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Cindy Jacobs shows one of her watercolors. She files copies of all of her artwork in Photoshop on her computer so it can be transmitted to Penny Lane Publishing. 

KEARNEY -- When Cindy Jacobs was in the sixth grade, she lived on a farm three miles north of Axtell.

“Summers lasted forever,” she remembers.

So when her aunt gave her a calligraphy set, she sat down at the kitchen table and taught herself how to use it.

“My mom liked when I was sitting at the kitchen table doing art projects. She knew where I was. I wasn’t making mischief or fighting with my brothers,” Jacobs said.

A few years later, she got a wood-burning kit and began crafting wooden pieces and decorating them with fluorescent paint. “They were horrible, but my aunts and uncles bought some of them,” she chuckled.

“Sometimes it seems futile, the things we make and then throw away, but you can’t discount the process. Every little thing you’ve done, you’ve still created something lasting within them,” she said.

Now the mother of four and grandmother of nine, Jacobs has become an accomplished artist whose watercolor and acrylic paintings hang on walls of galleries and businesses. Some are sold in Hobby Lobby, Target and other stores.

Her artwork also appears on pillows, placemats, flags and mugs. Several of her paintings can be seen currently at the Brickwalk Gallery at 2008 A Ave.

“I just love to paint,” she said.

This pillow shows off Cindy Jacobs’ talents.

After graduating from Axtell High School, Jacobs earned an art scholarship to the University of Nebraska at Kearney, but she put her brushes away when she left school to get married. She had three babies within three years, and art crept back into her life. She drew when her babies were napping.

In 1980, she showed some calligraphy and a few scissor-cut pieces at a craft show in Orleans. There, they came to the attention of Betty Streff, an exhibitor at the show who eventually opened a shop, Betty Jane’s, in downtown Kearney.

“Cindy is an extremely talented calligrapher and watercolor artist,” Streff said. “When I saw Cindy’s work at that craft show, I immediately recognized her talent and the quality of her work.”

Streff took a suitcase full of samples — including some of Jacobs’ work — on a vacation to Colorado Springs. There, Streff met a woman who had a showroom in Denver. One thing led to another.

“I encouraged Cindy to take her business to the next level by doing wholesale. She took the ball and ran,” Streff said. “Over the years, Cindy succeeded wildly. Her sales far surpassed my own.”

Cindy Jacobs is working on a painting based on a photograph she took of the Platte River. She uses an extensive array of watercolors and acrylics for each painting.

By 1988, Jacobs began manufacturing scissor-cut artwork, which is created by cutting paper with sharp scissors. It was matted, framed and shipped all over the U.S., and to Germany and Japan. In a single year, she sold $1.7 million of artwork to four retail stores.

She opened Cindy Jacobs Galleries in Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island and Kearney. Jacobs recalls that her fourth child, born in 1989, “grew up in a playpen in the factory on our farm.”

But by 2008, she closed her galleries. A recession loomed. Her marriage disintegrated. Her mother died of stomach cancer.

Jacobs moved from the farm in Axtell to her late mother’s house in Kearney. Through it all, she kept painting.

Her projects included painting a large mural of Kearney in 1955 on the walls at Master’s Transportation in Kearney to match the restored 1955 pickup owned by the father of company president John Goodbrake. The picture includes the Platte River bridge south of Kearney, Grandpa’s Steakhouse and the old Buffalo Motel.

“I did it over two years on a scaffold. I felt like Leonardo da Vinci, looking up at the ceiling. They’d like me to do more, but I don’t know how to find the time,” she said.

Cindy Jacobs’ whimsical artistry makes this mailbox stand out.

Four years ago, Jacobs began submitting her artwork to Penny Lane Publishing in New Carlisle, Ohio, which produces canvas prints and framed art for stores such as Hobby Lobby, Home Goods, Target and Walmart.

She had “four or five” rejections from other companies before she was accepted by Penny Lane. “It’s hard. You pour your heart and soul into something, you’ve looked at trends and colors, and you think you’ve submitted what they wanted, but then you’re rejected,” she said. “Then one day the planets lined up.”

Today, Jacobs is one of just 80 artists selected to work with Penny Lane Publishing, which sells artists’ work to manufacturers.

“Artwork sold online is so competitive, but once a company selects three creations or so from the top 20 artists, they come back for more from those artists,” she said.

A Penny Lane subdivision, Penny Lane Fine Art Licensing, sells prints of the artwork to manufacturers who sell the framed prints or canvasses to retailers. Manufacturers also put the selected artwork on cards, garden implements, mailboxes and more.

Jacobs handles the company’s tight deadlines because she’s proven to be reliable. “Sometimes a company will like the artwork but want a blue background, or a different kind of flower,” she said.

Some artists can do either hands-on painting or graphic computer creations, “but I’m an anomaly. I can do both,” she said. She keeps all her artwork in the computer “so I can cut out the background, or just put flowers or the pot, or match everything as needed,” she said.

“Penny Lane knows I can work fast, so if they get a request for a framed artwork for Hobby Lobby, for example, they know I can do it. They know I can create artwork in a day and a half. That kind of sets me above other artists,” she said.

