graphite – Art By Jessica Jewett

Second Phase of Saving the Chamberlain House

Good grief! What a ride it’s been since I last blogged about what I’m now calling The Chamberlain Project. I need everybody to go read the first blog before you continue with this one because it lays out all of the information about why we’re here and why the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain house is an important American landmark that needs our help. It has been one of the most fulfilling and challenging things I’ve done as an artist.

Briefly, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a Union general in the American Civil War who rose to that rank without formal military training (he was a professor before the war). He volunteered for service, and then later became a four-term governor of Maine, followed by president of Bowdoin College. National history largely forgot Chamberlain until Ken Burns heavily featured him throughout his documentary series, The Civil War. Then in the early 90s, Jeff Daniels played Chamberlain in the film, Gettysburg, followed ten years later by playing him again in Gods and Generals.

Together, you and I are helping the Pejepscot History Center preserve and restore his home, which is now a museum.

CBS Evening News

The wildest part of this whole thing is that the CBS Evening News did a feature on me a couple of months ago outlining my project and the Pejepscot History Center’s involvement in it. When I got the initial call from the producer in New York City, I actually thought it was a prank and I almost deleted the message!

CBS sent a crew to my home a few weeks later after some scheduling conflicts. Who would have thought the New Hampshire primary was a bigger story than trying to preserve and restore an American landmark? Said with humor. It worked out better having the scheduling conflict because it gave me time to get a head start on my second Chamberlain-related project, which we’ll discuss further down in this blog. You can see a photo from the shoot I did with CBS that day on the right. They were getting what’s known as B-roll of the new piece of art. B-roll is what you see on film while a journalist or narrator is talking over it.

I think I did all right. They shot about 45 minutes of footage for a 2-minute story at the end of the nightly broadcast. To be honest, I could do an entire hour-long show about how exciting and important historical preservation is, and the crew even mentioned how knowledgeable I was about the field. Clearly, I missed my calling. I should have gone to college to get into historical preservation.

Here’s my segment on the CBS Evening News.

The Numbers

After my segment aired that night, I got a lot of new orders for not only the Chamberlain house drawing but everything else in my Etsy shop too. I got more than I expected and it was, quite honestly, more than I could handle by myself, so it has taken a while to get all of the orders shipped. I’m down to my last dozen or so right now, which will go out in the mail as soon as my latest restock batch arrives. This process has been difficult because I don’t have the money to get my own printer capable of doing 11×17-inch prints. I have to outsource the printing process.

I promised you all that I would be up front about the earnings and donations numbers. If you want more specific information, you can always pop me a message and ask.

We have raised $1,800 so far, which is being given to the Pejepscot History Center in three separate payments. I only expected to raise a couple hundred bucks in the beginning, so this number pleases me. People still buy the art print without me doing much advertising now that it shows up in Etsy searches and such.

The PHC has been incredibly grateful for our work!

The New Project

Right before CBS came to film my segment, I began putting together my second project. I’ve been in this art business long enough to know that sales will eventually taper off and you need fresh things to keep customers interested. I knew I was going to divide The Chamberlain Project into three distinct art pieces so I could keep providing the PHC with donations throughout the year of 2020.

The first thing I needed was a photo reference that I found inspirational for the story I wanted to tell in Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s wartime career. Enter my friend, Guy Gane, who is an actor, casting director, and tailor. He agreed to let me use him for reference (any artist who says they can work on highly detailed portraits without some kind of reference is either a liar or inhuman) since he has the same body type and similar features as Chamberlain, especially in the hands. Since Chamberlain was about four inches shorter than Guy, I chose a photo that would conceal the height difference rather than accentuate it. The photo on the left was the one I chose.

Next, I needed to mentally put this modern candid photo in a wartime context. What would Chamberlain be holding instead of a cell phone? Either dispatches, orders from his superiors, or a letter. What’s more emotionally compelling to the viewer? Letters from home, clearly. Everyone who has heard of Chamberlain knows something of the bond he had with his family.

I created a story around this piece of art from there, knowing I wanted to steer clear of Gettysburg because that topic has been done to death.

In the last weeks of the Civil War, Chamberlain was a brigade commander in the Battle of Quaker Road on March 29, 1865. That day, he had been ordered to take the Confederate position and led his men on horseback until he was wounded in the arm after his horse had been shot through the neck. He was briefly knocked unconscious and witnesses thought him killed.

