ABOUT JENNY GRAY
I make art under the old oaks in Monroe, Oregon (just outside Eugene). I have a wonderful messy studio were I design, make prints and paint.

ABOUT MY ART
I love color, I love the way ink sits on fine paper, and how layers of paint tell a story. I play with composition and color, always refining, changing and creating as I work my way through a piece. I am influenced by many things among them: the northwest landscape, local architecture such as: barns, mills, factories; I also love old signs, typography, moss, the desert, paper ephemera, vintage textiles, 1950's modern design and art.

Design is my first love and painting is my mistress. I will always love design, she is always there for me, clean and simple, and her typography is irresistible. But painting is freedom, raw emotion, it is messy and drippy. In some of my work you will see a convergence of painting and design, in other pieces one is definitely dominant.

I want my fine art to have layers of meaning and when it is in someone's home I want it to keep telling different, ever changing stories. I love when people bring their own viewpoint to a piece of work, they see things I never thought of.

Interview with LiamDesign's Blog

Where you you like to work? What time of day is most productive for you to work and why do you think that is?

JG: Because I work half time in my graphic design business and the other half on my art I really segment and separate my time and work spaces. I have a wonderful painting studio that is messy and has paint on everything and then I have my office for business and design. The separate spaces really help me focus on the particular work I am doing at the time. I usually work on client work in the morning so I don't feel like I have anything hanging over my head and then I am free to get lost in my artwork for the rest of the day.

What materials do you you use and most like to work with and where do you get them, locally? online?? if online where? etc.

JG: Most of the time I work with oil on canvas and oil printing inks for my prints. I try to buy locally, my walnut oil based paints are made in Oregon by M. Graham, www.mgraham.com, these are amazing highly pigmented paints. I pick-up some things here and there at a locally owned art supply store but since I am not in a large city I do end-up buying the big items from Daniel-Smith, danielsmith.com.

Where does your source material come from ( do you do research at the library to get ideas etc.)

JG: I don't use a whole lot of source material. I take lots of photos thinking I am going to use them but I rarely end up using them. I think everything I see sticks in my brain somewhere and comes out as I work.

What kind of images inspire you, do you keep a sketchbook(if so can you scan/ photograph some of your favorite pages)?

JG: I don't keep a sketch book anymore, I found I did not really refer to it anyway, here are some images that inspired me at the time http://jennygrayart.blogspot.com.

What techniques and processes are your favorite?

JG: I love oil painting for it's freedom and challenge, I see my monotypes as an extension of painting but with some of the qualities of graphic design that I love. I always have about 5-6 oil paintings and about 2-3 graphic projects going at the same time. I work on what I feel excited about and come back to things if I start to get stuck. see my more graphic work at www.JenLouArt.etsy.com

What is special and inspiring about living where you do ?

JG: I am always amazed by the color in Oregon, no matter what the season I can spend hours walking and looking at the landscape. I enjoy living out in the country, the quiet, natural surroundings are the best part about where I live.

What is a normal day like for you, how many hours a day/week do you get to actually focus and produce new works?

JG: I can never find enough time to focus on new works, too many ideas and not enough time. Let's just say in total I probably work a total of about 60-65 hours a week and in a good week 18 hours of that is spent directly on creating art.

Who are your fav designers?? on etsy and off???? can you attach a few pics of your fav pieces from other designers?

JG: There is tons of talent on Etsy. But my favorite designers and artists are pretty old school; Paul Rand would probably be my favorite designer and Richard Diebenkorn would be the artist who is most inspiring to me.

Do you go to museums? what is your favorite art related place to go (a place you feel inspired after you leave)??? is it a gallery, store, section in a museum???

JG: Vacations always make me feel rejuvenated and excited about getting into the studio. When I am on vacation the day-today stuff is not muddling my brain and I start to think of new ideas, projects etc. When ever I get to see abstract expressionist work around mid-century I always get inspired especially the stuff that was happening in California at the time.