In the Studio with Abstract Painter Jenny Nelson

Next up in our In the Studio series, INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY had the pleasure of visiting abstract painter Jenny Nelson. Nestled in her creative haven in Woodstock, New York, Jenny Nelson creates canvases rich with intuitive layers and pigments, perfectly balancing impulsive emotion with a deeply grounded sense of composition. Jenny has dedicated her career to chasing the unknown, teaching others how to lean into the beautiful tension of a blank canvas—the calm in the chaos.

Jenny has lived in the Hudson Valley for nearly three decades and exhibited her work nationally and regionally for over 20 years. She attended Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine; is a graduate of Bard College, where she received a scholarship to the Lacoste School of the Arts in France; completed a residency at the Woodstock School of Art; and has been leading classes there since 2009.

We sat down with Jenny Nelson in her studio to chat about her daily routine, how she knows when a painting is truly finished, and the magic of letting her hand and the paint take the lead. View the video below, created in collaboration with our friends at littlebitcreates.

INSIDE+OUT: Where are you originally from and how did you wind up in the Hudson Valley?

Jenny Nelson: I’m originally from New England. After attending art school in Maine, I moved to Woodstock 35 years ago to take a class at the Woodstock School of Art.

What inspired you to become a painter?

Jenny Nelson: I can’t remember a time when I was not creating. I knew from a young age that I had to follow that innate part of myself that interacted with the world in a visual way. Art was how I navigated life. My journey was not linear; I studied painting privately and at the Maine College of Art, and finally at Bard College.

You mentioned that the beginning of a painting often feels like a “glorious mess” and that you’ve become comfortable with feeling “lost” in the process. How do you keep yourself from panicking during that chaotic initial phase?

Jenny Nelson: There is no longer any panic in feeling lost. It’s a natural part of the process. The beginning of a painting is for play and call-and-response. I create an underpainting with layers of color and line, and from there begin to expand some areas while others disappear. When I start a new piece, I know I am stepping into an intimate relationship. Many things are unknown. This is both a cause for excitement and a form of artful procrastination.

Your work involves so many layers. How do you handle the emotional attachment to those early layers, and what is it like to see them become ghosts beneath the surface once the painting is finished?

Jenny Nelson: The layers build the painting. As the paint is pushed and pulled over the surface, unexpected details emerge; some are beautiful, some are awkward and intriguing. I try not to be too attached and just respond to what is happening as the painting progresses. It’s always a surprise what detail emerges as an anchor or a focal point.

You’ve talked about loving structure and bringing that into abstract painting. How does your regular drawing practice help you build a more structured framework on the canvas?

Jenny Nelson: Drawing is my foundation. It has an immediacy that is primal and authentic. When I’m drawing, the sensation of pulling a line or smudging a mark feels just about as vulnerable as it gets. This language is instilled in my hand, and my arm, and it carries over into my brush and onto the canvas. Drawing from loose observation creates a strong line that feels three-dimensional. When introduced into the painting, these lines create a framework of support for the abstract shapes.

As a painting progresses, your decision-making shifts from purely intuitive to more conscious, precise compositional choices. How do you know exactly when it’s time to switch off the playful intuition and bring in the conscious editor?

Jenny Nelson: There seems to be nothing exact about the nuanced progression of a painting. It’s ebb and flow, intuition and magic, but there are some noticeable phases. Beginning with exploration and information gathering: the initial exploratory marks and color that activate the canvas. Then I start making some choices about expanding certain areas and adjusting others. Then there seems to be a moment of attention: when something grabs me, I become interested and begin to make conscious decisions in response to that thing. The next part could be called arranging. I begin arranging elements in response to that something I’ve become attached to. I’m willing to try everything! I am open to making changes and moving all the parts and pieces around on my canvas. All of these choices are attempts. They are questions. At some point, a more heightened focus kicks in. As the painting develops, my decision-making becomes more refined. I have shapes, I have some structure, elements to arrange, something to compose with. Finally, I start refining the painting, or trying to see the piece as a unified whole. All of these phases are moving quickly, and one can overlap another very easily. There is a lot of gray area about how things progress. This painting, which started as a wild party, ends up as a contemplative, carefully edited composition involving precise modifications, while hopefully leaving the life-force energy intact.

At the very end of your process, you joked about wishing you could make a whole new language, then realized, maybe painting is that. What are the things you can express through your brush and canvas that you feel simply get lost in translation when using words?