Riding ahead until the wounded horse couldn’t continue, Chamberlain dismounted and continued on foot until he got so far ahead of his men that he ended up alone, surrounded by Confederate soldiers. Quick thinking, a faded, filthy uniform, and a knack for mimicking accents convinced the Confederate soldiers that he was one of them until he managed to get out of the dangerous situation – all while suffering with a wounded, bleeding arm.

My drawing imagines a quiet moment of contemplation the night after that close call. Chamberlain is depicted thoughtfully reading a letter from home and is surrounded by his books and a photograph of his wife, Fanny. Now that the danger has passed, he has time to think about what he could have lost if yet another close call had ended him after all. It’s a hint at the post-traumatic stress disorder to come, which is something not a lot of people talk about in terms of their heroes.

It was not easy completing this piece, on a personal note. One of my dogs was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and she died within two weeks of the diagnosis. Then my other dog broke her foot and the subsequent bone infection resulted in one of her toes being amputated, a procedure from which she is still recovering. COVID-19 messed with our household income and now the virus has spread to more than one house on my street. Given my weakened immune system, contracting the virus could be deadly for me, not to mention the surgery I was supposed to have on April 16 being pushed back to sometime this summer. I’ve also been nursing a broken heart.

Yet, I managed to finish this piece even with all of the terrible things happening around me. I suspect things in my personal life did, in fact, draw me closer to the mood of this piece. Maybe it helped me make it better. I need to believe I channeled my pain into something bigger than myself. That’s the artist in me.

In the end, this is how the second piece turned out.

I, personally, like how it looks but there are always things I would change about every piece of art I do. It was done in a combination of Pentel mechanical pencils with .5 mm lead and Prismacolor Ebony pencils on mixed media paper. You’ll be able to buy various sized prints of the original art over on my Etsy shop. The original is 11×14 inches and has already been sold. Prints (5×7, 8×10, or 11×17 inches) range in price from $13.80 USD to $27.60 USD and are made on high quality cardstock with a glossy finish. Original art prices are calculated based on the materials used plus a $15 hourly labor rate, which is quite low for many artists.

Let’s not forget why we are here.

A portion (75%) of the sale of this drawing benefits the Pejepscot History Center in their efforts to preserve and restore the Joshua L. Chamberlain house for generations to come. The porches that Chamberlain himself built on his home of over fifty years are in structural danger due to wood rot and lack of maintenance over the last century. Together, you and I are going to help with the restoration costs. Buildings like this one belong to all of us.

What’s Next

There will be a third piece (technically fourth if you count the church) to finish out the year and hopefully generate more donation revenue. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do something involving Fanny Chamberlain because, most of the time, she is reduced to a footnote in her husband’s history. She was a deeply complicated woman in her own right with passions, interests, beliefs, and dreams of her own long before she was ever a married woman.

My plan is to do something revolving around Fanny Chamberlain, possibly in the downstairs blue parlor, which the family had built after the Civil War. I suspect I’ll have her playing the piano but I’m not quite sure yet. It depends on where my inspiration leads like it did when I chose Guy Gane to model Chamberlain for me.

How To Order

These are the links to order all pieces I’ve done relating to Maine. I had done the church a long time ago before all of this started but I figure it can be included here as well.

First Parish Congregationalist Church – BUY HERE
Joshua L. Chamberlain House – BUY HERE
After the Battle – BUY HERE

Please consider purchasing these art prints. It’s such a worthy cause. I realize there is a lot happening in the world, and I’m doing my part for those causes as well, but we should care about American history too. We need to be thinking about what kind of tangible legacy we’re going to leave our children and grandchildren. Wouldn’t you want to teach your descendants to celebrate and honor a man who believed in the qualities of a better world that we’re still fighting to create? What better way to honor him and his family than to help preserve the place they loved and called home for over half a century?

If you’re not interested in buying my art, that’s quite all right. There are choices.

One option is to let me collect the donations at PayPal.me/ArtByJessicaJewett and I’ll get it to the Pejepscot History Center for you. Please specify that you are donating to the Chamberlain house in the notes. I’ll send donations on the 15th of every month (when there are any) and I will give you copies of the receipts.

Or you can make a donation directly to the Pejepscot History Center, but please make sure you specify that your donation is for the Chamberlain house. They don’t have digital donations aside from the annual membership drives. The new 2020 membership drive hasn’t been created yet since they are closed until February 4.

To donate by mail:

Pejepscot History Center
159 Park Row
Brunswick, ME 04011

By phone: Call (207) 729-6606 to provide a credit card number. They take all major cards.

In person: Drop by their offices at 159 Park Row during open hours.