That keeps her busy — sometimes too busy, she confessed.

This whimsical black and white vase is another of Jacobs’ creations.

Jacobs remodels houses, too. She has lived in five houses since 2009. She has remodeled every one of them and is doing that on her current home, too, which she purchased last November. When she’s finished, it will sleep her entire family — four children, their spouses and nine grandchildren.

“This house is just a great big canvas to me,” she said.

While she hires plumbers, electricians and contractors for major construction, she does the painting herself, along with light construction and sheet rock mudding. “Typically, I paint all the woodwork and walls and do some faux painting in each house I remodel. I live in the house while I do all that. It can be kinda crazy,” she said.

The bubbly, effervescent Jacobs also makes jewelry and refurbishes furniture and cabinetry. “The biggest joy you can get is when other people enjoy your artwork, when something about it resonates with other people,” she said.

Last Friday, at a reception at the Brickwalk Gallery, she presented an original watercolor, “Community Love,” to Wendy Larson, a lifelong friend. When her husband died nearly two years ago in the fall, neighboring farmers completed the Larson harvest.

“I was so touched by the farmers who sacrificed and served the Larson family, and I wanted Wendy to have something to remember it by. Giving and making other people happy fulfills my heart,” Jacobs said.

As she paints, she is inspired by Proverbs 31:31. “I prayed that the Lord would give me the work of my hands. To be able to do what I love for a living is the best blessing I could ever think of,” she said.

The American philosopher and psychologist John Dewey once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Dewey advocated for an educational paradigm called pragmatism, which stresses the importance of learning academic concepts by experiencing them firsthand, instead of through lecture and repetition in a classroom.

While the philosophy is used by many educators (especially those working in fields where the value of work experience exceeds the value placed on an academic background), many people take great pride in their formal educational credentials because of the valuable skills such educations provided and because of the immense amount of work that goes into earning a degree.

Stacker compiled a list of counties with the most college graduates in Nebraska using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Counties are ranked by the highest percent of the population 25 years and over that has a Bachelor’s degree or higher using 2020 5-year estimates.

Keep reading to see which counties in your state have the most college graduates.

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- 24.6% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 2.3% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 50.3% ($40,250)

- Graduate or professional degree: 3.7% (earnings not available)

- 24.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.2% ($26,583 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 37.7% ($35,366)

- 24.8% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.2% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 35.3% (earnings not available)

- Graduate or professional degree: 2.9% (earnings not available)

- 25.1% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.4% ($20,313 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 43.9% ($33,056)

- 25.4% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 7.7% ($21,071 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 32.9% ($37,284)

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- 25.5% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.4% ($23,526 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 37.8% ($33,998)

- 25.5% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.3% ($20,893 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 39.5% ($24,844)

- 25.6% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 7.5% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 39.6% ($40,524)

- 25.6% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 9.1% ($26,633 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 38.3% ($36,332)

- 26.4% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.0% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 39.5% ($38,333)

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- 26.5% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 10.6% ($30,893 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 38.4% ($40,217)

- 26.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 2.8% ($36,125 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 46.7% ($31,111)

- 26.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.8% ($13,333 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 41.2% ($24,722)

- 27.4% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.7% ($22,738 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 40.1% ($37,158)

- 27.4% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.4% ($13,203 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 35.2% ($32,850)

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- 27.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.0% ($30,842 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 36.6% ($45,793)

- 28.0% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 8.9% ($31,250 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 33.1% ($31,894)

- 28.1% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 12.1% ($27,708 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 36.0% ($33,542)

- 29.1% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.2% ($34,167 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 37.0% ($34,750)

- 29.3% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.1% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 38.4% ($33,667)

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- 29.4% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.4% ($26,754 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 36.4% ($41,999)

- 29.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 3.4% (earnings not available)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 35.9% ($33,235)

- Graduate or professional degree: 6.9% (earnings not available)

- 30.7% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 5.3% ($24,875 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 35.7% ($41,884)

- 31.9% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.0% ($14,225 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 34.6% ($34,876)

- 32.1% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.5% ($48,309 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 33.5% ($43,936)

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- 33.8% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 8.0% ($31,075 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 33.3% ($40,737)

- 38.2% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.0% ($24,198 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 33.9% ($30,000)

- 39.8% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 6.8% ($28,699 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 32.4% ($37,927)

- 40.2% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 9.2% ($26,356 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 29.4% ($40,416)

- 40.5% of population 25 years and over with Bachelor's degree or higher

- Less than high school diploma: 4.5% ($31,090 median earnings)

- Some college or Associate's degree: 33.6% ($42,633)

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Cindy Jacobs shows one of her watercolors. She files copies of all of her artwork in Photoshop on her computer so it can be transmitted to Penny Lane Publishing. 

Cindy Jacobs’ whimsical artistry makes this mailbox stand out.

Cindy Jacobs is working on a painting based on a photograph she took of the Platte River. She uses an extensive array of watercolors and acrylics for each painting.

This whimsical black and white vase is another of Jacobs’ creations.

This pillow shows off Cindy Jacobs’ talents.

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