We recently connected with Jenn Tanay and have shared our conversation below.
Jenn, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
At the moment I predominantly do block printing, gouache painting, and a sprinkle of papermaking when I find the time. I have always painted, but recently about 7 years or so ago I decided to learn how to block print. I started with rubber and mainly used that to carve my designs, but just recently I discovered that carving a hearty linoleum block creates the strongest and bold designs. I fell in love with block printing and feel that it has aided in other aspects of my craft such as bettering my drawing skills and carving skills. I tried my hand at whittling a few years ago and although I don’t do it as much as I’d like to, I feel that my experience of using carving tools for block printing kind of gave me a little confidence in carving a hunk of wood! My block prints started as very simple and small compositions, it took me a few years to find my “footing” and become proud of the work that I was creating. Nature, animals, and things that inspire me such as my cats or freshly picked flowers, will always be the force behind my work. Lately, I am trying to go bigger and bolder in my prints, in March I completed the largest print to date, an 18 x 24” print! It was a rather detailed block, showing different vignettes within the life of a wild wolf. I have a fire in me that is pushing me to go even bigger than that! I guess I have to listen to that fire/voice whatever you want to call it and just go for it!… That is when I push myself for more challenging projects. One thing that I have learned, is never skimp on basic tools or products if you are passionate about something. Not until this past year did I finally decide to invest in a nice set of carving tools, they truly have made all the difference in my work and just made my life easier. They cut so smoothly and I can finally make delicate details, yay!
I feel as though the spring/summer of 2020 was when I found myself as an artist, the amount of time I spent at home allowed me to reflect and hone in on learning something new. I thought it would be cool to block print on paper that I made myself, so I decided to look into how to go about making paper! I used info from various internet searches and some youtube videos and kind of taught myself with the knowledge fresh in my head. Making paper was so therapeutic and messy, and so amazing to create something out of discarded paper, bills, flowers, or whatever you want to include! It was something I could craft from scratch, and that was so appealing to me. My first batch of paper, was, well…not perfect. So, when I attempted to block print on a piece it did not print smooth but rather blotchy. I was bummed for a moment. But, that mistake was the best one I ever made (creatively speaking), because it led me to paint with gouache on these handmade papers. I have found so much peace in painting on these handmade papers that I would make, my heart was so full that I was creating these paintings completely created from hand. If only I made the paint pigment myself! (someday!?) Still to this day, I hold the paintings that I have created since then in my heart, they are so special to me and I feel such a connection with each piece. One of these days I will make the perfect smooth piece of paper (although they have improved since that first batch), that I will be able to properly block print on. When that time comes, I will be overjoyed! I will try my best to never stop learning. As a creative person, it can be challenging to constantly be inspired and churn out work that you are continuously happy with. I find that learning something new or trying a project with a new medium helps to kind of break out of that lull.
A goal that I have always had slowly growing and rattling inside of me is to teach a class. I can be a pretty introverted person when it comes to speaking in front of a group of people, but I think if it means sharing my knowledge and joy of creating, that would be quite rewarding. I would love to teach a block printing gift wrap class around the holidays, and am thinking of teaching a papermaking class to a small group of friends to get comfortable with instructing others! Stay tuned folks!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Making art has always been part of my life in one form or another. When I was a little grubby kid I drew the word “dog” and maybe “cat” on the wall of my stairs, I guess I have always wanted to express my love for 4 legged creatures! Ha! But really, I went to Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, NJ, and got my BFA in visual arts and majored in graphic design. I’ve always needed a balance between working with my hands and working digitally. During college, I would mostly work on digital/computer projects and then paint on wood in my parent’s garage. I feel like I didn’t hone in on my subject matter and craft until about eight or ten years ago. Nature and animals are always a constant inspiration in my work. I started selling my wood paintings at markets a little over 10 years ago, then one day someone said to me “Your work would look cool as a block print.” I never really thought of it, but it did make sense. My paintings featured animals painted predominantly black, with white details and colorful backgrounds. They translated pretty nicely as block prints. I was glad that I took a stab at it! This was 2016, and I fell in LOVE with the process of block printing. For those who are unaware, block printing or relief printmaking is the art of carving a design out of wood, linoleum, or rubber using different-sized tools or gauges. Whatever gets carved out, does not get printed and what doesn’t get carved is printed, that is what’s called the “relief.” My first prints were pretty damn rough and sloppy but that didn’t stop me from improving my skills. Now looking back at some of the first prints I created, I am honestly impressed with how far I have come. This proves that if you stick with something long enough, I promise you will get better and find your own rhythm!
Although 2020 was a very rough and unpredictable year for us all, I found that time spent at home was incredibly valuable and pivotal to my career as an artist. Luckily, I worked from home most of that year, as a graphic designer and that allowed me to take breaks in the middle and end of the day and pick up a project I was working on. Additionally, I taught myself how to make paper. That year I also did a lot of design work based on my block prints. I gained many “clients” by creating custom block print designs and logos for small businesses like handcrafted candles, soap, apothecaries, and boutiques. During that time, Instagram was a very helpful tool for connecting with others. My block print logos feature a visual, based on a design carved as a block print and fine-tuned on the computer. My background as a graphic designer lent itself well to this endeavor, I even started getting some tote bags printed using some of my more popular designs. I hope to one day have more apparel available, t-shirts or even bandanas!
I have always worked out of my tiny garage, but nowadays I rent out a studio space in downtown Matawan, NJ. (shout out to Chashama!!) I wanted to focus on larger block print pieces and the garage was just getting a little too crowded! Plus, constantly having my cats Amy and Eric trying to barge in and see what I was doing, was getting old and adorably disruptive! Having my own designated space to focus and grow my art has been kind of life-changing. I am so excited to continue to share my work with you!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Although I am not much of an authority on building social media followers, I will say that the times I am more active on Instagram and sharing my work regardless of how many “likes” or “views” I will get, the more interaction I have had with other like-minded people. I only use Instagram and am not ready or willing to venture to TikTok, it all can be kind of overwhelming when there are too many platforms to look at and update! I like to keep it simple. I have found and met so many other artists, makers, and new friends on Instagram, you start to become a part of this community and all support each other. Instagram has been a very helpful tool to get exposure to my work and connect with others. The year 2020 was a bit of a turning point for my Instagram activity, sharing my work and what I was up to was something I tried to implement on a daily basis. Social media has given me some meaningful relationships with customers looking to update their brand or logo. I have created a handful of block print logos and designs for a variety of small businesses. I have had some story sales, shared my process by means of reels or videos and I share recent projects that I am working on. It’s really nice to have an audience that appreciates and engages with your work, whether it is the same 20 people or 200 people….I feel grateful to have eyes on my work! If I can inspire or motivate one person to create something, then these little Instagram tactics are all worth it. If you are an artist and just starting out in the world of social media, my advice would be to just be yourself. Don’t try and over-polish things, people will see when you are being authentic. Your work will speak for itself and things will fall into place! Make work for YOU!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Connecting with others through shared interests, honoring the natural world and constantly having a source of inspiration, and creating and making art as a means of finding peace within myself. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DerwoodPaintCo
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derwoodpaintco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derwoodpaint/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: http://www.derwoodpaintco.com/
Image Credits
Most photos were taken by Travis Tanay (my husband :)