♥ MY BIOGRAPHY

Hi, I'm Jennifer McLean, all my friends call me Jenn though. Since I'm sure we're all going to be bloggy buddies, feel free to call me Jenn too. I thought you all might want to know more about me. I'll start with some background that will hopefully help you Grok* me better.

(*Note: from Heinlien's "Stranger in a Strange Land"; definition: to Grok is kind of like to understand from the inside out. In today's way of speaking I guess the loose translation would be "Do ya feel me?")

Ok, so here we go! My grandmother was an artist, my mother is an artist and so am I. This is not to say it was our main thing in life, I'm the first to try that route. It took me all my growing up years, a degree from UVic in Psychology, a few interim years of frustration and unhappiness and more than half a decade being a designer wedding cake artist to really embrace what my heart has been telling me all this time. I want to paint more than anything. I want to paint as much as I want to keep breathing. In fact, if I can't paint maybe I'll just hold my breath until I can...

...well now I have a headache, that didn't do me much good now did it? You people have to warn me when I'm being stupid. Assuming there's anyone out there.

...back to my mini biography.

I painted in grade school and won Best Artist for my school in my graduating year, then when I graduated to high school I petitioned the art teacher to allow me to skip the beginners art classes and do the advanced stuff instead. I guess she saw promise in me because she agreed. A requirement for the course was a special set of tempera paints and brushes. My first real experience in paint, therefore, was tempera. I used up every ounce of paint in every bottle and then bought more. I painted throughout the four years of high school but stopped when I moved home to Victoria and started at UVic. The bottles were empty when I was packing so I threw them out, planning to maybe try a new medium in a few months. I figured I'd settle in University first, then start painting again. It obviously didn't work out that way.

After graduating, in those few frustrating years where I didn't know what to do with myself, I purchased some professional grade watercolors, paper and brushes. I thought I should have a career of some sort and paint for pleasure. I didn't start painting right away because I didn't actually know how to use watercolor paints. I had to get some books first. Hunting used book stores for art instruction books took me a while; a little bit of fear about starting this new thing started. Mostly, though the reason I didn't start painting again was because all the other stuff of life got in the way. As the years passed my life got more and more organized but the fear of starting got larger and larger so to fulfill that need to create I did every other kind of art/craft known to man. I have done ceramics, Ukrainian easter eggs called piysanka, candle making, beadwork, hand made hair accessories, sewing, paper crafts, crochet, macramé, quilling, miniatures etc. ad nauseam. I'm sure I missed a dozen other things I've tried but none held my interest. It's now what my heart secretly desired more than anything. But, I kept procrastinating, putting off the watercolors. It also should be mentioned that I'm just a leeetle bit of a perfectionist. :o) Sooo, instead of enjoying watercolors in my spare time, I threw myself into learning a totally new artistic medium - gumpaste/sugarpaste flowers. It seemed to make sense to me, if I wasn't going to do what I really wanted to do, at least I'd be expressing myself artistically. At a minimum I'd be using the God given talent for something.

I saw Martha Stewart make beautiful flowers for a wedding cake and thought, "I can do that." So, I bought the supplies and a book and promptly started a business making wedding cake flowers. Within the first 6 months I started using a new food friendly paste that wasn't made of sugar. I thought it would be a great idea to market these flowers as a wedding keepsake and this new paste made that possible. Here are a couple of my cakes...

I created designer wedding cakes for 6 years or so. I owned my own business, which felt great... and yes, it was a good artistic outlet. But I was still not satisfied. I still wanted to paint. I was just so reticent because of the fear of not being good enough. What if I tried and found that my talent ceased to exist? What would I do with my longing to be a professional painter then? I'd mourn that loss like I'd mourn the loss of a limb! These thoughts fueled my pervasive fear and made me continue to put off trying.

Two years ago I started changing my life a little at a time. I started doing all the things I'd put off because of fear. I started dieting, I went to the dentist to get a worrisome tooth looked at, I started dating a little and I finally started PAINTING. I then thought that if I was going to do this professionally I better get my name out there. So, I decided to blog. Amazingly, I found that I truly loved it. I really relish sharing my artwork, discovering & featuring new artists, writing about new tools & art supplies and now bringing you a new Artist's Blog Hop called my Artist's PLAY ROOM.

Now I'm so happy and fulfilled! I feel like my new life is like a gift.I'm painting and blogging about it every day and it seems my name is finally getting out there. I've recently been accepted as a new contributing member to Inspiration Avenue, a group of Artists from around the world who have come together to support one another's artistic endeavors and Etsy Shops. It's a wonderful group of women, please go check the site and the artist's out. I also was asked and just completed my first Guest Blog Post over at Closer To Lucy. I have an Etsy Shop (of the same name as my blog) where you can purchase my artwork. The future certainly is looking Bright!
I'll hopefully see you around My Blog and please consider joining my New Blog Hop!
Talk to you soon.
Best,