disability – Page 2 – Art By Jessica Jewett

Inktober 2017: Week 1

Well everybody, we’ve survived the first week of Inktober – those of us who are participating, anyway. If you’re scratching your head at just what I’m talking about, Inktober is an activity that artists do to get to know each other and see new artists in the online world. Every day during the month of October, artists complete an ink drawing and post it online for everybody to see. There is an official prompt word list if people need inspiration but so far I haven’t needed it.

This is my second year participating in Inktober, although I didn’t finish last year. I made it halfway through the month, and then I caught a really heinous cold … or maybe it was a sinus infection. I can’t remember. Needless to say, I didn’t finish so I was very determined to finish this year. Not only finish but create a body of work that challenged and stretched my artistic abilities.

Stretching my skills first involved gathering the right materials. My favorite drawing pens are the Micron variety. Copic makes a very similar line of pens but I haven’t ever found them at prices that don’t make me curl up into the fetal position. Micron pens come in several sizes and colors. The most common sizes I reach for are the .45 mm (05) and the .30 (02), both in black. I’ve got a set of colored ones but I haven’t used them yet. I’m enjoying the limited color palette I’m using in my Inktober sketchbook this year, which is mainly black with some light flesh shades and purples. The colors I’m using are the Copic Ciao markers. Those are alcohol-based and some of the ink is bleeding through onto the next page of my sketchbook. If this was a professional job meant to be sold, I’d care more, but as it is, this is only for me to play around and try out different illustration styles to see what I can do.

On the fifth day, I did get a stomach bug. Go figure. I always have some illness or another (compromised immune system) but I pressed ahead anyway. I’m still on schedule! That fact alone makes me very proud of myself. The sixth and seventh drawings are not exactly up to par with my intended plans because I wasn’t feeling well but they’re still worth keeping in my opinion.

Here are days one through seven of my Inktober 2017.

Meet the Artist, Inktober — Days one and two are two-panels introducing the artist. It features a section of what’s in my bag, my religious symbols, likes, dislikes, and a self-portrait.

Witch, Inktober — Day three was my interpretation of a movie still from Snow White.

Pagan Altar, Inktober — Day four was me experimenting with shapes, and light and shadow with ink, which is not something I’ve mastered yet. It turned into a pagan altar featuring a god and goddess statue, a bowl with burning herbs, a crystal ball, a scrying mirror, a bell, wine, and flowers.

Witch Hazel, Inktober — Day five came as a special request by a friend. This is my interpretation of Witch Hazel, another old Disney character.

Witch Potion, Inktober — Day six got harder because I was sick. I drew a fictional advertisement for a potion to make magic powers stronger and more stable. I drew inspiration from old Victorian tonics sold in newspapers and magazines.

Chains, Inktober — Day seven was a look at what I feel like some days with my disability. I live in a body that doesn’t function like it should and I go through periods of feeling like I’m in prison.

So far I do feel like Inktober has been a valuable experience, especially because it’s forcing me to learn a medium I don’t normally employ. We’ll see how I feel when I come back to post days eight through fourteen though!

Are you doing Inktober? Show me your work!

Donation

Please consider making a donation to help me keep up with the cost of art supplies, living expenses, equipment related to my disability, and so forth. The minimum is set at $10.00. Thank you for your generosity.

$10.00

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October 10, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: inktoberTags: art, artist, atlanta, cottage, dark, disability, disabled, drawing, georgia, halloween, illustration, illustrator, ink, night, pagan, paganism, sketchbook, sketching, spooky, wicca, witch, witchcraft Leave a comment

I got awesome brush pens by Arteza!

I wanted to tell you guys about the 48 Watercolor Real Brush Pens by the brand Arteza. In the interest of full transparency, Arteza did graciously send me these brush pens to try for free but they did not require me to review them. I’m doing that on my own and all opinions are mine alone. If you’d rather, you can watch the video version of me demonstrating these interesting brush pens.

All 48 brush pens come in a plastic case with trays. I’ve been keeping them in the original box for the time being but I would recommend getting a new container made of sturdier material for long-term use.

Each pen has a single tip as opposed to Copics, Tombows, Prismacolors, ProMarkers, and so forth, that have two different tips on each pen – usually a chisel nib and a bullet nib. These particular brush pens are also much thinner than Copics. They’re more comparable to the Tombow brush pens in size and shape, however, I found the plastic to be more durable on Arteza pens. None of them cracked for me. Since I’m a disabled artist who uses these tools in my mouth, I much prefer my pens to have a single tip with the other end capped off like these Arteza pens. The barrel is sturdy and not easily cracked, even with how hard I have to bite.

What makes these pens different is the brush tip itself. You’re drawing with a marker-paintbrush hybrid. The tip is a literal brush and it behaves on paper like a brush. You can use these pens alone or you can use a separate paintbrush with water to create a much stronger watercolor effect. I like this a lot because my disability makes it difficult to keep track of separate tools for paint, water, brushes, towels, and so on. These brush pens combine several tools into one, which makes my work a lot easier.

