Jenny Coolen

Jenny is a landscape watercolour artist. She finds inspiration in the beautiful seasons of Nova Scotia. She also enjoys painting commissions for her clients with subject matter such as cherished landscapes and bodies of water, old homesteads and beloved family pets. Her work is based on feeling. The deliberate loose movement begs the viewer to lean into the emotion of her work.

I grew up in Guysborough, surrounded by incredibly gifted artists. My home was alive with beautiful sounds emanating from our music room. There were perfect nooks and crannies to sit and float away into a world of charcoals, water colors, and books. I was blessed to live a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from the beautiful shoreline trail of Chedabucto Bay where I spent a lot of my time taking photographs and writing. The community always had events and workshops available hosted by vibrant and talented mentors. It would have been hard to escape the arts, even if I wasn’t already enamoured. Inspiration and talent were everywhere and so lovingly shared with me.

In my early teens my father gifted to me what I thought was a fishing tacklebox for Christmas. (That would have been a fantastic gift in itself.) I unlatched the clasp and out came my unfolding joy of cascading shelves and hidden compartments, stuffed with quality watercolour paints and brushes. From there my medium was destined.

I would sit for hours upstairs in my room at my white desk. Cramped hands, ignored hunger pangs, cold tea, toiling away at my paper. It had me, and I had it. I was engrossed in, and tormented by, lighting and detail. This obsession led me to a brief hiatus from watercolours, where I experimented in loose acrylic studies. I would eventually return to my medium with a much more free-spirited approach, and a new-found appreciation for impressionism. There is peace in letting go, and value in wandering.

Now as a mother, wife, and small business owner I relish my free and quiet time sitting by the window at my paint-chipped desk, upon which this journey began twenty years ago, doing what I’ve always done; spreading good pigments across cotton and learning. It is a full circle moment for me, and a great honour to be a part of Guysborough’s AWE gallery. I’m privileged to share wall space with some of my greatest teachers and the finest artists this province has to offer. Some have even had a hand in raising me! This summer of 2022 I will be presenting in my hometown, with immense joy, my newest watercolours and mixed media pieces. I extend to you a hundred thousand welcomes!