The best way to describe the work created by Baltimore artist Jen Aranyi is: brightly colored nature and architecture inspired art. She is in no way an indoor person, that’s clear in her work, and you can often find her and her boyfriend out in western Maryland hiking and enjoying nature, which is a huge inspiration for her. “I love it! It’s so cathartic and calming, especially when you have the hustle and bustle of city life.” While escaping the chaos of the city, Jen is very drawn to the shapes of mountains and the way trees look in the forest, and also the sense of calm and peace that nature brings into one’s life. That is exactly what you get when looking at any of Jen’s art; feelings of happiness, peacefulness, pure tranquility and a big smile on your face. You’d never know it, but Jen has not visited mountain ranges like the ones she frequently creates in her work. They are all completely artist imagined, a true testament to her creative awareness and incredible artistic talent for a beloved subject.
Jen’s artistic exploration started out as drawing around three years old and soon morphed into painting. “As far back as I can remember there’s always been a pencil or paintbrush in my hand.” Flash-forward to high school, and she made the decision to pursue a career in art. Jen recalls her parents were incredibly supportive when she told them she wanted to pursue a career in what some call “a career that makes no money.” “I feel very lucky because I’ve had a lot of support, my parents never once told me no, they were just fantastic!” Jen enrolled at the Virginia Commonwealth University and was able to explore many different forms of art. Eventually, Jen decided on a Fine Arts Degree in Illustration and is currently working as a graphic designer in Washington DC.
For a long time Jen did a lot of black and white ink work, never really touching watercolor. She explored various mediums during college, like oils, acrylic, and ink but completely avoided watercolor. “I only started using watercolor last year. I used it when I was a freshman in college, hated it, never touched it again. Then I brought my old watercolor paints out a year ago and gave it another try.” She hasn’t looked back. Jen took this newfound love for watercolor and launched an Etsy site, and within her first year had over 500 sales. Jen also described a moment she’ll never forget when Liz Vayda approached her to carry some of her art in Liz’s popular Remington shop, B.Willow, “Having someone believe in me before I really believed in myself was just so flattering and I’m so thankful for that!” This Baltimore store owner hasn’t been the only one to recognize Jen’s talent. All the way out in California, Facebook sensation George Takei shared one of Jen’s creation videos and in total it’s received well over a million views!
Jen has undoubtedly had a lot of success pursuing her art, but it has not come without a few challenges. Wanting to start a business and sell her work was a bit intimidating, “It’s hard, you’re putting yourself out there, I need to sell these and I need people to like them enough that they actually want to buy them.” In addition, like many other artists, self-doubt has been a big challenge. “With social media and how accessible everything is online, I see people who paint similar things and think they might be better and I’m like, why do I bother?” Jen does find it hard not to compare herself to other artists and says she does it weekly. She also finds it hard to network, however, she has never once had a thought of giving it up. “I have to remind myself that there are people out there who love my work and want it in their homes,” which is a big motivator for Jen to keep painting.
Jen has cleverly tackled the challenges of starting a business and making art a career by surrounding herself as much as she can with other business owners, other people who sell on Etsy, and people who do art full time. She has also joined a few Facebook groups and meet-up groups that she says have been a fantastic resource for her. Aside from these great methods of staying focused on art, Jen just truly enjoys what she does.
“For me, art is meant to be relaxing. I like to come home and do something that is easy and doesn’t require a whole lot of brain power. Even if I decided one day that I didn’t really want to sell them anymore, I know I’ll always still do it for fun.” It’s easy to see through her work that for Jen Aranyi, painting comes easy. She’s a natural and we’ll be seeing a lot more from her in the future.
Jen Aranyi’s advice for other painters or any artist in general:
“If you want to have a career in art, don’t let anyone tell you not to. If this is a passion for you DO IT! Don’t let anything stop you!”
“Look at college, sometimes it gets a bad rap. I learned a lot of useful technical skills that I use from college. While I don’t draw a whole lot, I can still draw a pretty damn good portrait. Which is good when you get hired for commission work. It’s for sure not for everyone but its worth looking into.”
“You are going to fail. It’s art, its inevitable. Be okay with that. You’re going to paint something that is bad, you’re going to have a client or customer that disagrees with your vision. Part of growing, in any subject matter, is doing it, failing, then getting back up and getting better. Do not get discouraged when that happens with a client, it’s going to happen at some point.”
Follow Jen Aranyi on Facebook and Instagram and visit her website to see what she’s up to. If you’re interested in having your very own piece of Jen’s work, visit her Etsy shop.
If you’re in the Baltimore area on March 3, or May 5, 2018, Jen will be at The Greater Goods Market at R.House where she will be selling some of her work.
