Working on Eggshells

During the past few years, Jennifer Ross of St. Charles has learned to break a few eggs to make a great painting.

Ross, who grew up drawing "Cinderella and horses" while absorbing the artistic sensibilities of her mother and grandfather, is now being commissioned to paint unique pieces in which various colored eggs resting in nests represent patrons' family members. In some cases, Ross incorporates actual pieces of eggshell into her paintings.

"I always have loved still life, but I didn't want to do flowers and fruit," Ross said. "I like abstract pieces, and I didn't want to do something like anyone else's work I had seen. I found something that was my own."

Several influences combined to help Ross develop her style. After attending the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia with a scholarship for a few semesters, she worked at an art gallery where she was exposed to the work of many other artists. She acquired some small prints of eggs and someone brought in a two-dimensional piece depicting a female figure, covered entirely in real eggshells.

"I'd never seen anything like it before. I was fascinated by it," Ross said. "It was either from Java or Japan. The detail, the handiwork -- it was so obviously done by hand. There was no way a machine could have done it. There was just something about the strong, bold image and the fragility of the eggs."

For several years, her own creativity was on hold while trying to help other artists get their works known. But a year and a half ago, after being encouraged by others to start painting again, she recalled the egg images and went to work.

"I thought, I'll buy a big canvas and I'll do one myself," Ross said. Her first painting was "The Good Egg," a 3-by-4 foot acrylic on canvas painting which features an actual eggshell-covered egg image floating above a nest against an aqua blue background.

She sometimes branches out beyond the egg theme, as with "Many Layers," an acrylic on canvas painting that also features actual eggshell fragments incorporated into images of rock formations. In this piece, she added black gesso, a kind of primer, to the eggshell to create a marbleized look.

Though sometimes drawn in by the eggshell concept, patrons seem most fond of Ross's pieces that remind them of their loved ones. Christine Zahuranec of St. Charles saw Ross's work on display at the Geneva Arts Fair in July and immediately commissioned her to create a family portrait, which Ross has created with acrylic paint on canvas.

"When I saw her artwork, especially one piece, it touched my soul. It felt to me how it would taste to eat Italian food in Italy," Zahuranec said. "Her paintings, with the nests and eggs, have that feeling of 'home.' Right then and there, it was instantaneous. I wanted a little bit of that feeling my home, that 'comfortability.'"

The piece is a portrait of Zahuranec and her four living dogs, represented as eggs in a nest, and one dog that is deceased, which is represented as a large star in the sky.

"I wanted a snapshot of what my family was at this time," Zahuranec said.

To create the portrait, Ross painted an egg to match Zahuranec's eye color and painted the other eggs to resemble the dogs' fur shades.

"The star is for my 18-year-old dog that died in 2005," Zahuranec said. "She was an Australian shepherd-border collie mix and I had her since she was 6 weeks old. She was the love of my life. Her name was G.B., which stands for God's blessing. Jennifer really listened to what I wanted and she really took the time to incorporate my suggestions into the painting so that it was exactly what I was looking for."

Another patron, Hayley Sesterhenn of Granger, IN, has commissioned Ross to create eight pieces, which she has presented to her closest friends as gifts. Sesterhenn also happens to be Ross's sister-in-law.

"For Christmas, Jennifer painted me my family tree with four eggs, representing me and my husband and our two children," Sesterhenn said. "My friends would come by and comment that it was different. I have eight close friends and we all put money in for a gift for one another. Each (painting) matches their personality or their eye color or something."

Sesterhenn has four of Ross's original pieces in her own home.

"She has a good eye," Sesterhenn said. "She has absolutely hit it on the nose with every painting she has done for me."

To see artwork by Jennifer Ross, visit www.jrossart.webs.com or ugallery.com. Her artwork is also available at SG Too, 116 Cedar Ave., St. Charles.