Jennifer Baker – finding space, light and oil paint

Aged 18 Jennifer Baker packed her bags and moved from Florida to New York City to study at the School of Visual Arts, one of the best art schools in the US. It was the 1980s and she says that the school and the experience moulded her as an artist and as a person, but she couldn’t live there forever. 
After graduating Jennifer had no clue of how to make art her profession, although she did try. She loved to travel and moved to Italy with her husband, where she ran a successful translating business for 20 years – but there was no time, or space, for painting.
So, how is it that Jennifer has just returned from a gallery show in Florida, with more lined up in Italy and the US? What prompted Jennifer to pick up her paintbrush and beloved oil paints again, and what happened when she did? 

‘I'm so glad I took the leap and started painting again. It's my passion and I love doing it.’

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Researched, edited and produced by Claire Waite Brown
Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa Creative Commons License Free Music Archive - Ketsa - Day Trips
Artworks: Emily Portnoi emilyportnoi.co.uk
Photo: Ella Pallet

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Transcript

Claire Waite Brown: 0:48

This episode, I'm speaking with Jennifer Baker, who was a talented young artists and worked hard after school to grow her experience, and build a portfolio that got her accepted to all the art schools she applied for. But despite the promising start, for many years, Jennifer did not paint instead concentrating on running a lodge in the mountains with her Italian husband, getting our children through college and running her translation business. So what prompted Jennifer to pick up her paintbrush and beloved oil paints again? And what happened when she did? Hi, Jennifer, how are you?

Unknown: 3:06

Hi, Claire. I'm great. I'm really glad to be here.

Claire Waite Brown: 3:09

Thank you. Please start by telling us what form your return to creativity takes.

Unknown: 3:16

I'm I'm a painter. I've always been a painter. But in the last, I want to say two and a half years now. Basically, since the pandemic hit, I've returned to painting as my full time occupation. That's what I do full time now.

Claire Waite Brown: 3:33

Brilliant, how exciting. So you said you've always been a painter? Does that mean you had a creative childhood?

Unknown: 3:39

Yes, I literally can't remember not making art. I just as a child was right away a very artistic child. I'm a bit of an introvert, dreamy head in the clouds kind of kid and I really use my Now I call it my art practice back then I'd probably call it having fun with crayons or something as a form of refuge really from things in life or in my family life, or just in the world in general that maybe were hard for me to deal with. I'm pretty sensitive, and I just always created it's just my favourite place to be.

Claire Waite Brown: 4:20

And did that get channelled within education?

Unknown: 4:25

Yes, it totally did I, through school, elementary school, middle school, high school, I was educated in the United States. I was always an art student and did all the art stuff. But it mostly got channelled when I was about. Let's see, I was about 16. And I started art lessons with a really great private teacher who helped me prepare portfolios to try to apply to some of the best art schools. And I spent a whole year with her and I'd literally go to her every day after school and I'd stay till the late evening. It was definitely a big project. She was a drill sergeant and very, very intense. And that's how I thought about her back then. But now I'm so grateful for her. And she helped me prepare my portfolio to get into art schools. I applied to several schools and I got into all of them.

Claire Waite Brown: 5:15

And so if you got into all of the art schools that you applied to, which did you choose, and how did that further art, education and lifestyle go?

Unknown: 5:26

That was a big decision. So I was born and raised in Florida, and I applied to trying to remember it was four or five schools. I wound up choosing School of Visual Arts which is in New York. City right in Chelsea. And I chose that school number one, because it's one of the best schools, it still is today one of the best art schools number two, because I wanted to go to New York City, I just wanted to literally leave the whole Florida thing behind. I was 18. I wanted to do the New York City artists thing. And they also offered me a full scholarship. So it's a very unique school. Because the people that teach there, they aren't professors, there are all working artists, and many of them are very well known very important people in the art world. And I had the chance to study with some amazing people there.

Claire Waite Brown: 6:16

And how did you enjoy the experience of being in such a different location in the city?