Once again, I thank all of you for joining me on The Chamberlain Project’s journey!

The Pejepscot History Center is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. Your gift is tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

I’m not affiliated with the Pejepscot History Center in any way, nor do I work for them. My fundraising efforts are as a private citizen.

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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May 6, 2020May 6, 2020 by Jessica Jewett Categories: Artist In The Wild, Historical, VideosTags: america, american civil war, american history, ancestry, architecture, army, art, arthrogryposis, artist, atlanta, atlanta artist, black and white, bowdoin college, brunswick, chamberlain, chamberlain museum, charcoal, civil war, dark, disability, disabled, disabled artist, downeast maine, drawing, fannie chamberlain, fanny chamberlain, fundraiser, genealogy, georgia, georgia artist, gettysburg, graphite, hero, heroes, historical preservation, historical restoration, history, illustration, illustrator, jeff daniels, jewett, joshua chamberlain, joshua l chamberlain, joshua lawrence chamberlain, landscape, maine, military, night, pejepscot history center, pencil, pencil drawing, portrait, portrait drawing, quadriplegic, sketchbook, sketching, southern artist, travel, victorian, video, vintage, war, wheelchair, youtube Leave a comment

Spineless Stanley Hazard (And Other Adventures)

There may come a time when I can look Jonathan Frakes in the eye and have a conversation without turning tomato red and losing track of basic language skills. This past week wasn’t that time.

But we’re getting closer!

We have to start way back in 1987 when the Civil War led me to the Final Frontier. I watched the second part of a huge miniseries called North and South that actually began in 1985, but I don’t remember seeing it then. I was pretty young and going through some rough things in my family. The important thing is North & South had a character called Stanley Hazard played by (drum roll, please) Jonathan Frakes, seen here in Book III in 1994. At the same time that he was making Book I and II of North & South, he was also starting to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Presto! I followed “the guy with the blue eyes and the chin dimple” (quickly covered by a Civil War-appropriate beard) from the 19th century to the 24th century when I wasn’t interested in sci-fi at the time.

That’s love, folks.

Most of you know me enough by now to understand that I was born with a desperate need for connection to 19th century American history, so me as a child watching a giant Civil War miniseries, despite its major historical costuming flaws, isn’t that unusual. When Jonathan Frakes narrated a documentary called Lee & Grant a few years ago, I lost my mind when I heard his voice and had to pause the TV long enough to tell everybody in my house. I’m just like that. It’s part of my charm.

Last year, I met Jonathan Frakes when my friend invited me on the Star Trek cruise. Let’s revisit that glorious moment.

He did a Q&A that week and walked right by me because I was too chicken to ask a non-Star Trek question. What I really wanted to know was whether he did any preparation to play a villainous puppet like Stanley Hazard, whether he has interest in the Civil War period in real life, etc. Stuff that matters to me, not that Commander Riker isn’t a fantastic character. Trust me – I wouldn’t kick Riker out for eating cookies in bed. But I’m so invested in American history that I went to college for it before I got too sick to continue. Rooting out other people interested in American history is my stock and trade. So after the Q&A where I remained silent last year, I silently resolved to have North & South art autographed this year just for myself.

That brings us to last week. I boarded the cruise ship armed with unfinished Stanley Hazard art and sequestered myself in a corner of the pool deck to work on it before our ship even left port. They don’t tell you when autographs are right away and I was afraid there wouldn’t be time to finish it. Portraiture is my business, you see. I was swamped with orders well beyond Christmas and I barely had time to sketch out Stanley’s bewildered, resentful face before I left for the cruise. So I had to work on the ship in between activities.

Here’s how the progress went.

At home:

On the cruise:

How did it turn out? In my opinion … meh. My problem with it was the rolling, rocking ship and the unfamiliar surroundings. I need my little artist habitat to do my best work, although I did enjoy people coming by on the pool deck to tell me they liked it.

One of the crew people on the ship in particular spent quite a while talking to me about my art. I told her all about Jonathan Frakes and showed her what he looked like in the present so she could spot him when she met him. Every time I saw her after that, she had intel for me like, “Oh hi! Mr. Frakes up in VIP lounge now,” (she was Asian, I think, so English was a little tough) or, “Ah, it’s you, Miss Frakes Girl. You see him yet? You finish your art?” She even showed me the photo she took with him one night in that VIP lounge. I never asked for the intel but she was fun. Like, really, what was I going to do? Sneak into a place I wasn’t allowed to go? That’s not cool.

