That Jennifer Vranes become an artist should come as no surprise. After all, art is in her blood. Coming from a family of artists, Jennifer was exposed to different mediums of art from a very young age, including illustrations and ceramics.

“My mother recognized in me the talent that came from her side of the family,” Jennifer said. “I always drew from a young age. At three or four I was drawing princesses with long flowing hair.”

Once Jennifer started drawing, she never stopped. In college she focused her art on portraiture, figures and oil paintings that skewed more realistic.

“It wasn’t until after graduating that I tried to do a landscape,” Jennifer said. “It was so much fun that I thought, this is what I want to do!”

She put aside doing portraits and figures and turned her focus to landscapes. She experimented with texture, layering the paint thicker and thicker with palette knives to eventually gives a 3-dimensional effect.

“It’s interesting how it all evolves,” Jennifer said. “From year to year I can see slow changes in my style just by the hours – the 10,000 hours – that people talk about.”

These days, her subject matter can be traced back to her travels. To make the most of her trips, she picks locales based on seasons, including Tuscany in April and May when poppies are blooming, and France in July when lavender is at its height.

“I travel through the countryside and take so many photos,” Jennifer said. “Everywhere I go I always have a camera just in case.”

Celebrating ten years as an artist showing at the Celebration of Fine Art, Jennifer calls the experience unique and one-of-a-kind. Typically she works in a small town and sends her work to galleries so she doesn’t often get the opportunity to meet the people who purchase her work.

“This show is incredible because it brings us in contact with people that love art,” Jennifer said. “You build these amazing relationships with wonderful people that become more than collectors, they become like family.”