Unknown: 6:23

Yeah, that was so fun, Claire. I mean, now when I look back on it, I, I don't, I'm sure I was going to say don't think that I'm sure I couldn't have lived my whole life right in the middle of New York City. But being 18 and moving there. And being in the middle of Greenwich Village I lived in down in Greenwich Village, and this was during the 80s it was not New York today. It was definitely different. A lot grittier and wilder I think probably better it's really cleaned up now I've noticed it's a different place can like Disney now. It was a great experience. It was really really moulded me as a person I felt so free. And as an artist, it really the that school really gave me my gave me a view to my fault for potential as an artist.

Claire Waite Brown: 7:14

It's interesting, you say that the teachers there were not professors, per se, but working artists, because lots of my guests will say that having gone to art school, they had a wonderful experience and tried all sorts of different things, but didn't have a grounding for then making a career in art. Do you think because these were working artists that that did help you in that way after school?

Unknown: 7:41

Actually clear I, I don't because I don't know what art schools in general are doing now. But when I went to art school, it was the full immersion into the artistic practice. And I learned a lot of techniques there, obviously a lot of very practical techniques. But then I also learned about my own personal brand new creativity, and I learned how to tap into it. I learned nothing about business. Zero. They taught us nothing about that it was all about being creative, and being the artist. And when I left school, I had no clue how to make it. My profession, no, no clue at all. And there was this idea that you know, part of being an artist was being the starving artists and having the day job and doing it at night burning the midnight oil, all that which I I was very young and I obviously bought into it. Because when I left school, I had no idea how to make art, my actual business at all.

Claire Waite Brown: 8:45

That phrase so often comes up. So then what did you do? You didn't stay in New York immediately did you

Unknown: 8:56

know I left New York when I when I graduated, I moved to the west of the United States, I was really craving I wanted to leave the city and my art was taking on rd back then say back then it was a long time ago, it was really taking on this aspect that I needed open space and a natural environment to be inspired. I wasn't very inspired being in an urban environment. So I moved out west and I started getting back to our what we were talking about before I started to try to think of ways that I could make a living and still paint so I looked at teaching at one point I thought I would go to grad school and study art therapy and now I'm now when I think about that, I'm so glad I didn't do any of those things. So I just worked odd jobs at that point and made time to paint. But I I was a little lost. I think a lot of people are lost at that age, at least you leave school and all of a sudden, okay, you have to be an adult now and know where to go and what to do and how to pay the bills and have this plan which I did not have at all very very unplanned life My whole life has been that way really

Claire Waite Brown: 10:10

sounds brilliant. Yeah, I'd say ya know, you often you there you've come out of school. And like university or further education is a nice way of getting into real life a little bit but with the cocoon of you're still in education and you're still looked after a bit and then like you say then after that is right now off you go on your own and do what theoretically you're going to do for the rest of your life. which we know nowadays we don't have to decide right then that we're going to do the same thing for the rest of our lives. But yes, yeah, that wonderful. Thankfully, we know that now. But yeah, there's just constant learning in life generally isn't there? I know that you did a lot of travelling at that time, too. And you came to settle in Italy? How? Why?