Yet I did see Jonathan every day on the ship. Most of the time he saw me too, but there were a few times when he was engrossed in talking to other people or headed somewhere fast (someone with legs that long moves much faster than I do) and I just didn’t want to be a bother. I ran into him immediately on my way to breakfast on the first day at sea. A big smile came over him and he rubbed my arm and spoke familiar greetings. I hadn’t had my coffee yet but that was a better wake up than caffeine. If you’ve ever been the target of his real smile, you know what I mean. I couldn’t believe it seemed like he remembered me.

The oddest thing was that we ended up on the same tender boat headed out to Grand Cayman. A zillion boats going back and forth all day and we ended up on the same one just a few rows apart. I don’t think he ever saw me since he was with his friends and I kept to myself out of equal parts politeness and shyness. You will have seen a photo of him snorkeling that day on Twitter. He went out there to see stingrays. As soon as I got off the tender, I went the opposite direction as him. Again, I didn’t want to be a bother.

It got better from there. He always had a big smile for me when we saw each other and said things like, “There she is,” or used kind endearments like “my dear” and the like.

Apparently one night while I was trying to find Jonathan’s photo op line, Jason Isaacs very nearly bumped into me and said hello but I never noticed him. So naturally my brother, who loves Jason Isaacs, made fun of me for the rest of the night and swore he was going to tell Jonathan that I was so laser focused on him that I completely missed Jason right in front of me. He never ratted me out. I think he values his life too much. But he might have had a point. Let’s be real. I spent a lot of time looking for a dress that made me feel like a lady to wear in my photo op. I didn’t say that, of course, but I was hoping Jonathan would notice it. He has to be a mind reader or he sincerely meant it because he said, “Beautiful dress,” without being prompted. The photo here is me strolling the pool deck after seeing him. I look drunk. I swear I wasn’t. I rarely get compliments from men that aren’t followed up by unsolicited photos of nude genitalia or being propositioned to send my own nude photos, so it was a moment.

I don’t fit in this century if we’re honest about it.

The autograph session for Jonathan was close to the end of the cruise, so I had plenty of time to finish my North and South art. I never could get it the way I wanted because of poor lighting and total exhaustion on my part. If you’ve never traveled with me, then you won’t know how much pain I go through every day. I don’t like to dwell on it in the moment, which means someone like Jonathan won’t ever see me suffer. The more I smile, the more my body hurts. Traveling causes more pain and more pain causes my artistic skills to decline. You guys probably can’t see it in Stanley’s finished art, but I can see exactly where my physical struggles overrode my creative drive.

However, Jonathan sincerely seemed to like what I did. I was terrified standing in line because people say he can be indifferent or cold sometimes. They say that about Michael Dorn too. My worst fear was him mumbling hi, how are you, scribbling his name, and moving on to the next person. The reward for an artist isn’t money at all but the fulfillment we get from seeing our work touch another person, especially if they are the muse. I really wasn’t expecting back flips, mind you. I just dreaded feeling passed over.

So Jonathan’s handler took the art first and got very excited over it. She asked to take a photo and she said he was going to love it. I have no idea what she did with the photo but I hope she liked it. When my turn came, he gave me that smile and said, “There she is!” as if he’d been expecting me. He took the art from his handler and he didn’t say anything for a second while I chewed a hole in my lip in abject terror. Then looked over the paper at me and said with a grin, “Spineless Stanley Hazard!” Relief flooded my body and I burst into laughter. He spent time studying my art and saying, “This is so great.” I wanted to say that North and South brought me over to Star Trek TNG through him but I was starting to fall into the dumb, speechless, tomato red thing I do around him. Luckily he was busy trying to plan how and where he was going to sign the art to notice that I was starting to freeze.

When he asked for my name and started to write the J, his eyes slid over to mine and he said, “Don’t you have three names?” It took me a second to realize he probably meant my name on Twitter. I’m listed as Jessica Jewett Jones @JJ9828 on Twitter so people who read my books or buy my art as well as people who know me in real life can find me (Jones is my legal name, Jewett is my name for books and art). I don’t know if he saw the panic alarms going off in my head. He never replies to people, so I figured he didn’t read his tweets. I have a have a habit of live tweeting Riker-centric Star Trek episodes. I express Beardo love on @swear_trek too. Twitter has to be the only place he’d see me with “three names” unless he has a secret Instagram account.

