Centered On You IV

Jacqueline Ellens was born into an army family and by the time she was five, she had lived in four states and two countries. Her family finally settled in the Michigan area where she spent her teenage years.

As a young adult, she attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and majored in fine art with a minor in art history. She studied with the noted printmakers Frank Cassara and Paul Stewart, painters Vince Castagnachi and Paul Kameroski, and studied fabric design and sculpture under Sheri Smith.

After she finished school, she showed her paintings; fabric sculptures and prints extensively through out the tri-state region before uprooting and moving to New York City.

Once in New York, Jacqueline landed a job with a small ad-agency and learned the tools of the trade working on print ads and collateral for clients that ranged from Scuba Diving Suppliers to Book Publishers. In the early 80’s, Jackie joined the creative group of the relatively new company, HBO. In total, she spent an exciting eight years living and working in Manhattan before marring a southern boy and moving to Mississippi.

Jacqueline has lived in the Jackson metro area and worked for the local NBC affiliate, WLBT from the late 80’s until 2005. Her job in television involved writing and producing TV commercials, radio spots and newspaper ads.

Recently Jacqueline completed her MBA at Mississippi College in Clinton.

Her life is enriched by two darling cocker spaniels, Melody and Maxwell, a very persnickety cat, Sassafras and an elderly horse who lives close to Canton. His care takes Jackie down the Natchez Trace and through the Mississippi countryside every weekend and is a rich source for her landscape paintings.

Jackie is an avid outdoors-person and has traveled the world in search of breath-taking vistas. Only a few years ago she trekked to the base camp of Annapurna, a mountain which lies squarely in the center of the Himalayas. Her travels have included Ireland, Scotland, England, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, India, France, Spain and Germany as well as most of the United States.

Jackie paints landscapes from her travels and images from her life in Mississippi. You will frequently see her garden flowers, her friends and the Mississippi landscapes in her paintings. She experiences the world as trembling with energy and she conveys that impression of energy and movement in her paintings with powerful, expressive strokes.