Welcome
I am Jennifer Russ, I paint abstract botanicals as a way to explore pattern and structure within the wildness of my everyday life as a working mom and artist. I am constantly trying to make sense of the complexity that is life and look for the framework that weaves life together. Flowers and plants have always taught me to see where these intersect. That paradox is ok, you can have surprise and spontaneity as well as form and structure living side by side. Life, like in nature, is the balance between uncertainty and design.
New works in the works
About me:
Nature and Botanicals have been my main influence throughout my art journey, which includes earning a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. After graduating I moved to New York and started my Visual Design career at Urban Outfitters. Over those 10 years I worked as a Display Artist and then as a Merchandiser, while also freelancing as a Floral designer in my spare time. My passion for flowers pushed me to leave my corporate job and become a Floral Designer full time, working for Sprout Home and then Renny and Reed. These years in NYC helped shape the artist I am today, they honed my design skills and informed my artistic tastes. Since leaving NYC in 2015, I delved back into my painting career alongside my full time job in retail management.
I live in Rexhame on the southern coast of Massachusetts, with my partner and our daughter. They both are my toughest critics but also my biggest fans. I am kept grounded through all that life brings because of my background as a certified Hatha and Vinyasa yoga instructor, with over a decade-long meditation practice. I strive to bring this experience and its meditative and philosophical lessons into my paintings, creating artwork that evokes a combination of inquisitiveness and serenity.