about the artist

jenna chartrand

I am a realistic wildlife and pet portrait artist specialising in coloured pencil and acrylic paintings. I call the beautiful island of Tasmania, Australia my home, along with my partner and two beautiful dogs; Diesel and Moose. My home-based studio has huge windows looking out across the paddocks to our ponds, surrounded by rosemary and roses and all kinds of native birds and creatures. Being surrounded by such dynamic fauna and flora brings me endless inspiration for my art pieces.

Creating brings me inner-peace and offers me a place to meditate within this sometimes chaotic world we all live in. By focusing on the small details, I can lose myself within the tiny, not-quite-as-chaotic world that is my studio and my creative practice.

HISTORY

I grew up in the relatively small town of Fort St John in Northern Canada, where the winters are long and harsh but summers are hot and glorious. Every summer was spent travelling across the country in a tiny motor-home with my family, and the winters were spent surrounded by sketchbooks, paint and novels.

The promise of the beach and an eternal summer brought me to Australia in late 2015. I tried out the big city life and quickly learned I needed slower version of living, I made Tasmania my home (and have since learned that there is no such thing as eternal summer in Tassie). The mountains, ocean, eucalyptus trees and that hint of snow ignites my soul.

I moved to creating artwork full time in the beginning of 2020. My art career has expanded to creating pet portrait commissions and large-scale wildlife portraits of endangered animals. My true joy comes from focusing on the small details of a portrait piece, to truly breathe life into the creature I’m creating. It’s only when the animals seems to breathe that I know I have done justice to her, and know that my job is done.