I use colour, hidden layers, transparency, erasure and gestural marks to celebrate the mundane, repetitive, messy, intimate, complex and often invisible work of family life.
I explore the visual language of abstract expressionism because of it’s association with machismo and it’s high cultural value, and I try to playfully apply a contemporary feminist lens. Emptying the dishwasher, sorting PE kits, organising childcare, remembering birthdays, writing shopping lists, wiping hands, bums, surfaces, tears, aren’t the usual preoccupations of Fine Art, but they deserve to be. I try to assert the hidden value and beauty of these physical, emotional and cognitive loads which underpin our lives and economies.
Good Enough (Blue), 2022
Oil on unbleached linen
76x61cm Open Framed
ORIGINAL PAINTING SOLD
available as a limited edition print
Good Enough (Green), 2022
Oil on unbleached linen
76x61cm (Open Framed)
ORIGINAL PAINTING SOLD
available as a limited edition print
The Idea of Goodness (after Carol Shields)
Oil on Gesso Board, 2022
30cm x 30cm
Selected for the Royal Academy Summer Show 2023
ORIGINAL PAINTING SOLD
available as a limited edition print
Prams in Hallways, 2023
Acrylic & charcoal on canvas
39x28cm – open framed
Selected for Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024
available as a hand-finished limited edition print
I found my keys in the fridge, 2024
Acrylic & oil on canvas,
30x30cm (open framed)
SOLD
Touched out, 2023
Oil on gesso board
30x30cm, open framed
£450
You should’ve asked, 2024
Oil on gesso board,
30x30cm (open framed),
SOLD
Where You Are, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
30x30cm (open framed)
SOLD
Are we nearly there yet?, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
40x40cm, open framed
SOLD
Messy Love, 2023
Oil paint on linen
64x54cm (open framed)
SOLD
Flourishing, 2023
Oil paint & charcoal on linen
54x64cm – open framed
SOLD
It’s like having 200 tabs open in your brain at any given time and switching off might mean losing them all, 2023
Acrylic on board , 50x50cm (open framed)
SOLD
Boundaries, 2024
Oil on gesso board,
40x40cm (open framed),
SOLD
What Else Can I Do, 2023
Acrylic on gesso board
40x40cm, open framed
SOLD
MIddle of the Night To do List IX, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
100x100cm
SOLD
The Yellow Wallpaper, 2023
Acrylic & pastel on canvas
39x28cm (open framed)
£375
The Weight of Small Things, 2023
Oil paint on gesso board
30x30cm, open framed
SOLD
Middle of the Night To Do List, 2023
Oil paint on gesso panel
28x28cm – open framed
SOLD
Nature Nurturer, 2023
Oil paint on gesso panel
28x28cm – open framed
SOLD
Bringing the Wrong Snack, 2023
Acrylic on gesso board
36.5x36.5cm - open box framed
SOLD
The Constant Flux of Matter, 2023
Acrylic on gesso board
36.5x36.5cm - open box framed
SOLD
Flotsam & Jetsam, 2023
Acrylic, ink & charcoal on panel
44x44cm – open framed
SOLD
Whose Socks are Whose?, 2023
Oil paint on gesso panel
25x25cm
SOLD
Holding it Together
Oil on Gesso Board, 2022
30x30cm
SOLD
Untitled (with dioxizine purple)
Oil on Gesso board, 2022
30x30cm
SOLD
This series of small paintings were shown in an exhibition called (Un)Visible with FOLD Art Collective at Safehouse in Peckham in September 2024. if you are interested in buying one, please email me jess@jessblandford.com
The show also included a large canvas installation I made called ‘Hyper-vigilant’ shown slumped in a corner as if wrung out or overwhelmed.
installation of the worry work series
Creeping Shoulds, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
£350
Not Forgetting, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
£350
After this it should all calm down, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
SOLD
Hold It, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
£350
Writing Lists, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
£350
Muchness, 2024
Acrylic on linen
22 x 27cm
£350
Installation view of Hypervigilant
Hypervigilant, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
120x150cm
NOT FOR SALE
