Artist leaves computers behind as she finds painting profitable

Heading off to the University of Washington, Jennifer Lommers just assumed she’d go into biology. She had drawn a lot as a child but had gravitated toward math and science and figured that was her career path.

Then her roommate, an art lover, convinced her to take a life drawing class.

“And as they say, ‘That’s all she wrote,’” Lommers said.

Her family, even her math teacher dad, was accepting when Lommers continued with art and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. That was 20 years ago.

As it turned out, a degree didn’t guarantee entree into the art world. So Lommers continued her left-brain tendencies by getting a day job in computer technology. It wasn’t until four years ago that Lommers took a leap of faith — with two children at home and her husband, Scott, a stay-at-home dad — and turned to painting full-time.

“I was independent and I got tired of working in computers,” Lommers said about making the leap. “We had some savings so we knew we could get by for a few months.”

She’s still successfully getting by.

This year, she was named the poster artist for Fresh Paint, her second year participating in the artists-at-work festival at Everett’s marina.

Though successful, Lommers must keep busy. She does about 20 art shows and festivals a year. The family just moved to Corvalis, Ore., with the plan that Lommers could expand her exposure up and down the coast.

“I do get a lot of attention so it’s a good thing I’ve had some customer service training,” Lommers said jokingly about all the shows.

“I’m used to people looking at my artwork and making comments and it doesn’t even faze you after awhile. They say just about anything right in front of you. It’s very reaffirming and most people are wonderful and nice art-supporting people.”

Lommers said she gets that support, in part, because she, fortunately, paints what people like. Her Web site gallery, www.jenniferlommers.com, is filled with whimsical birds, flowers, abstracts and landscapes.

Lommers calls herself a “painterly colorist.”

“Some people call what I do very colorist but technically it’s not. It’s very colorful but a colorist is someone who is very scrutinizing of the relationships of the colors in the paintings and I’m not like that.”