Jen Sterling

Annapolis, Maryland

Jen Sterling uses acrylics and mixed media to create vivid, powerful abstracts.

Jen Sterling was born in Wisconsin and primarily grew up in Northern Virginia. A graduate of George Washington University, she holds a BA in Visual Communications with a minor in Psychology. She has been creative all of her life, however she started her adult journey on the commercial side of art. She was an entrepreneur in design and branding for 30 years and founded three creative agencies. Jen sold her last company and now focuses on her fine art.

Friends describe her as vibrant, passionate, and creative; those words apply to her art as well. Creating work that is fluid, that inspires energy and excitement, vitality and confidence: this gives Jen the greatest artistic satisfaction.

Jen works primarily with acrylic paint along with mixed media such as paper, fabric, wood, and plastic. She uses brushes, palette knives, her fingers…whatever is at hand. Some pieces flow forth in a matter of hours. Others are built over several weeks, evolving from fragments of imagination to energetic expressions of her experiences, dreams, or aspirations.

Jen maintains a love of business and is an active mentor for emerging businesses. She is also passionate about community service and has served on numerous non-profit boards. Jen lives with her husband and daughter in Annapolis, Maryland.

Inspired by artists across many categories, both abstract and realist, historical and contemporary, including Jasper Johns, Brian Rutenberg, Alphonse Mucha, John Singer Seargent, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Gustav Klimt, Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline, Jen believes that color has always had a profound influence on her mood. While traveling in the American southwest in 1990, Jen was so moved by the colors that she promptly bought paint and canvas, hoping to convey how those colors made me feel: vivid, alive, powerful. Her goal is not to capture an image, but to capture the emotion that image conjures. There is nothing bland about her work. Jen doesn’t play it safe. Her art should ignite the same excitement she felt when painting it. If Jen’s work helps someone start the day with a zing, stirs a fond memory, or refreshes the senses, then she has succeeded.