{please visit Jennifer Mercede here}

I may be wound tighter than an eight day clock, but I can still admire, okay, envy, the pluck of the free spirit. Between 2001 and 2004, Jennifer Mercede hitch-hiked to Alaska and back, Heli-skied, lead Wilderness trips in the Everglades, lived in her station wagon on Key West, rented a corner of a corner of a Brooklyn artist Loft and sold handmade jewelry on the streets of Manhattan. During the same time I bought a house, two beagles, and a law degree. Guess which life sounds more exciting at cocktail parties. Better yet, guess which life goes to cocktail parties.

But even free spirits have careers and, for Mercede, that career took shape as a Portland-based abstract painter.  Free flowing text, bright color fields, and energetic doodling communicate the common themes throughout her work: there are no mistakes, risks pay off, and you gain more from letting go than you do holding on.  Which, funny enough, is the opposite of what I learned in law school.

Jennifer Mercede is giving one winner their choice of prints: Me Oh My; A Flew By; Who; Happen. In order to win, please answer the following question by Sunday August 30, 2009.

If you were an artist giving away a print, what question would YOU ask?

Please start checking the winner’s box on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.