Jordan Sellman Art

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United States
Minneapolis, MN
Jordan Sellman Art

Realism with a touch of wonder. I paint light, mood, and the subtle magic hidden in everyday moments.

05/30/2026

It's been a few weeks since I shared an update on this oil painting, but I promise progress is happening!

This piece is a still life I'm painting for my mother-in-law, and I've been taking my time with it. Lately I've been working on creating folds in the fabric and carrying those shapes into the background. You can see some of that developing on the left side where the light is starting to move across the cloth.

I'm really enjoying the process, even if it's moving a little slower than I'd planned.

That said... I've been actively avoiding the yellow netting and the red bottle 😂. For some reason they both seem way harder to paint than the tipped over brown pot and grapes, so I've been finding plenty of "other things" to work on first.

Still lots to do, but I'm happy with where it's heading. Stay tuned for more in-progress updates as I continue working my way through this piece!

05/29/2026

Awakening, Unbound 🌿

I'm excited to finally share this piece, which is now available on my website (I'll drop the link in the comments).

This colored pencil drawing was created for a gallery exhibition called Greenhaus, a show centered around plants and fungi. While working on it, I wanted to explore the idea of personal growth, self-discovery, and becoming rooted in your own identity.

The figure represents a woman who has finally embraced herself. What were once strings attached to another person have transformed into living vines, no longer tools of control but symbols of growth. Instead of being directed from above, she has taken root within herself. The third eye represents awakening, awareness, and seeing beyond the limitations that once defined her.

The water and lily pads in the background were intentionally designed to create a sense of calm and renewal. I wanted the viewer to feel as though they were being washed over by the image, surrounded by stillness, reflection, and the quiet process of becoming.

This piece challenged me in all the best ways. Between the vibrant colors, intricate vines, fungi, water, and symbolism, it became one of the most ambitious colored pencil works I've completed to date.

I'd love to hear your interpretation. What emotions or ideas does it bring up for you?

Awakening, Unbound
Colored Pencil • 12" x 16"
Original artwork available

🌿 Link to purchase in the comments.

05/22/2026

Just finished this commissioned drawing of the Wall Street Bull...12x16 inches done entirely in pencil.

I really wanted this piece to feel commanding, heavy, and firmly planted, like it was standing its ground and daring you to challenge it. I spent a lot of time pushing the contrast and shaping the shadows to give it that sense of weight and presence. The cast shadow I added at the end really helped lock it into space and make it feel grounded instead of floating.

Honestly, I love how this one came out. There’s something incredibly satisfying about building this much depth, texture, and drama using only graphite.

05/12/2026

Left: my first color oil portrait
Right: my most recent color oil portrait, finished this month

I’m honestly so proud of how far I’ve come. This has been such a long, humbling process, full of trial and error, frustration, patience, and those tiny little breakthroughs that make you keep going.

Color used to feel completely overwhelming to me, especially in skin tones. Now I can actually see the shifts in temperature, light, shadow, and reflected color in a way I absolutely could not before.

Still learning, still growing, but today I’m letting myself be proud of the progress.

What is something you’ve done or learned recently, whether nerdy or not, big or small, that you’re proud of today?

05/09/2026

Just completed this colored pencil piece, “Awakening, Unbound” (12x16 inches), for an upcoming show next weekend called Greenhaus! The entire show is centered around plants and fungi, which honestly feels like the perfect excuse to get increasingly strange with my artwork lol

This piece is about the feeling of finally finding yourself after being controlled, manipulated, or emotionally tethered to someone else for too long. The blue hands above are meant to represent that control, using the vines almost like puppet strings. But instead of remaining trapped, she becomes rooted in herself. The vines stop being restraints and become part of her growth. The third eye represents that moment of awakening, of finally seeing clearly and becoming untethered.

I wanted the water and lily pads in the background to feel alive and almost consuming, like nature reclaiming the entire scene. The deeper I got into this piece, the more it started to feel less like a portrait and more like a transformation.

