I like to imagine that these abstract worlds are made of candy, and are most likely home to a bunch of unicorns. These colorful layers of dots and lines are the work of Kansas based painter Jaime Rovenstine. She is an artist, works full-time at a museum, and is the mother of a beautiful little girl. How does she do that?! Don’t worry, I asked her. You can listen right up there under that explosion of color, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, a few of my favorites {acrylic on canvas} from Jaime’s magical portfolio:

Yum!

Jaime’s studio is in her home, which is great for getting work done. Luckily, she has a little helper in there:

Gah! How cute is she!? I also really wanted to show a couple of Jaime’s “in progress” pieces. I’d hang these on my wall right this very second… but she’s a “maximalist” so she keeps on going. Fair enough. She’s the pro!

So, we also talked about Jaime’s very busy life. She works at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, comes home for dinner / bath / books with her family, and then makes her way into the studio {or the couch for Netflix depending on the day}:

How great is that self-portrait in the reflection on her brush… love! {found on her dreamy Instagram feed}. 

We also talked about the evolution of her work. In college she was already starting down the path she’s on now:

Similar but they’re definitely deeper and richer now. The piece just above, with the phonograph, is the painting that Columbia College Chicago {the art school she went to} bought when she graduated… it’s also the piece inspired by patterns in the Anthropologie catalog!

And finally… I started this post with a few of my favorites, and I’ll end it with a few more. These are the paintings I was talking about when I brought up her fabulous titles {that we now know are words from the mouth of the very dry/hilarious Karl Pilkington.} These are: “Worry Hole”, “Willy Nilly By the Sea”, and “Jellyfish in a Trifle”:

See? I’m sure there has to be candy and unicorns in there somewhere. Speaking of unicorns, here’s a link to the weirdest infomercial you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Thanks Jaime, without you I never would have known about the “Squatty Potty”! *Warning: You may never want to eat ice cream again.

Thanks so much to Jaime for taking time out of her busy life to do this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for continuing to support the podcast, and as always, thanks to you for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend!

Other links:

1. Design Mom interview with Jaime
2. Art School Confidential {movie}
3. Nelson Atkins Museum of Art {Jaime’s day job}
4. Ian Tan Gallery {re: Sarah Gee Miller}
5. Kirra Jamison
6. Kerry James Marshall
7. Alchemy Candles {Jaime’s painting as packaging!}
8. Land of Nod
9. And of course, Karl Pilkington {and a ridiculous interview with Ricky Gervais}