i found some fossils :)

Sorry for the 2 depressing posts in a row, guys! I was being a sad sack. Health issues yada yada yada. got me feeling a LITTLE BLUE. however, I am on the up and up, i promise. I just get a wee bit dramatic at times. emphasis on dramatic.

seasonal depression.

I want to exorcise something that isn't there.


that big, empty, hole...


How can something barren be SO heavy?


Half baked and vacuous attempts at lightening the load

with ink. or paint. or a faceless stranger.

are becoming nightmarish.


I am a careless bull in a china shop.

Screaming my insecurities into the void

waiting for an echo.






(note: this has been a particularly hard winter for me. I have many things to celebrate. I choose to celebrate my melancholy today)

poem

We’re not dead yet

Winter’s grip around my neck

Is starting to melt…

And I can feel those herniated discs

Slowly retreating.

November, December

You did nothing to comfort me.

And you can fuck yourself.

your ice paralyzed me.

January, February

Determined and with muscle

Was the only way to escape you.

Now March into April with me.

What was once soft

Like a porcupine’s belly

Is akin to a turtle tummy.

And I don’t care.

Spring flowers will soon bloom.

Robins will eat worms.

and I’ll cycle again.

some fish i drew.

these were attempts at drawing scientifically and I failed in a spectacular way. But I still really like the drawings. Maybe I'll use them in my dream project. A JANE RYDER FIELD GUIDE! coming to you this whenever the fuck i get around to it.

DEATH RIDES A HORSE

A fun little ditty.

wooley rhino.

here's a drawing i made a few months ago. it's inspired by mega fauna.

I still exist.

much love to anyone who looks at this. I still exist. I'll try to post more drawings soon.

I still find fossils, guys! even though I've been a terrible blogger.

I found these lycopsid tree root fossils a few weeks ago. 5 dollar bill for scale coz I'm fancy like that.

a new painting!

Title: Happy Hunting Ground. 30 X 43, gouache on paper, 2016.

my friend, Jeremy, and I are working together on some designs.

My friend from work is very talented and he asked me to help him with a design (wasn't that nice of him? Because I'd love to learn more design)

Work is more fun when you get to learn about adobe illustrator. I sketched up some ideas (check out my instagram to see them...fluxbiota), did some rodeo research, worked as a team, and created some cool stuff.

Here's what we came up with. All trademarked under my company so don't fuck with them lol. Although this may be outsourced to another screen printer.

Today was a good day.

PRINTS NOW AVAILABLE!

WOO HOO! I've got prints! Email me or let me know if you're into anything. Here is a small smattering of what's available. Go on my website to see what else is available www.janeryder.com (some of these images are slightly cropped). Message me on facebook or gmail to make a deal.

Images seen below are 20 bucks plus shipping...mini prints (no bigger than 12.5 as it's widest or tallest dimension), editions of 30.

The fox in the bottom right is 50 plus shipping and the image is slightly cropped.

Write up for a show I curated.

I recently curated a show at the Oskaloosa Art Center called "The Skin We're in." We had fine art inspired by the genre of tattoos, fine art made by tattoo artists, entries from the Oskaloosa Community, a historical room (done by In Vivo Tattoos), and a social media project called The Wall of Skin!

The opening was rad! We greeted over 100 attendees and had tons o' fun messing with henna tattoos, drinkin' beer, looking at art, and communicating. It was just so damn awesome to see such energy. I felt like the community responded to the show well.

It was pretty great, artists involved: Jessica Robles, Valerie Wallace, Rob Stephens, Jessica Robles, Rebecca Stanley Norris, Natalie Shugalio Dimitropoulis, Danny Reed, Alan Munger, Trevor Pinegar, Briana Bartlett, Travis Wilson, Jeremy Hunolt, Jeremy Bratz, and Jane Ryder.

artist statement for Her Ungulating Earth.

Being totally honest about who we are isn't easy. It's never been easy for me to write artist statements that convey the full breadth of why I create something.  I tried this time...here's my artist statement.

Her Undulating Earth: Recent work by Jane Ryder

The gouache paintings of Her Undulating Earth are meditative creations. Each piece is a deep reflection of who I am and how I express my breadth of emotions.  It’s hard for me to allow an audience to understand my work as anything other than creative interpretations of a Midwestern landscape. I’m over that now. I’m ready to come out and tell my audience that sometimes I’m very sad.  My life is made up of bursts of extreme happiness followed by periods of neutral grey. I’ve learned to not fear those grey moments because they make me who I am. The grey moments encourage me to seek beauty by creating beauty.

Her Undulating Earth is inspired by the complexities of the natural world and the complexities of the human brain and soul.  The paintings were born from a desire to connect with nature and to connect with the feelings I’d prefer to ignore.  It is homage to the symbiosis within our universe and a manifestation of my spirit.

This show is dedicated to Mary Ruth Ginn and Judith Covington

also, NEW WORK!!!!!

 All of these are available as limited edition archival prints. They look great. Email me if you want to get some prices for all DAT holiday shopping you're going to have to do eventually.