Unknown: 11:03

Yeah, I, I love to travel. I'm an adventurer I have. I'm just born that way. It's made parts of my life have been harder because of that because of logistics and moving around. And, I mean, I have friends who still have their, you know, pictures and photographs in a box from when we were in high school. I just don't, I've moved so much. I wound up in Italy, because I met a man who's Italian and he became my husband. And when I moved to Italy, it was before we got married. It was 1992. I just said, one. I'm gonna go to Italy now. And Italy's it's full of art. That was my little excuse there. I was going for him, obviously. But at least he's in Italy, right? And I said, I'm gonna sell everything I have, which at that point wasn't much, but I had a car and I had a few things. And you know, and I sold everything. And I said, Well, if it doesn't work out, I'll just come back. And I just never came back. Yeah, that point in my life was the biggest pivot I've ever done. I can look back on it now and see it for what it was. It was an identity crisis. Totally when I look at it now. I did not speak Italian. I spoke Spanish, which helped me a little bit but I but I did pick up the language very quickly because no one here spoke English. No one spoke English. There was no English television. Obviously, there was no Internet, obviously, no cell phones, no newspapers, so it was all a tie in. So I did learn quite quickly. I'm pretty good with that. It's it's a talent I have picked, pick that up quickly. So but that part of my life, I was really lost Claire, when I look at it now, we ran a business up in the mountains, we ran a lodge up in the mountains with a restaurant and a bar and rooms rooms to rent and, and I had a couple children. But that whole part of my life, my art really, like took a back seat even more than a back seat. It just kind of was there. And I had no way no channel to make that part of my life. Number one, because I was having children during that phase of your life when you have young children. So much of who we are just gets naturally put on the backburner. It's just part of the process. I don't have regrets about that. But it really is, I can see that my identity, for a piece of my life was literally about being a mom. And doing that. Also, just the way we lived, I was very isolated. I didn't live anywhere where I could even make my art. I'm an oil painter. And oil painting really requires space because it's messy and smelly. And I like to paint large paintings. So I didn't even have the space to do it. So for those years right there. I could say to myself, I'm an artist, but if I met someone, I wouldn't say I'm an artist when they asked me what I did. That's a big difference.

Claire Waite Brown: 14:34

Yeah. You have already mentioned a talent for picking up languages and you started your own translation business. Were you able to make that work while also travelling between Italy and the US? Because I know you're still doing that?

Unknown: 14:52

Yeah, I did start my own translation business. And I fell into that, like I'd fallen into many other things. It wasn't my passion or my goal, or what something I'd studied, but I was very good at it. And someone asked me, I actually started teaching some English when we left the lodge and started teaching English and someone asked me one day to translate something. And I did it. And then he said, Well, how much do I owe you? And I said, Oh, I can get paid for this. It was pretty much how I started translating right there. Then I specialise. And I, I had a translation I say had because I really am at the end of it right now. And I'm really happy about that. We'll talk about that later. I had a translation business for 20 years. I built it on my own and I could take it back and forth with me. It's all online. We go to the United States, we started spending half the year there will actually more than half the year because my kids finished school there. It helped me put both my kids through college, which was my big goal to get them through college. And I was good at it clear I could I could do it, but I'll just cut to the chase. So when When COVID came came around in 2020, and the first lockdown happened, I lost all of my business. I had a normal revenue in March of 2020. And in April, I had zero. That happened to quite a lot of people. It depends what people did for a living. And that beyond the terrifying part of that, and the Yeah, it was really a scary time, but that the end result of me going through that process was, I decided that I was going to paint because I just really had this moment of saying, if, if not now When, and my children are grown, and I can fail and fall on my face and make a lot of mistakes, and it won't matter. I won't let anyone else down. I'm going to paint because I don't miss anything about translating at all. I really realised that and I didn't miss any part of it. I missed having you know, I missed making enough money to live I missed that part. But everything else I really realised I didn't miss it. And I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing something I didn't love doing. That's what happened to me.

Claire Waite Brown: 17:14

Yeah. The the impetus that puts you in that position to kind of make the decision for you. Creativity found.co.uk is the place to go to find workshops, courses, supplies, kits, and books to help you get creative. So if you're looking for your own creativity found experiment, go have a browse to see what's on offer so far. And if you can help adults to find their new creative passion, please get in touch on social media, or through the contact details on the website. How long had it been? Since you got some oil paints and a canvas out? And how did you physically actually, like go right? I'm gonna do this. Did you go? I don't know what the heck I'm gonna do. Or I just can't imagine that been such a long time. And then just getting right. I'm going to start it.