Who knows what kinds of embarrassing tweets he’s seen when I thought he wasn’t looking? Oh well. I never truly say anything online that I wouldn’t want the rest of the world to see. You just never know who’s watching. It’s fine for him to know that the Riker Maneuver in the movie (or generally Riker in combat command) turns me into one of those Victorian women in need of smelling salts. You know what? I own it. Still, I was teased the rest of the night for being busted.

I don’t know if photos in the autograph line were exactly kosher but my brother was behind me and he knew how important that night was to me. He discreetly took a few photos while Jonathan and I were talking. Hopefully we won’t get in trouble for this since it wasn’t done obnoxiously.

All joking aside, after Jonathan signed my art and handed it back to my brother (bonus points to him for knowing I can’t hold objects in my hands without being told), he caught my eye and got serious to say something to the effect of, “It’s always a pleasure to see you. Always.” It was a crowded atrium and I was honestly overwhelmed. But he made a point to make me feel valued and wanted. That meant everything to me.

Here’s the finished art with his autograph.

The next time we bumped into each other was unexpectedly at Brent Spiner’s theater show. My brother saw him sitting in my row on the other side of the theater, which was cool, but I wasn’t going to approach him. I never approach him, in fact. I just wait to see if he notices me and he usually does. He spotted me as he was walking by and he called out, “Hey, baby!” and blew a kiss at me with his whole hand. Nope, I can’t tell you what songs Spiner sang for a big part of the show after that. And for most of the second half of the show, while Spiner sang love songs, Jonathan sat right across the aisle from me and it took all of my internal fortitude to stay focused on the show.

I had hoped to catch him one more time on the last day to thank him for being so lovely to me all week. That never happened. I slept in late and then I spent the afternoon with my brother at the bar above the pool deck, ironically not drinking any alcohol. It was just a nice place to sit and watch the world go by.

There were so many other great things that happened on my trip, like Gates McFadden accidentally shoving my chair into Wil Wheaton, but it’s all too much to write in one blog. I mainly composed this one for myself so I could remember the things that were most important to me. If you found it interesting and made it to the end, you’re the kind of person I want to know and I thank you for hanging out here. I think I might do more North and South art once I’m not so buried in commissions too. We’ll see.

Yes, I am going on the Star Trek cruise next year as long as Jonathan Frakes will be there. I’d probably go even if he wasn’t there since it’s my friend Wendy who buys my passage, but he makes it so much more fun for me. And maybe I’ll figure out how to stop blushing like a virgin and say something more intelligent than hi and thank you. That’s really irritating me. I’m a 36-year-old woman who has had almost two dozen surgeries, a dozen broken bones, I’m a domestic abuse survivor, I’m more than a decade sober, and I can’t stand women that get all shy and silent around men. I’m a goddamn warrior! I can handle a 6’4 man like a queen! Next year, I’m going to blow his socks off with my charm and intelligence. He’ll go home and tell Genie Francis how awesome I am (ha!)

Next year’s autograph art? Will Riker vs Thomas Riker. So mote it be.

Oh, PS, it’s Wendy who has the photo ops and she’s in the middle of moving house during a snow storm. I’ll update this blog when she sends me the photo ops. In the meantime, go ahead and follow my social media at the bottom of this blog for more photos and my latest art projects.

Star Trek the Cruise 2019, signing off. Back to real life.

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January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 by Jessica Jewett Categories: Artist In The Wild, Historical, VideosTags: 19th century, american civil war, art, art commissions, arthrogryposis, artist, atlanta artist, black and white, charcoal, civil war, commander riker, cruise, disability, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, fan art, fanart, genie francis, georgia artist, graphite, history, jonathan frakes, north and south, pencil, pencil drawing, portrait, portrait drawing, southern artist, stanley hazard, star trek, star trek cruise, star trek tng, travel, victorian, video, william riker 1 Comment

That Was A Plot Twist

Yeah, it’s been a minute since I last posted a blog. A lot has been going on, though!

This piece of art on the left completely changed everything for me a few months ago (see more art at the bottom of this blog). A new client approached me and asked for a spirit guide reading, and then, after seeing that I’m an artist too, she asked if I could do a portrait of her guide. Now, I should say that I’ve done a couple of these in the distant past but I never had adequate help to keep up with it. A quality personal attendant matters a lot when you’re a quadriplegic artist. That’s an entirely different discussion, however. Needless to say, producing a continuous stream of new art has become infinitely easier in the last couple of years since I’ve gotten better quality help and longer attendant hours.