Sepulcher. 22 X 26, gouache on paper, 2015.

The Kingfisher's Bone Tree. 12 X 20, gouache on paper, 2015.

Soybean and Sunflower Scene. 17 X 22, gouache on paper, 2015.

creative connections. all female show.

Hey, guys. If you're in Texas check out the show I'm in. I realize the state is GIGANTIC and this is not feasible in most cases. worth a shot. Curated by the wonderful Rachael Bower. All female cast of artists

Hope everyone is having a good day. I don't update this as often as I should. Check out my instagram for more studio shots. fluxbiota is the username.

ARTDOSE.

I got published in ArtDose, a Wisconsin based art guide.  You can check out the link at http://artdoseartguide.com/vol-xi-online/

NEW WEBBY!!!!

I'm proud to announce the birth of my updated website!  Many thanks to Bruce and Carolyn for helping me make it happen.  go check it out.  www.janeryder.com

DO IT! GO LOOK AT IT NOW!

isn't it funny.

oh, boy.

three month hiatus. I've been busy getting ready for my solo show at the Silverwood Gallery in St. Anthony, Minnesota.

I'll be straightforward with you guys. My head hasn't been on straight for the last couple months. I got engaged, I've been going crazy trying to afford framing, I've been working on a new website (which will be open and ready for business pretty damn soon), my family has been in town, I've been sick. It's insane. I'm surprised I'm not more tired than I am.  But enough of that.

I'm feeling optimistic.

2nd Annual Juried Exhibition, Lush Vibes.

Well, hello.  Long time no see.  I've been a busy bastard. 

I was recently invited by Martin Nelson of FACRAG (Franklin Art Center Gallery) to jury their annual spring exhibition called Lush Vibes.  Here's my statement for the show and a few of my favorite images. Because it was a blind jury, I don't know the artists names at the moment but will post them after the opening.


Juror Statement

Lush Vibes, 2015.

I’ve experienced thirty-two midwestern winters.  We are bombarded with ice, sleet, snow, and bitter cold.  The unpredictable weather keeps us indoors and eventually affects our moods.  The severity and variety of weather has led me to this conclusion:  Midwestern winters are bipolar.  The promise of a lush spring is what gets us through.  Spring is a time to feel inspired and creative.  It’s a time to feel reborn and rejuvenated.

Winter is almost behind us and I feel like I’m finally shaking off the dust it left on me.  I felt inclined to view the work presented in Lush Vibes as responses to seasonal changes.  I saw the moodiness of each season reflected in the color, content, patterns, and anthropomorphic qualities of each piece. 

The somber isolation winter brings us is reflected in the colors and cold body language between the man and woman in The American Dream.  The oil/digital painting, The Doctor, conjures up thoughts of an infectious plague and winter days trapped inside, sick with flu.  The more playful side of winter can be seen in the geometric shapes of the porcelain plates that reminded me of ice crystals in a snowball.

But if it weren’t for the somber and sad moments of the winter would we appreciate the beauty of spring to its fullest?  The grass emerges from the soil, leaves pop out of buds, and animals leave their dens. Wet felted wool piece, Wooden Wonder and mixed media piece, Peacock Headdress look like living organisms unfurling their parts to the warm weather and the humorous piece Lush Vibrations reminds us of the randiness we associate with spring fever.  I saw the colors and soft edges of the season in abstract pieces 20. and 22.

The quality of work displayed in the 2^nd annual Lush Vibes is impressive and it was an honor to be a part of the exhibition.   Thank you for inspiring me and I hope your spring and summer is filled with wonderful adventures and many artistic pursuits.  

untitled, mixed media collage.

The Doctor. Oil and Digital Painting.

Wooden Wonder. Wet Felted Wool.

Just some stuff I'm working on.

detail area of a recently completed 22 X 3o gouache painting.

modge podged whitetail deer skulls.  Made these for fun. 

another modge podge skull!

My Duck Themed Painting.

I was recently invited to show my work in a show called Ducks (at Minotaur Projects in LA).  Here's a youtube link to the promo, it's pretty fun...Howard the Duck makes an appearance.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQvg7QeTkqw

I had a good time making this piece. 

"Duck Spittle"  11 X 15, gouache on paper.  2015.

INTERVIEW!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTYxSJmbWig&feature=youtu.be

This is the link to an artist interview I'm featured in...thanks to the Mclean Art Center for putting it together.

My bit is roughly two minutes in.

sorry for the cell phone quality image but this is the new work in progress.

hey, guys.  I've probably lost all of my followers COZ I SUCK AT BLOGGING!  I can thank instagram for that, it's just so damn easy and convenient to microblog.

This is the new painting I'm working on.  I have a solo show at the Silverwood Gallery in St. Anthony, Minnesota this August...I have a lot of work to do but I'm plugging along steadily. 

This piece is not finished and not titled. 22 X 30.  gouache on paper.

my newest work!

"Between the Mammoth's Tusks." 22 X 22, gouache on paper.

"Crepuscular." 10 X 21, gouache on paper.

