JJ Worden

If you’ve been following along here for a bit, you know I’ve spent a good chunk of 2026 throwing myself back into the deep end of re-marketing my art online.

There are days when the paint glides onto the panel like it was meant to be there, when a portrait comes alive with just a few bold strokes and everything feels effortless.   And then... there are the last two weeks.

I’m dipping my toes into the miniature art-for-sale waters, but if you look closely at my tiny paintings, you’ll notice something strange. They aren’t the standard 2.5" x 3.5".  They might be 2.5" x 4". If I’m feeling chaotic, they might be 3" x 3".  There’s a very specific and slightly stubborn reason for that extra half-inch. It all goes back to the dark ages of the…

The Spark: Choosing the Attitude When longtime friend and supporter, Liz asked how I would portray her—curious about the colours I'd choose and the reference photo I’d land on—I knew I wanted to tackle a piece that was as challenging as it was compelling. I found myself drawn to a specific photo with an incredible sense of attitude, both in her facial expression and her posture. The…

There is a specific kind of summer afternoon where the air is so heavy, you don't just feel the temperature—you SEE it. That blinding, overwhelming sensation of peak summer is exactly what I wanted to capture in my latest piece, "Facing the Heat." This painting is currently on display at the Lunenburg Art Gallery as part of the Sand, Sea and Sky group exhibition. The Challenge of a S…

Every now and then, it’s incredibly healthy to throw yourself entirely out of your comfort zone. If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know how much I love diving straight into expressive color, rich paintings, and bold, intuitive brushwork. But the other day, I took a lesson that completely stripped away my favorite safety nets—namely color and fine detail—and forced me …