GATHER ANEW // THE STORY BEHIND THE COLLECTION

Gather Anew is the body of work that sparked the creation for Jenny Spires Art. It is the pieces of art that were painted in a time of change that was demanded and also welcomed.

In March of 2020, as you know, the world around us came to a screeching halt. We were quarantined into our homes, away from jobs, forcing change and uncertainty. It certainly affected my family, as I’m sure it did yours. My husband lost an incredible job and my photography business was on hold. This allowed time to dig deep and ask ourselves some hard questions; what can we do? what do we want to do? where are we being called to in our lives?

We took time to gather the answers to these questions and allowed ourselves to dream and dig deep in prayer.

I’ve painted here and there for as long as I can remember. About a year ago, I started painting a lot more after many years of not even picking up a brush. Earlier this year, a dear friend of mine contacted me after seeing some of my work and commissioned me to do a painting. When it came to pricing it, I was stuck and had no idea what to charge her. What she ended up giving me was more than money. She gave words of incredible encouragement at a time that I needed to hear it and it sparked in me that painting and sharing my work was a possibility. I’ve always had a dream that after my children grew up and went off to college that I would build a beautiful space for an art studio and start painting again. It seems that God drew all of the stars together and lined them in a row for me to see right in front of me.

I kept painting and those couple of months later when COVID hit and I began gathering my answers to the questions I was asking, it was abundantly clear that I was to pursue my painting now. I dug in and learned and educated myself on the business side and kept creating a beautiful collection of work.

GATHER ANEW MEANING // FOR ME

The Gather Anew Collection are the paintings that emerged in the past few months. They are full of life and hope and perseverance. They are the beauty that came from the ashes.

GATHER: (verb) to bring together; to collect

Like I said earlier, these works came from a place of gathering answers. This is important because in order to know where we are going, we have to ask the question. Every answer that I gathered pointed to the same journey; go and paint. I’m a girl of faith and I am certain that these answers were a result of many prayers.

ANEW: (verb) for an additional time; in a new and different way

Doing something anew is doing something with a fresh and new approach. For me, it’s taking my God given talent and using them in a fresh way that I love and pursuing life in a different way.

JENNY_SPIRES_ART_FLORAL_ORIGINAL_PAINTING

GATHER ANEW MEANING // FOR YOU

I have pretty strong emotional ties to each of these paintings, but I also want them to speak to you in a way that you need them.

This year has landed on us unexpectedly and it’s been full of uncertainty, waiting, unknowing, anxiousness and so many other unforeseen emotions. You need a safe place. A place to gather your loved ones and refill and recharge in order to conquer it all. I think it’s important that we fill our home with reminders that help us do so. Bringing art into your home can be a visual reminder of peace, welcoming, calmness and beauty that fill our spaces and that help us to breath a little more deeply. Whether that be the colors and brushstrokes of the paintings or reminders of the outdoors and the beautiful flowers that have been created for us to enjoy. Something to give us hope that good things can come from the hard. Creating and gathering anew your place of refuge.

I hope that you can find some of these things in my work too!!