Turtle Folk Lore:
Sea Turtles represent good luck, endurance, perseverance and a long life. Turtles are excellent navigators and will have no trouble find their way home   Legends say a green sea turtle lead the first Polynesian peoples to the islands.  According to https://www.olukai.com; "In modern times, sea turtles are protected by the Endangered Species act and there are severe penalties just for giving them stink eye."

Native American stories say that a great Sea Turtle dedicated it's shell to the land dwelling animals and North America rests on his back.

Well, I can promise that I won't be giving you the stink eye, Great Honu, because the spiritual penalties far outweigh my concern for the laws of man.  ​

ABOVE:  Setting up for the first Goshen Art Walk of the 2017 season.

Here I am, Jennifern Hippely, with my "seriously passionate about art and jewelry" face, as I talk about how I individually make each FoxFern jewelry piece.  Above photos courtesy of Jim Sebastian of the Times Herald-Record.  You can view more pictures of my "serious face" and more of the amazing art and artists that attended the event in TheRecordOnline.com Gallery:
www.recordonline.com/photogallery/TH/20170602/PHOTOGALLERY/602009994/PH/1

Doing shows is tough, the set-up process is always stressful and the elements (wind) sometimes try to obliterate your displays, but the rewards are so much greater.  Even if I don't have a great sales day, meeting new people is a delight and sharing my work with them is an honor.  

Thank you to every single visitor who took the time to come out; you encouraged each one of us to continue doing beautiful things for the love of art and literature.

A special Thank You to all the members of the Goshen Art League, they put a lot of unpaid time, effort and love into this event.  (HUG)  

​I love this photo from Goshen Art League member and photographer Julissie Saltzberg:

"Couple in Deep" is in its final stages.  ​

Subject Notes: These are the moments in time that are excruciatingly personal, but more than likely, we have all shared something similar.  Our thoughts may be mostly complete, but constructed in a way that makes deciphering them difficult.  

Practice Notes: Painting is a torturous discovery, like a painful hike to the apex; a realization of vision into technique.  I wanted an illuminated look, slightly out-of-focus, and layered; reminiscent of neon lights or lights through rainy window.  You cannot see the layers until you look closely, and that is exactly how I wanted it.  It gets clearer the closer you get to the subjects, like looking through a drop of water.

I made several attempts at the technique I envisioned, but had to scrub it back down to the base line several times.  I am so glad I did, because there it is.  Glowing, layered, and somehow... focused.