The Usual Way (2025)
610mm x 910mm on canvas
Acrylic and charcoal
610mm x 910mm on canvas
Acrylic and charcoal
Some recent work.
A few sale prices in there too!
Visit me at olson.jen on Instagram to see what else I'm up to.
Hi there, I'm Jen Olson.I'm a contemporary figurative artist in Cromwell, New Zealand.
There's something beautiful about the moments we usually look away from: the pause before someone speaks, the weight of unspoken words, weeds on the margins of a path.
My work lives in these spaces between comfort and quiet revelation. Working with acrylics, ink, markers, graphite, charcoal, and gold leaf, I paint portraits and metaphorical stories of people and everyday objects. Empty chairs hold presence and absence. Bodies transform into gardens. A coffee cup becomes a vessel for longing. Bones, birds, and blooms speak to journeys and what lies beneath the surface. I'm drawn to tension too: proportions slightly off kilter, bright colours against ghostly forms, exaggerated features that reveal or conceal. My work plays with the awkward, the sublime, and the uncomfortably familiar. I aim to capture those fragile moments that make us human, through figures, gestures, or objects that hold memory. Themes of connection and fate weave through my work, raising questions about agency – inviting viewers to consider who's really writing the story, and whether we're the authors of our lives or simply figures in someone else's narrative. |
Murals.
Goodly Creatures lives inside the fabulously industrial Alexia Urban Winery in Greytown.
Click on any image to find out how I made the mural and what's (literally) behind the illustrations.
Photos by me and Lucy Cooper Photography.
Click on any image to find out how I made the mural and what's (literally) behind the illustrations.
Photos by me and Lucy Cooper Photography.
Weirdo Wings adorn Karahui Wine Bar & Eatery's tasting room in Martinborough.
Click on any image for the story behind the mural.
Photos by Lucy Cooper Photography.
Click on any image for the story behind the mural.
Photos by Lucy Cooper Photography.