The colors blend together fairly well without water too, although I recommend blending colors in the same family like you do with Copics unless you’re going to use water too. Without water, these brush pens don’t blend well if the colors are too far apart. I also wish there was some sort of numbering system or color names on the pens because I had trouble remembering which ones I was using by sight alone. The pigments are intense, which is great, and the moisture is at a good balance between those who will add water and those who won’t.

All in all, I was really happy with these pens. I wasn’t sure what to expect but with my disability, these work better for me than other water-based brush pens. They’re easier for me to hold in my mouth because the ends are solidly capped off and I’m not so focused on being careful of popping the pen and having ink all over my mouth. I think these pens are a good alternative for other disabled artists who have difficulty managing paint, water, and brushes in separate parts.

The 48 set of Watercolor Real Brush Pens by Arteza retails for $87 but you can find them for $37 on Amazon and $30.99 on Arteza.com. They make a line of fine liner pens, metallic pens, colored pencils, various kinds of paper, and quilting supplies too. I’ll do a few speed drawing videos in the future with these pens so you can see them in action on my YouTube channel.

Donation

$10.00

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September 25, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: ReviewsTags: arteza, arthrogryposis, atlanta, brush pens, disability, disabled, disabled artist, illustration, illustrator, ink, markers, painting, product, review, watercolor, youtube Leave a comment

Recap of the FamilyHood ATL Art Show

It’s taken me a little while to post a blog about the art show, which was my first public showing of my art pieces. The day after the show, I woke up pretty sick. Apparently my brother had a cold the week before and passed it to me. With my compromised immune system, it took me twice as long to kick the plague and today was the first day I felt like doing any meaningful work. Ah, to be an artist. There’s always pain involved!

I was, to be quite honest, afraid to take my art into the public sphere. It’s almost a cliche but artists always say they put their souls into their work and that makes them feel really exposed when they show it. This was my first time going through that uncomfortable sensation of naked exposure before strangers but I don’t regret it. It was like ripping the Band-Aid off and now I know I can handle it. After the first twenty minutes or so, I began to let myself relax and go with the flow.

FamilyHood ATL Art Show, Jessica Jewett — A scene from the FamilyHood ATL art show that took place on June 30.

Atlanta’s art scene is not at all pretentious or snooty like people might expect in, say, New York or Los Angeles. The people I hooked up with, FamilyHood ATL, base their work on diversity with the Atlanta community and that is really important to me too. I was exposed to so many different artistic styles that I sucked up so much inspiration for my own style as well.

Speaking of style, I’ve been concerned for months that a.) I don’t have an identifiable style or meaningful voice, or b.) my faint style will be received as outdated and old-fashioned because other people don’t do what I do. The fear that I wasn’t cool enough to hook up with the Atlanta art scene was intense in the last week before the show. The thing is, I learned some valuable lessons based on watching people look at my art and formulate their opinions. My style is preserving history through the art of portraiture and it is okay because there aren’t many people in Atlanta doing that kind of thing. There are a lot of people doing awesome street art and pop art but that’s not me. People were welcoming of the fact that I’m different. I need to embrace the fact that my little corner of the art world is cool and accepted because I make history and portraiture cool and accepted for the people looking at my pieces. My fear of being different made me overlook the fact that I’m supposed to be different. Doing this show forced me to think harder about what kind of artist I am and that’s an important lesson.

Watch a video of the art show on my Instagram page.

It was interesting to watch people study my pieces before they got to me and read my bio. They were appreciating my pieces, studying them, discussing them, etc., before they even realized I was in a wheelchair. I can’t tell you how great that was for me. I’m used to people seeing the wheelchair first and then getting excited about the art because I do all of the work with the tools in my mouth. At this show, people were judging my art based on my skill, composition, subjects, and so forth. I ended up watching them like they were the exhibit. My confidence is much better now that I know I can stand on my own two feet as an artist without constantly thinking people like me just for the novelty of drawing with my mouth.

I would definitely say my participation with FamilyHood ATL was a huge success. I sold a few prints and I learned a lot about myself and how unifying artists can be when they embrace diversity.

So what’s next?

Well, I have a few opportunities in the works that will be amazing if they come to pass. One is a local opportunity and the other is a national opportunity. I don’t want to jinx myself by talking about them out loud yet. You’ll be the first to know when everything is solid.

As for my next pieces of art, I’m working on a collection. Nevertheless, she persisted. My goal is to do portraits of women throughout history from different cultures. The female experience is varied in different parts of the world but the one thing that unifies us is persistence. I want to capture that in historical portraits. If they get shown, they have to be shown as a collection in order to get the full impact of what I’m trying to communicate. I hope it goes over well!

Donation

$10.00

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July 9, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: UncategorizedTags: american civil war, arthrogryposis, atlanta, charcoal, clark gable, colored pencil, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, event, eventide brewing, familyhood atl, gallery, gone with the wind, graphite, jewett, oil painting, oils, painting, pencil, showcase, vivien leigh Leave a comment

Getting Ready For My Gallery Show And The Luxembourg Art Prize

I haven’t been posting blogs as often as I want lately because I’ve been really busy producing more art for my show here in Atlanta at the end of the month. It has been an exciting but exhausting time seeing how far I can go with my artistic capabilities.

