Jeanette Vertentes always knew she wanted to be an artist, even if the path to pursuing painting full-time wouldn’t be easy. “I always believed in myself even when others didn’t,” she reflects today. “For me, creating daily is essential. I wake up every day wanting to paint.” In 2020, she opened her seasonal Watch Hill gallery and studio, JEANETTE VERTENTES FINE ART, which is home to works that evoke her life experiences and surroundings.
“Living in a positive state of mind and creating artwork that has a positive feeling is crucial to me. It is what helped me heal during my cancer battles,” Jeanette shares. A breast cancer and melanoma survivor, painting has served as a form of therapy, and also a salve she shares with others.
During the COVID pandemic, she was inspired to send over 150 small paintings to doctors and nurses as tokens of her thanks. “Creating a little something that would make them smile was my hope during that awful time.”
Jeanette graduated with a BFA in fine art from Rhode Island College. For over a decade, she created custom home furnishings, and she has licensed artwork that can be found in stores like Target and Homegoods. Following her battle with melanoma 15 years ago, she decided to focus solely on painting, and from her home studio, where she works today among four beloved dogs, creates and sells about 200 paintings a year.
Working in a contemporary impressionistic style, Jeanette uses a palette knife to impart textures and color to convey joyful emotions. Even in still life scenes, such as floral or shell collections, her intent is to evoke positive feelings and a sense of energy or movement.
“I’m working on a new hidden heart floral series where I hide mini hearts into my paintings to share the love I have felt,” she shares. “I feel very blessed to currently be cancer-free, and it is love that healed me.”
147 Bay Street, Watch Hill,
860-625-8132, Etsy: Vintagecowgirlco,
Instagram: @jvertentes
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