Unknown: 18:15

I had started oil painting again before COVID came. So I want to say like a couple years and I Dennett kind of furtively. I feel like because I didn't have a space, which for me was really hard. But even at that point, I said, if I don't start, I can't wait for a perfect situation. I can't wait for everything to be right. I can't wait. So I would literally clear off this little kitchen table and I I'd make little paintings, which I don't like doing at all, but I do it anyway, I had started posting my paintings on a on a little blog website, which no one looked at at that point. But it was literally for me to have them out in the world in some form. They weren't for sale or anything. And so I had already started doing that. And then when when the COVID thing happened and I my business tanked and I had that moment of clarity. I was really on the transatlantic coming back here when I had that moment and I looked out and I said I'm going to paint I was looking out the aeroplane window when I decided to do that. And here in our tiny house I we have a space that I could transform into a real studio. And I told my husband I said we're cleaning that out. I'm going to paint and we just cleaned it out. And I got back in Claire, it was so easy to step back in because I felt like I was coming home. It was the best feeling it was really I get I get tingles talking about it. So even the smell of oil paint, which smells very bad. It's like Turpin. Tiny and smelly. I love it. And when I started when I smelled it when I walked in that space that I was building, it was a beautiful thing. So that's yeah, that's how I did that. I just dove in really hard.

Claire Waite Brown: 19:58

Yeah. Oh, that's so lovely. That's such a lovely feeling that you had and you were able to go big, then.

Unknown: 20:05

Yes, I could go big I could make a mess. Making a mess is part of what I do. It's just messy. It's a messy art form. Any oil painter will tell you that especially big expressionist oil painter like me. And once I really just started things really started happening for me quickly just falling out of the sky player literally. It was like I'd opened up my my my doors somehow to opportunities coming to me as an artist and I am and I started saying yes to every single thing that came my way and I made made a lot of mistakes. I did a lot of learning. I'm still learning now, but that's when I started. I said well, I have to self promote. I have to create a real website I have to get on social media. There's a curator here in Italy who literally came knocking on my door because he had known me for 20 years before and asked me if I would paint a body of work for him and do a show I had all these things happen. So I really got on board with the business aspect of it. And not just the creative process because I could just go in the student paint and like, not even talk to people for a whole week. But I've, I've really learned and I'm still learning the business aspect of it.

Claire Waite Brown: 21:26

Okay, we'll come back to that. That's another theme that comes up a lot with my guests. I wanted to ask two things. One is when you started again, in the studio with your oil paints, were you revisiting what you've done when you were younger? Or was something different coming out? And that was the other thing. Sorry, I forgot that. When you? So they're kind of two separate questions. So when you had been painting small as well, on the kitchen table, you may be not painting to show it to other people. And you've talked about now you are showing it to other people that oh, sorry, Jennifer, there's two questions there. Okay. Same art coming out. And the confidence to show it.

Unknown: 22:11

Oh, yeah, those are great questions. So to your first question, I do remember when I first picked up the brushes here, I hadn't done a large scale oil painting since now, it's been 12 years, since I've done a large painting. Because I had done some large paintings, my years in Italy, which were hidden away, I didn't. So my work, once I let go and didn't try to reproduce, something I've done before somebody had done in school, was totally in a different palette, much lighter than it had ever been before. I mean, lighter as far as the light in the paintings. And also, as far as my approach, my tactile approach is very different than it used to be. I think it's better I think it's really grown. It's grown with me, I think part of getting older, and my art practice, but in my life in general is I really know who I am. And I didn't know who I was 30 years ago, I had some ideas about it and how you should be or wanting to be or would like to be, but who I am, was still quite a mystery to me back then. My paintings back then were kind of broody and blue, overly dramatic kind of teenager when I think of it now. They're very different now. And they're full of light. And, and I know that that's what I look for in in my life and in my art. And the first big show I had was actually called light that was the title of the show. So that stands to your first question. Your second question is the big question of actually, you know, when I said, Okay, well, if I want to do this, I have to show it to people. And I'm sure a lot of your guests have that moment. You have to show it to people, what am I you know, and that was a decision I made. And it was made me extremely uncomfortable, and very scared. Because even when I had been painting when I was younger, and I'd won a scholarship, and I've done a show in New York City and stuff like that, I was always very shy about showing my work. So I literally made a decision. And I said, I'm 54 Well, now I am I was 52 than or 51 or something. And I said, If I don't do this now, I'm not going to do it. And I've dealt with enough rejection and challenges in my life that it won't matter if people don't love what I do. So I decided I can survive that and keep going. So and it sounds easy. It's, it's it's not it's gotten way easier. I've had a lot of satisfaction from showing my work. I show my work every day to a large audience online. And it's never this moment of just easy. I'm going to show it. There's always this little voice saying, Oh, well, what if they don't like it? That's part of it. So I started on social media at that point. I started my Instagram account in July of 2020. That was big for me, because that's a very visual social media. It's about it's changing. Now. It's a little different now. But back then it was much more about the actual artwork and seeing the artwork. I also started showing my artwork on my Facebook account, which were literally people that I know, all people that I know from my life. It's a small account, it's still the same way it's like 200 people, and so many people came out of the woodwork and said I have been dying to see your paintings. I remember you were a painter and I haven't seen anything you've done for 20 years and yeah, it was a learning experience clear. I it still is today. I'm still learning today how to do that.

