Carrie M. Jadus was born in Tampa, Florida in 1976 and grew up in the burgeoning city of Saint Petersburg. Hailing from many generations of artists, it was no surprise that Carrie had inherited the artist mind. As a young child, she would spend hours quietly drawing at the dining room table.

Her family always encouraged her artistic ability and creativity and Carrie knew her destiny was to be an artist. In her teenage years, her parents encouraged her to attend Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA) at Gibbs High School where her skills where honed and she was trained to work with a large variety of mediums. While attending Gibbs, she won several awards and her art was exhibited in several prominent bay area museums such as The St Petersburg Fine Art Museum, The Tampa Art Center and Temple Bethel. She was commissioned to paint her first portrait at the age of 17 and was able to make extra spending money throughout the years earning commissions and entering contests.

After graduating from high school, Carrie traveled within the United States and to Europe, seeking adventure at each opportunity. Though Carrie continued to work on illustrations and remained involved in the art community, she chose a different path for a time and attended a Tampa university, where she earned her Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering. With two beautiful children, a loving husband, and a blossoming career as a young engineer, all seemed to be going as planned. However over the years, there was a growing sense that her life was moving in the wrong direction. As time ticked on, Carrie had a vivid realization that, if she stayed on the edge of the artist's world and denied her true talent, her life would be one full of regrets. From that moment, Xephyr Art was born and with it the courage to follow a dream....

Artist Statement:
It is a curious sort of meditation that occurs when one spends hours painting. While painting in the silence of my studio, pondering the human existence is inevitable. Although my art attempts to capture the beauty and romance of this world, it is evident to me that there are equal amounts of pain and suffering. As a young child, I remember the works that most impacted me were those that contained not only beautiful images or themes, but also contained a feel of some small disturbance. This is why I tend to feature an obscure sea monster or storm brewing in the backgrounds of my whimsical Seaside Castle Series. This balance of beauty and danger offers the tiniest bit of uneasiness and creates a sense of adventure. I believe it is not just beauty we seek in art, but the mixture of all the qualities that make us human. For this reason, I spend much of my time painting nudes. There is a complex duality that exists within them so that they rouse emotions of not only beauty, peace and romance, but also that of fear, desire and jealousy. Quietly revealing both mankind's perfections and flaws, the viewer takes in with their eyes and keeps to themselves the emotions that truly stir within their hearts. It is no wonder that throughout history artists have a passion for painting the nude human figure.

 

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(727) 480-8754
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