Jenny Keith

Bio

Jenny Keith-Hughes was born in 1981 and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, where she studied painting and sculpture. She has been making art as long as she can remember.

Jenny paints with acrylic and oil on canvas or board, and since 2007, she has been creating acrylic and beeswax paintings. The subjects of the painting are often animals, painted in a whimsical style with a degree of realism. These works often have a narrative quality, occasionally incorporating text. She also creates large-scale abstract works influenced by microscopic cellular imagery.

The process of the beeswax paintings is new and evolving. Jenny discovered the material through a friend and fellow Edmonton artist and has been developing her own procedures and techniques to create these layered pieces.

She builds and primes the support, then makes an underpainting directly on the board. The next step is to melt the raw beeswax and pour it over the painting. She then brings out details by etching into the wax, then filling the lines with paint. Finally another layer of paint on top and a varnish to seal and protect the work.

Art, animals, nature and travel are Jenny’s passions. She has traveled extensively and always returns inspired to create new art. Since animals are a dominant theme in her art, Jenny enjoys any opportunity to observe them in their natural environment. She hopes that through her art she is able to share some of the joy and amazement she finds in nature.