Claire Waite Brown: 26:04

Yeah, what You're obviously doing it very well, because there are lots of people out there who want to see it.

Unknown: 26:10

Oh, thank you, I think something someone said to me once, and I can't remember, I can't remember who they were quoting. So I'm just going to throw this out there is that part of finding your audience is finding who is not your audience. And so I'm really a brand, I think all artists are a brand. And they can be a brand in the smallest way, or the biggest way out in the world. But I'm a brand and some of the biggest brands trying to remember who said this, it was a famous fashion designer, I think, they said, you know, to have people love you, you have to have people really not like you. And I think that that's really true. And once you find your audience, and people who love what you do, it just as becomes a natural growth of other people who are drawn to what you do coming in. And every now and then you have people who look at what you do and say up and no, they move on. You can't please everyone, if you please, everyone. You're being you're not being true to yourself, you're not being authentic, I feel like as an artist, and it's just not real. That's helped me a lot that

Claire Waite Brown: 27:24

completely agree. Yeah, I've had a couple of guests as well talk about what they thought they wanted to do, because that was what they thought would make other people happy. And the journey and coming around to realising you do have people that don't like what you want to do. But hey, ho, they can go and like something else that they do like what you do. But it's still a struggle to get around that mentally, isn't it totally

Unknown: 27:51

every day, every day, I'm I don't want to make any of this sound easy, because it's not. I think practice helps. One of the pieces of advice that I give to other artists, because I do have other artists now asked me how to grow their social media or show their art to the world and market themselves is you have to be very consistent. So I'm very consistent. And I don't always have a great expectation for certain outcome. I'm very, very consistent. And I show what I do on on the daily, constantly. I think people want that and want to see your process and want to see you that's the other piece. If we talk about marketing a little bit. I don't know if we're going to talk about that. But people want to see your face too. They don't just want to see your painting. They want to see your face that was way harder than showing my art. For sure.

Claire Waite Brown: 28:45

So yeah, it doesn't look at from the other side. And I know, showing your face, not just you, everybody can be very a difficult barrier to get through. But it never looks at when we're looking from the outside as someone looking in. I'm like, oh, there's a real artist, or there's a real author and look, they're normal. And look, they do normal things. And that's really nice to know. So well done to everybody with persevering with their telling their story and showing themselves as themselves because as a viewer, we do like to see it's true. If you're

Unknown: 29:21

selling your art, whether it's jewellery, or painting or photography or music. I think people who want to buy your art, people also want to buy the artist. They want to know you, they want to see you they want to know why you create what inspires you. So they just go hand in hand.

Claire Waite Brown: 29:43

I had the most lovely trip to an art fair in London with a couple of friends recently. And I had such a brilliant chat with the artists. And if I wanted to I could go to Ikea or somewhere and I could buy a print. And it means nothing. It looks okay. But when you're buying some are you are buying the whole story. Definitely. Yes. Anyway, so you've been exhibiting in Italy, you've just come back from Florida. How has all that been going? How did you really get into being able to have these lovely big exhibitions?

