4 inches wide.

– She’s made with a little 22 gauge paddle wire for the foundation, and some bronze-colored wire for the under-layers of the dog’s body (this color doesn’t even show), and finally, the 24 gauge orange wire, which is what shows on the surface.  The collar is a chain that’s chock full of embellishments and found items. Pieces of bracelets, earrings, and other little doo-dads add sparkle to the collar. The tail is embellished with a curved jewelry piece with a few little purple stone charms…just for fun.  The ears are some sort of wing-shaped pieces from a set of embellishments I purchased some time ago.

I hope you like it.  Thank you for looking!

 

Golden Retriever

A few weeks ago, I was commissioned to make a sculpture of a Golden Retriever.  I had never tried this breed of dog before, so it made for an interesting challenge.  The curled tail, the deep chest, the square-ish muzzle…it was a lot of fun!  Now that my client has received the sculpture, I can share it here with you, dear readers.

Penny – Golden Retriever

– Measures approximately 8 inches long by 5 inches tall by 2 & 1/4 inches wide.

– She’s made primarily with paddle wire, though there is some fencing wire in there, too.  The wire sizes range from 17 to 26 gauge.  The ears are metal leaf pendants, and the nose is a black glass bead.  The collar is real leather from an old purse strap, and the metal tag was a piece from a necklace.  I punched the tag with the letter P for the dog’s name, Penny.

Thank you for looking!

 

The Junk Thief

Meet the Junk Thief. I call him that because I made another crow similar to this one last year. He is wearing fancy, (fake) diamond encrusted wings and a jewel tail, and I named him the Jewel Thief.  Remember him?

Look at him, hogging this post that doesn’t belong to him!  He’s shameless.

I more recently make this poor thing in the pictures below. I knew he was ugly and unfortunate from the moment I called him finished. He was kind of sad and strange, and I just had to laugh, because he is sort of the opposite of my Jewel Thief. Thus, he is the Junk Thief.

Junk Thief

-Measures 2 1/2 inches tall by 4 1/2 inches long by 1 3/4 inches wide.

-Made with mostly 19 gauge dark annealed wire, as well as some silver wire for the feet. The tail is some random piece of old jewelry I had, and the wings are from a metal flower pin that I took apart to “build” wings. The beak is a cone-shaped bead from an art store. Like I said, he’s sort of homely, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

But don’t despair, the Junk Thief has just as much dignity and self-esteem as his rival, Jewel Thief. 😉

Thank you for looking.

 

Bay

Here’s a little bay-colored horse that I made for my show last month.  He’s a lot like my other horse, Checotah, which sold quickly before I even got him to the show.  I wanted to have another similar sculpture available, so here it is.  I am happy to say that this little bay horse was one of the first things to sell at my show.  Colored wire seems to be popular!

Bay

– Measures a small 3 & 1/4 inches long by 2 & 1/2 inches tall by 1 inch wide.

– If I’m remembering correctly, I used some 19 gauge dark annealed wire for the “bones” of the horse, and then I added layers of finer black wire for the legs and muzzle, and orange wire for the body.  The tail is a bit of very fine chain.  The mane is a piece of an old earring.  Those black and silver spear-like pieces on the earring looked like an interesting horse’s mane to me, so I went with it.  This horse has an almost bulldog-like pose, which was just how he turned out.  I kind of liked that, though…he looks strong and muscular, don’t you think?

Thank you for looking! 🙂

 

The Basset Case

Hi there,

Here is another of my recent sculptures.  I came across a pair of glitzy, sparkling earrings that were soft and dangly.  They made me think of the giant, supple ears of a basset hound.  So here is what I came up with.

The Basset Case

– Measures 8 inches long by 4 & 1/4 inches tall (at the tail) by 2 inches wide.

– Made with some 17 gauge steel fencing wire, as well as paddle wire of various sizes from 22 – 30 gauge.  The ears are those big, soft, fake-diamond-encrusted earrings. The nose is a rectangle/square-shaped glass bead that I had in my stash.  I debated using that bead as it looked so enormous, but what good is a hound dog without his giant nose? 🙂  I pulled wire through the hole in the center of the bead and “sewed” it onto the end of the dog’s face, wrapping wire until the bead was nested tightly in the wire and the head looked like that of a dog.  The tail is a white glass pendant in the shape of a tusk or tooth.

I hope you like this sculpture.  Thank you for looking!