"Down Low and in the Garden (dedicated to my friends Ann and Christian)" 22 X 22, gouache on paper

I apologize for being a terrible blogger. 

Updates soon!

just a li'l doodle from last night.

This t-shirt design is starting to fuck with me.  I like this idea better than my last idea.  So, I'll probably mess with this image for a few hours today.  I like the playfulness of the composition and I like squirrels (duh).  I'll keep you posted as the design progresses.

A few pen and inks.

I have to come up with a t-shirt design for a print exchang (more pics once the due date arrives).  Lots of brainstorming....here are a few doodles.  All pen and ink.

Sometimes we forget. Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Close.

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case."


 -Chuck Close

It's smashed penny time!

My buddy, Victoria and her lovely family, are always kind enough to think of me whenever they see a smashed penny machine.  They recently visited Colorado and brought me back this lovely, tiger-centric smashed penny from the Cheyenne Zoo.  I love it when the machines have animal designs.  I'm a sucker for that.

I have also gotten my pal, Enza and her husband, addicted to collecting.  Enza is so into it that she bought a smashed penny passport.  I love that the nerdiness is spreading.  Smashed pennies are the best.

The Postcard Collective, Summer 2013.

I decided to Google myself and realized I forgot to mention this excellent postcard exchange I was involved with last summer (RUN ON SENTENCE!!!).  Here's the link if you wanna see what everyone made.  See if you can find mine, I dare you.

http://www.postcardcollective.org/past-exchanges/#/summer-2013/

The Seventeen Year Cicada and how a bug can make me yearn for my childhood.

It is loud outside. Like, louder than I would expect a plague of horny cicadas to be. Loud like an army of maracas rattling in the trees. There are so many cicadas it's almost biblical. I have always been completely fascinated by these noisy creatures, here's why.

1. They have the coolest larval stage ever (i have no idea if that is the correct term to use for a cicada before it becomes a winged creature...nymph stage, maybe?). They live in the ground for 17 years and when they emerge they look like little clawed tanks. They remind me of the bugs from the movie Starship Troopers.  Enjoy this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAJLWSg5PIY

2. Our dog, Mudd, looks hilarious when he chases them. My first dog, Ryder (*pours a 40 on the curb* I miss you!), loved to eat them. It was also hilarious. The sound of a toothless cocker spaniel gumming crunchy bugs is a sound not to be missed.  Side note: cicadas are not poisonous, a dog can totally eat them...just not too many coz their exoskeletons are hard to digest.

3.  My first cicada experience was at the Brookfield zoo.  It was hot when the plague peaked and the zoo was a madhouse.  Cicadas everywhere, screaming/freaked out kids running in circles/stomping bugs, stressed out parents and camp counselors everywhere.  A madhouse.  I didn't even care about the gorilla house or the lions.  I just wanted to count cicadas.  It was the first time I felt awestruck by something.

4.  Those red eyes?  So excellent.  And some of the other kinds have cool camouflaged backs.  Damn, do these things look cool.

5.  The shells are interesting and I always regret not collecting them for something art related.  sigh.

6.  When I was little the kids on the block would play a cicada related game.  If you saw one that looked dead you would dare your friend to pick it up.  If it was dead the game was over and if it wasn't dead the sudden BUUUUZZZZZZZZ was enough to make a kid shit their pants.  It was a fun game.  Kind of like kiddie-russian roulette.

omg.  how embarrassing.  you can still see the arrow from my screenshot.  too lazy to crop today.  sorry!

the 17 year cicadas are small.  whirlybird tree seed for scale.

A cicada that recently emerged from it's shell.  man, they are completely fascinating.

I've always enjoyed these creatures.  Yesterday I spent five minutes staring at a tree just so I could watch the swarm buzz and fly through the branches....there were so many of them.  The sound was deafening and the visuals were awesome.  

Ecovisions. A show at the McLean art center.

I was recently invited me to participate in an exhibition called Ecovisions at the Mclean Art Center in Bloomington, Illinois.  They decided to use my painting on the promotional material....yay!  Here's a fancy screenshot and here's the website http://www.mcac.wildapricot.org/About

I plan on attending the opening in September. 

My New Studio at the Oskaloosa Art Center.

Big weekend, people.  I moved into my new studio and I'm so happy.  I've already started transferring a new drawing onto 400 lb watercolor and should be ready to paint in a couple days.  Life is good even though I'm sort of cranky today.  Yay!  Cranky!

 As always, thanks for all the support, blog readers.  You guys are the best.

Thank you, 27th Annual McNesse Works on Paper.

I sad to say goodbye to this piece recently but I'm happy to see it go to a good home in Louisiana.  Thank you to the 27th Annual McNeese Works on Paper Exhibition for giving me an opportunity to show and sell my work at the Abercrombie Gallery.

Fresh Paint, Studio Visit interview.

Good morning to all you fine people. I was recently asked to be a part of the Studio Visit portion of the Fresh Paint blog.  Check it out.

 Here's the link: http://www.freshpaintmagazine.com/2/post/2014/05/jane-ryder.html