Unknown: 30:22

Everything's going well, the way I got into having exhibitions is having people tell me no over and over and over and over and I kept applying. So that I want to say to anyone who's listening who's considering doing any kind of showing in any kind of gallery, you're gonna get a lot of rejection. But I have a good story in Italy in that I had a curator. I still have a curator here who really believes in me, but I am branching out my shows in the United States. I have one ongoing right now in Denver, part of a group show and I just finished a very large solo exhibition in Orlando, Florida. The way I got that show happening was just me being Mi doggedly pursuing the idea of going back to my hometown, I had gone back during the COVID lockdown to see my, my mother and I saw this gallery from the outside, everything was still closed. And I said, I really want to show in that gallery, it's perfect because of the light and the way it's set up. And I I pursued that I dug around, I found the name of the owner who did not respond to me at all. Then I found the name of the curator who I couldn't get her contact information, and I wound up joining LinkedIn just so I could send her an InMail. And like, that's how I did that. And it turned out really well. It was kind of a homecoming for me. And I had 38 paintings in that show, it was a big show. I'm very proud of it, and it went really well. But as far as anyone listening who wonders about getting into galleries, I, because I know you have a lot of artists to listen to your podcast, the gallery circuit I can speak to United States in a bit here in Europe is, is very challenging. It's kind of a closed circle, it's really hard to get a foot in. So what I just started telling myself is I'm gonna keep applying because if I don't apply, I'll never hear yes, you never hear yes, if you don't hear a lot of nose. So I tried to not put too much of my self worth in that application, meaning I'm still formulating this in my mind, Claire, it's the first time I've said it out loud. On a podcast. I've never said this on Instagram. But I would love to create a different mechanism for showing my work that doesn't involve someone else's gallery, I would love to cut that whole piece out of the puzzle. I haven't figured out a way to do that yet. Because it does require a lot of knowledge about promotion. It also requires a physical space. And it requires a lot of marketing. But I'd love to cut that piece out. I don't love the way the gallery system works myself. So I'm usually happiest when I can sell my my own work through my website, without anyone in the middle. But that's hard. I do that. But it's hard. So that makes sense.

Claire Waite Brown: 33:24

Absolutely. And we will watch this space. And thanks. The premier announcement of that now now you're accountable to creativity found.

Unknown: 33:35

I'm brainstorming, I would love to cut that piece out and have artists be able to either come together and self promote or or me be able to, I don't know yet I'm working on it.

Claire Waite Brown: 33:48

Yeah, I completely understand. I'm the same with ideas that cogitate around in my head and then hopefully, at some point, figure out a way that you could make it work. What is your day to day life? Like what is the actual practicalities of the day we've already mentioned a bit on the marketing and the new ideas and the balance of what you have to do to make this a business and how much time you can spend actually making the art. So how does that look for you?

Unknown: 34:19

Well, I've been learning how to do this. I've listened to many other artists that have done it longer for me and are more expert in what they're doing. And one of the artists said that she schedules her time. So if I'm walking in the studio to paint, which I do every day, I paint every day, by put on the apron, I put my phone down, I put my phone down, and everything else just falls away. And I think that's the moment that all artists need to give themselves permission, especially if you're trying to make your art or business to let go of all the stuff that you should be doing or need to do. And that person this person and or all the worry what if I don't make any money this month, or all of that, and have this moment where you just be the artist and that's what I do when I walk in the studio. And it's been really helpful for me to keep that part of my practice really pure. And that's where I get all of my energy, really to do all the other things which which come after that. So I I am paint every day. I usually paint in the morning mornings are my time. I'm a morning person. I'm back in Italy, where I have a really great studio and can make a big mess. And I'm really having fun and I I do not at least I try not to clear this is a part of me that I have to keep under control. When I'm painting I think Oh am I gonna be able to sell this painting. It's really big. You can buy or, Oh, this doesn't look like that other painting I made that everybody loves so that part of it is a challenge to me on the daily and i i But I kind of know it enough to say okay, Jennifer, that part of you can shut up now and we're gonna paint in. Let go Yeah,

