About the Artist

Jeanie Gooden is an American painter who lives and works
between the United States and Central Mexico. In recent years,
most of her paintings have been created in the colonial city
of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a city known for its history
as a “creative home” for artists from all over the world.

Artist Statement

My life has been a process of creating.  My appreciation of and love for the arts began with music when I was very young.  Later, the creative process involved developing art partnerships while working in a fine art museum.  Ultimatly, it was painting that challenged me. Today, my life and painting are so intertwined that I need to make art to breathe more easily.  Music remains one of my greatest inspirations but painting became my voice.  The process of creating is my balance.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work within two beautiful cultures. Painting in San Miguel de Allende impacts my work in ways that I didn’t expect but are delightful to me.  The beautiful architecture,  rich color and deep cultural history have become a strong influence on my paintings.  My studio in the United States is urban and opposite of the Mexico studio.  Working within the familiar context of my home culture is something I cherish and need.

Like most professions, I take everything I feel with me to work.  Through my choice of color, brushes, texture or movement, I begin a dialogue that dances between clarity and confusion. I make an initial commitment to the canvas and try to embrace where it takes me. Often I end a day of painting in a much different place than expected. Listening to the canvas and trying to maintain what it gives me is a skill that I try to learn each time I paint.

I paint from a very personal place…layering my emotions and feeling onto each surface.  If successful, the finished paintings will enable the viewer to filter what they see through their life experience.  My constant hope is that my paintings will translate to the viewer in a very personal way.  How someone interprets the finished paintings is always more interesting than anything I could suggest.

I make a conscious effort to maintain the idea that fear has no place in my creative process. The joy I have in making art is captured within the moments of completion and release…when the canvas becomes a painting and when a person connects with what they see.