biography
Jenifer Bacon is an oil painter living in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. She recently moved to the Texas Hill Country from Colorado after getting tired of bitter cold winters and was happy to leave her snow shovel behind. Over the years she has lived in many different places from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.
She grew up in Laguna Beach, California, and lived in an area overlooking the ocean with stunning views of the land and sea that had the perfect name “Top of the World”. She had the opportunity to observe birds of prey and ravens that soared over the cliffs. It greatly influenced her art and thinking. But even in this lovely setting she would have traded anyone to live on a ranch riding horses all day and being a cowgirl.
After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Studio Art, she traveled throughout Europe experiencing the culture and the art. There were some false career starts but eventually she spent many years working as a digital artist mainly in Silicon Valley specializing in technology startups.
She currently lives in Horseshoe Bay, Texas with her two dogs, a cat and one horse. For fun she rides competes in reined cow horse events and enjoys hiking with her dog.
Why I paint?
STATEMENT
I’ve always been drawn to the west and the vastness of the space. Empty roads that seem to go on forever. Big skies filled with white clouds reaching up into the heavens. The historical stories of adventure and hardship. I find it all so inspiring and beautiful. For many years I painted horses and donkeys and captured the emotional experiences of the animal in the landscape. One year I went on an adventure to photograph wild horses 70 miles outside the nearest town in Colorado. It was an amazing experience.
I wanted to go deeper with my work and started thinking about animals and what they might be experiencing. How do they see the world, what colors do they see, and what is important to them? How do their experiences differ from our own? What is reality? I’m unable to paint or smell and somewhat limited by the surface dimensions the paintings there are limits to the experience. All animals have completely different physical attributes that defines how they experience the world. The reality is science tells us very little but it is evolving. In order to this project I read a lot of science articles, books and used AI to help visualize what they might be seeing. I used the science as my inspiration but the paintings are completely imaginary.
My process starts with taking lots of pictures. I often use an iPhone because it’s usually handy but I also have a Nikon D750 that I prefer using as the photos are better quality. I also have a GoPro and a Pivo that have proven to be useful in visualizing a different way of seeing. I begin my painting on the computer putting together various images into one. Basically the paintings are makeup of many different photos. I use Photoshop, Topaz, filters, and AI image tools to manipulate the photos and create my final image that becomes my painting. I paint directly from my iPad that is on a stand. I often take picture of the painting as I progress to either check proportions or just play with the image.
resume
What have I done?
2024 220 Fine Art Gallery, Wimberley TX
2022 Western Spirit Art Show, Cheyenne Wy
2018 City of Longmont Arts, Longmont CO
2018 Tortugas Restaurant, Longmont CO
2018 Western Spirit Art Show, Cheyenne Wy
2018 Art in the Park, Denver CO
2016 All Colorado Show, Depot Art Gallery, Littleton, CO
2016 Art of the Horse, Lakewood Cultural Ctr, Lakewood, CO
Where can you see my work?
Previous gallery affiliation:
Western Stars Gallery & Studio, Lyons, Colorado