Art On Duval Key West,
714 Duval St,
Key West, FL 33040 - 305-741-7001
Key West Artist Jenny Lanna
Born and raised in the Sunshine State, Jenny Lanna began her artistic passion as a child drawing everything she could get her eyes on. With a strong influence from her Japanese heritage, she spent much of her time capturing the life of her grandmother's garden on paper. After years of filling every page of her sketch books, her hard work paid off. At the age of 13, Jenny received her first portrait commission, soon followed by many more.
I grew up with a close connection to my Grandmother and the Japanese heritage we shared. She immigrated from Japan, and with that, she brought the history and the culture into my life. Flowers, plants, and how the seasons affected them were something to be admired. Much of my artwork has ties to nature and the Asian imagery I was influenced by as a child. Every year, throughout the seasons, family and friends from Japan would send letters enclosing the flowers and leaves featured at that time. One of my favorites included the vivid red Japanese maple leaf of Autumn. After my Grandmother passed away, I missed seeing them. Years later, the idea hit me: to get a hold of these leaves and incorporate them in to my artwork in a way that would preserve them forever. Soon enough I had branches of maples leaves in my hand directly from Japan. I preserved different groupings of them using a combination of methods to achieve the different shades of red I would need. Once I complete the original painting on canvas, I apply the real Japanese maple leaves and seal them in with resin. I predominately harvest the maple leaves in the fall, when they are at their best and brightest.