Did I nail the feeling I was going for? I’d genuinely love to hear what this piece says to you all because this community was absolutely on my mind while I worked on it ❤️

04/29/2026

This is my first oil portrait done in full color and I’m honestly kind of in love with how it’s turning out already 😭

Her name is Cocoa, and I’ve been really focusing on capturing that warm glow across her face and pushing the color variation in the skin instead of just painting “skin tone.” The more I study from life and work in oils, the more I realize how much color is actually hiding in people. oranges, reds, yellows, greens, blues…it’s all there if you slow down enough to really look

I still have a lot I want to refine in this piece, but I’m really proud of this step for me. Portraits in color feel like an entirely different beast compared to graphite or monochromatic painting, but it’s been incredibly exciting to learn. Cocoa has such a calm presence in this pose and I’m hoping I can keep that feeling alive as I continue working on it ✨

04/23/2026

Title: Quiet Mind
Medium: graphite on paper
Size: 14 x 8 inches

This is a pencil drawing I’ve been working on, pushing my values a lot darker than I usually see with graphite. I’ve always been drawn to how far you can actually take pencil if you’re willing to really commit to the shadows instead of keeping things light and safe.

There’s something interesting to me about the contrast here…a calm, almost meditative subject, but built out of really dense, heavy marks. It ends up feeling less soft and more grounded, maybe even a little weighty. I tried to keep all the texture visible too, letting the marks stay instead of blending everything out.

Curious what people think…do you prefer pencil work that leans smooth and polished, or darker with more visible texture like this?

04/22/2026

this one is currently taking over my brain a little 😅

14x18 colored pencil piece I’m working on for an upcoming show called Greenhaus 🌿🍄 the whole theme is plants and fungi… and I mean, obviously the only logical move is to fuse that with a human figure.

so now we’ve got vines creeping, hands turning into roots, and a third eye because…it felt right at the time and honestly made it better.

I’ve been really leaning into color with this one, pushing saturation way harder than I normally would with pencil. trying to get that almost glowing, slightly unnatural skin tone against the greens. it’s been a fun balance between control and just letting it get a little weird

next step is the background: I’m planning a bright blue/turquoise water surface with a rippling effect, kind of like looking straight down into a pond. thinking lily pads floating across the top to tie everything together and push the whole “nature taking over” vibe

curious what you all think so far…too weird or not weird enough?

04/16/2026

hey twin cities folks…who’s planning on hitting the Saint Paul Art Crawl this weekend? 👀

it’s happening April 17–19 at F-O-K Studios over on West Water St, right across from Harriet Island. tons of local artists, a bunch of different styles, and it’s always a really fun way to spend a few hours wandering and discovering new work

I’ll be there and I’m bringing many of my paintings and drawings with me. I’ll drop it in the comments so you can see what I’ve been working on lately. would love to know who else is going, or if you’ve been before what your favorite part was

04/15/2026

working on this 14x18 colored pencil piece for an upcoming show called greenhaus 🌿🍄

the theme for the show is plants and fungi, and I really wanted to push beyond just “nice botanical study” into something more human and a little unsettling. so naturally… I fused it with a person. because honestly, what’s better than plants and fungi mixed with a person? nothing. nothing is the correct answer 😂

this piece started as a pretty straightforward concept sketch, but as I got further into it I kept leaning into the weird. the vines started interacting more with the face, the roots began taking over, and then at some point I decided it needed a third eye. I’m trying to balance something that feels organic and alive with something slightly uncomfortable, like the figure is being grown or consumed at the same time

it’s still in progress, but I’m really enjoying the push and pull between control and letting it get a little out of hand. curious what you all think so far, especially about the third eye and how far I should take the “overgrown” aspect 👀

Address

Minneapolis, MN
55104

Telephone

+16517035658

Website

https://www.jsellmanart.com/, http://www.instagram.com/sellman_j

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