This week we started setting aside all of the pieces that I feel are good enough to be part of my gallery show. There are big gaping holes on my walls now because several of the best pieces were hanging in the bedroom and the bathroom. It’s been a process starting from scratch and investing money in prints, packaging materials, etc. The art community I’m joining encourages people to sell their art at the show, although I prefer not to sell my originals until I have a bigger portfolio. A bunch of my smaller pieces still need to be matted for hanging but I think I’m over the hump of the most amount of prep work.

Of course, I’m nervous. There are seeds of doubt inside of me always saying I’m not good enough, I’m irrelevant, nobody cares about portraiture work anymore, etc. My style of art is more suited to previous centuries than current abstract or pop art trends. I really can’t align my brain with abstract or pop art. My best work is in realistic portraiture, which is sometimes considered a dead art form since people have cameras now. But it’s who I am. It’s what I do. I can’t change for modern tastes.

Unrelated to my upcoming show, I finalized my entry for the Luxembourg Art Prize. It’s open to the international world and the prize is quite substantial. That’s not why I entered though. Don’t get me wrong – the money would be really nice and allow me to spend some time in Europe – but my reason for entering is more personal. I have been stagnate as an artist for years because I allowed myself to drown in insecurity and fear. This year I’ve committed myself to understanding that there are always going to be artists with more talent than me but that’s true for everyone. I have to stop thinking of myself as unworthy and start thinking of myself as a creative being with valuable things to say. So entering such a big contest was my way of ripping off the Band-Aid. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be a finalist. Last year’s winner was American too.

I’ve finished two new pieces of art this week and I just started my third today. These two were done in charcoal and graphite. The one I started today is in colored pencil.

Colonial Woman – charcoal and graphite pencils on heavy drawing paper.

Gone With the Wind Boudoir II Drawing – Graphite and charcoal pencils on heavy drawing paper.

If you’d like to come to my gallery show, here’s the information.

Host: FamilyHood ATL

Date: Friday night, June 30, 2017

Location: Eventide Brewing
1015 Grant St SE
Atlanta, GA 30315

Donation

$10.00

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June 9, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: HistoricalTags: arthrogryposis, atlanta, charcoal, clark gable, colored pencil, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, event, eventide brewing, familyhood atl, gallery, gone with the wind, graphite, history, pencil, showcase, vivien leigh Leave a comment

EVENT! Come Meet Me And See My Art!

Are you going to be in the Atlanta area at the end of June?

A momentous thing is happening in my life and you can be part of it! I have been invited to take part in a showcase with other Atlanta artists. It’s a casual event open to the public. I’ll be there showing my original art and selling various prints. You can hang out with me and other awesome Atlanta artists who are sharing their work too. There will be live music and a relaxed, creative community atmosphere.

EVENT DETAILS

Host: FamilyHood ATL

Date: Friday night, June 30, 2017

Location: Eventide Brewing
1015 Grant St SE
Atlanta, GA 30315

I have been hard at work for the last month creating new art for this showcase. Even if you’re familiar with my work, you’ll see some new things that reflect my changing views on life.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

I hope to see you all there!

Donation

$10.00

Follow me on social media!

June 4, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: UncategorizedTags: arthrogryposis, atlanta, charcoal, colored pencil, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, event, eventide brewing, familyhood atl, gallery, graphite, oil painting, oils, painting, pencil, showcase Leave a comment

VIDEO: Gone With the Wind Fan Art

Watch as I take you through the two week process of creating a piece of fan art dedicated to Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) from Gone With the Wind.

Materials Used

-Canson XL Series Mix Media Pad, 11×14 inches
-Pentel Pd105t Techniclick Mechanical Pencil Side click 0.5mm
-Prismacolor Ebony Graphite Drawing Pencils
-Staedtler Stick Erasers
-Blending Stumps, 12mm
-Custom Blending Tool (Q-tip taped to mechanical pencil)

Please check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/honeysuckle1825 if you’re interested!

Donation

$10.00

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April 28, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: VideosTags: arthrogryposis, charcoal, clark gable, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, gone with the wind, graphite, pencil, video, vivien leigh 1 Comment

VIDEO: Working On My Grimoire

As some of you probably know by now, I’m a Pagan. This is my Facebook Live broadcast from March 2, 2017, about my family Grimoire and I worked on some art in it. I’ll do future Facebook Live broadcasts over at http://www.facebook.com/JessicaJewettOnline if you’re interested.

Please remember to check out my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/honeysuckle1825 as well!

Donation

$10.00

Follow me on social media!

April 28, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: VideosTags: arthrogryposis, colored pencil, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, pencil, video Leave a comment

VIDEO: Drawing Spheres With My Dog

I post a fair amount of drawing videos on my YouTube channel. This was the first one I ever did and, as you can see, my dog insisted on being part of it.

Go check out my channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/honeysuckle1825.

Donation

$10.00

Follow me on social media!

April 28, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: VideosTags: arthrogryposis, disability, disabled, disabled artist, dogs, drawing, graphite, pencil, video Leave a comment