Jenny Nelson: Painting is certainly its own language. It’s like having your insides on the outside, or spilling your guts. As a painting teacher, I am always trying to reach for new and better words to convey the nuances of a process that is a mixture of magic, intuition, and acquired technical knowledge. There is a limited vocabulary to describe the infinite number of marks and forms that appear; the hows and whys of spatial relationships. Visual language, painting, invokes an immediate emotional response.

The age-old question for artists is always “when is it finished?” You mentioned that you know a piece is done when you don’t want to get up off the couch to add one more thing, and the painting suddenly feels “completely known” and familiar. What is it like to experience that sudden “click” of familiarity with something you just created?

Jenny Nelson: I’m an obsessive problem solver. Each painting presents me with unique challenges. I only work on one piece at a time, and I almost get into a manic state of questions and solutions. Questions mean asking visual questions with my tools and materials, like, what if I painted over half of this shape? When the whirlwind of arranging and refinement feels resolved, there is always the strange sensation of landing. The painting just feels “right”, like it always existed somewhere and I finally found it.

What makes living in the Hudson Valley special for you?

Jenny Nelson: I love living in the shadow of Meades Mountain. It’s beautiful here year-round. Each season has its own gifts. Walking is a must for me, and I’m out in nature every day.

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful?

Jenny Nelson: Catskill Art Supply

Local Love: What local business should we know about?

Jenny Nelson: The Woodstock School of Art. Amazing instructors, a wide variety of classes, and a beautiful historic campus.

Tell us something about yourself people would be surprised to know.

Jenny Nelson: When I first moved to Woodstock, I lived alone in a very rustic hunting cabin in the woods. It had running water half the year, an outhouse, an outdoor shower, and the only heat was a giant wood stove. I chopped wood and carried water at this magical little cabin for a few years.

What do you do for fun?

Jenny Nelson: My husband and I love taking rides around the Hudson Valley. We visit historic sites, galleries, and small towns. We have favorite walks at Montgomery Place and bike on local rail trails. We enjoy finding all the great restaurants and bakeries along the way!

What is your current state of mind?

Jenny Nelson: I feel like the world is moving at an accelerated speed. There is overwhelm at the current state of affairs, and the overload makes me even more aware of my tiny slice of peaceful refuge and my responsibility to take care of the people around me. I feel like my work, the slowing down, the deep looking, is more important than ever. It’s grounding when we see things spin out of control.

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Photos courtesy of Jenny Nelson

Follow/Connect with Jenny Nelson via Website | Instagram

See more of our IN THE STUDIO WITH… Artist Series:

In the Studio with Artist Elizabeth Keithline

In the Studio with Bespoke Ceramicist R.A. Pesce

In the Studio with Experiential Artist Amanda Russo Rubman

In the Studio with Multimedia Artist David McIntyre

In the Studio With Artist Olaf Breuning: Laughter in the Dark

In the Studio with Contemporary Artist Andrew Lyght

In the Studio with Mixed Media Artist Yoko Izu

In the Studio with Abstract Artist Joel Longenecker

In the Studio with Horticulturist and Encaustic Artist Allyson Levy

In the Studio with Multidimensional Artist David Kucera

In the Studio with Contemporary Expressionist Ransome

In the Studio with Trailblazing Artist Ginnie Gardiner

In the Studio with Abstract Painter Donald Elder

In the Studio with Sculptor Iain Machell

In the Studio with Artist + Material Collaborator Ian McMahon

In the Studio with Painter + Gallery Owner Jenn Hicks

In the Studio with Multi-Modal Artist Millicent Young

In the Studio with Multi-Media Artist Christina Varga

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This ongoing artist series was produced in collaboration with Richard Hall and Mimi Young, founders of littlebitcreates.

Richard Hall and Mimi Young are the creative forces behind littlebitcreates. They produce a variety of projects, including in-depth artist profiles, event-specific promotional videos, and music videos. Their approach is exciting, innovative, and contemporary. In addition to their client work, Hall and Young collaborate with other creatives to create multidimensional, neo-surreal videos as part of a noncommercial venture. Littlebitcreates emerged from the extensive knowledge Hall and Young gained over 30 years of experience in photo shoots and multimedia art. They exclusively shoot all of their videos on iPhones, appreciating the distinctive aesthetic it produces and the comfort it offers their subjects in front of the camera.

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