Claire Waite Brown: 36:07

I'm sure lots of other artists and makers will, will relate with those comments. And it's very useful to hear how other people approach it or, or how they set about trying to balance out those various aspects of creativity, self esteem, business, everything, everything that goes into it. So you've already touched on ideas going forward, do you have any more specific set in stone plans for going forward,

Unknown: 36:43

I have something kind of exciting that just fell on my head. This is a life thing. But it really also has this part of my art. We have always when we go to the United States, my husband and I, we've lived out west. But this this year, when we go back in November, we're going to go back, we have purchased a little little home in Florida, I'm returning to Florida, this is a big deal for me as an artist. So just to describe, I'm going to be living in the middle of a beautiful national forest with no one around on a little lake, in a very simple little home. And I'm going to have an outbuilding that I transform into my studio. This is huge for me, because my art is literally all inspired by nature, I'm going to be living in the middle of nature, when I'm in Italy, I don't I'm in a small town. So I'm around people I'm super excited about I think it's going to have a great influence on my work. I also am dialled in to the art scene in Florida a little bit now because it just did that big show. That's big for me really, really big. I've been dreaming of that, and not knowing how we can make it happen. And it just came together and happen this year. So I'm excited about that. And beyond that I'm just painting. I'm doing really well in some online galleries. That's that's been a really big channel for me if any artists here are painters or photographers, that's been a really good channel for me. I've found a lot of collectors in Germany, for example, some in Asia who have collected my work and that's things I don't think I could have reached those kinds of markets without doing online galleries. And that's it for now. Right now. I just want to paint pretty much. That's it.

Claire Waite Brown: 38:26

It sounds absolutely fabulous of can I come and visit in there are alligators just say? Oh, good. Some favourite after tigers.

Unknown: 38:39

Oh, we don't have tigers. We have Puma, though. Yes. Yeah.

Claire Waite Brown: 38:46

Yeah. Okay. I'll put that on my list for future holiday then.

Unknown: 38:51

Yeah, it's beautiful. It's clear. It's right in the middle of a little forest. It's a small. The home itself is small. It's on a big piece of property. And it looks on this little lake called Sunset lake. It's a small little lake. It's pretty. So I'm so thrilled that we've we've it's been a long time in the making and trying to make that happen. I really need to have a studio in nature. Yeah, I think a big thing

Claire Waite Brown: 39:15

be absolutely inspirational. I love being by water. I'd like to move to the seaside one day. Brilliant. That's been so fabulous. Jennifer, how can people connect with you?

Unknown: 39:26

Okay, I am on Instagram. My handle is Jennifer Baker paintings. I share every single day I would love for people to come follow and see what I'm doing. I also love it when artists follow me because then I go back and follow them and see what they're doing. That's been really fun for me on Instagram. My website is Jennifer Baker art.com. I keep that constantly updated. I sell on my website. And there's a page also with news about exhibitions I'm going to participate in. There's also a blog there. I haven't updated in a while I've been busy about My painting stories, what inspired different paintings, and I have a YouTube channel, which is actually just me giving video tours of my paintings which on my website, if you go to a specific painting, there's a link to see a video of me talking about it and getting up close. And that's been very useful for people when they buy online because it's not easy to buy a piece of art. If you haven't seen it in person. Yeah, that's how that's how people can find me.

Claire Waite Brown: 40:28

Perfect. Thank you so much. It's been a super conversation.

Unknown: 40:33

I've enjoyed it a lot. Thank you.

Claire Waite Brown: 40:38

Thanks so much for listening to creativity found. If your podcast app has the facility, please leave a rating and review to help other people find us on Instagram and Facebook follow at creativity found podcast and on Pinterest look for creativity found. And finally, don't forget to check out creativity found.co.uk The website connecting adults who wants to find a creative outlet with the arts Stem crafters who can help them tap into their creativity