Back to this spirit guide order. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go initially because doing it in the past was really tough on me. But when I agreed to try it, I found out that it was just as rewarding for me as it was for my client. I didn’t tell my attendant exactly what the art commission was for right away even though she knows I communicate with the dead and she has a history of root workers in her own family. For some reason, it’s a lot easier to tell strangers in a blog what I’m doing than a person sitting at my desk with me.

The process is more involved than ordinary art, as one might guess. I have to see the client through a photo (or in person, but that hasn’t happened yet) in order to make the connection with their guide. And guides don’t communicate verbally at all, whereas most spirits still going through the reincarnation cycle are at least willing to verbally communicate once in a while. The natural method of communication for all spirits, human or not, is mostly sensation through emotion or visual images. They can also cause smells, tastes, etc. Most mediums like me develop a visual language. For example, if a spirit is directing me to the Civil War, I’ll see my Gettysburg DVD cover, or if a spirit is trying to convey romantic love, it’ll be a flower bouquet, or the sensation of an old quilt for family love.

Spirit guides are a little more different than those still going through the reincarnation cycle in that they’re more advanced and their frequency is higher. Frequencies are like tuning in a radio. The bad entities (for me) are metaphorically on the low end of the dial, ordinary souls going through life like you and me are in the middle, and the advanced spirits who no longer reincarnate like guides and healers are on the high end. I used to have trouble establishing a useful link with spirit guides because high frequency spirits are hard to hear, so to speak.

This Crete woman was like learning how to do this work with training wheels. I was taught to use reference photos and how to feel out which ones are right for that spirit because doing art completely from scratch would be too stressful. Now that I’m working on my fifth commission, I see she was right. Reference photos give me a base that I can change as the spirit requires. So far, they’re all okay with my working method. This Crete woman came from a model I found online, except her clothes and hairstyle weren’t right. She wasn’t like what the guide was showing me. I began doing research on historical art from Crete and I found the correct way to do things. Still, most of the women had exposed breasts in this period. My client’s guide indicated that naked breasts hanging on a wall wasn’t going to work in this period, so I was told to cover them.

As I began posting drawing progress on Instagram, I noticed my likes and viewership started climbing. So I told people what I was doing. It wasn’t just an art commission. It was spirit communication channeled through art. My viewership went way up again when I finally came clean about it. Before I even finished the Crete portrait and mailed it to my client, I had arranged four more art commissions privately. I was stunned. Over a year of toiling away at my art to try and make some money, and then suddenly working with spirits opened so many more doors for me.

The funny thing is people have been asking for art based on their past lives as well. It’s fairly simple to alter the working process I use to do spirit guide portraits. Instead of connecting to an outside entity, I’m connecting to the client’s subconscious memories just like I’ve been doing in written readings for years.

Here are some of the other spirit art commissions I’ve done since then. Click on them to see them in detail.

Portrait of a spirit known as The Apple Picker. Graphite and charcoal on cardstock. 2018.

Portrait of a client’s past life known as Ella Starr. Graphite and charcoal on cardstock. 2018.

Portrait of a client’s spirit guide known as Elk Woman. Graphite and charcoal on cardstock. 2018.

Right now I’m all out of room in my schedule to make Christmas as a deadline. To be honest, I probably have enough work to reach March at this point. Isn’t that insane? I went from a fair amount of print sales to being very overwhelmed by my workload.

This is such satisfying work for me even if my family and friends are starting to say the “ghost stuff” in the house is getting out of hand. A few weeks ago, while I was doing past life work connected to John Wilkes Booth, one of my kitchen drawers completely flew out of the slot and skidded across the floor. Now the drawer is broken and won’t fit in the slot right. People are hearing voices and footsteps in my house too. It’s par for the course in my life to attract the dead but it’s getting crowded enough that people without a breath of extrasensory ability are feeling them in and around my house. Nothing is dangerous, though. I just need to re-establish spiritual boundaries around my property.

This work is good. This work is right. I’m making the greater universe tangible for people and that matters a lot to me.

If you’d like to get your own art commission, here’s the link: Custom Portrait of Your Spirit Guide or Past Life (8 1/2 x 11) on Etsy.

They are $85.00 US plus shipping and handling. Please be advised that I’m definitely booked through the end of January 2019 right now. Since I do the art on a first come, first serve basis, there is no better time to buy one than another. Just go ahead and get your spot in line.

I love this work so much! I can’t even describe how fulfilling it is to keep this link open to different people who have walked so many different places on this earth. It’s really opening my eyes as much as it is the people who ask me to do this for them.

Who knew this was where my work would lead? It certainly was a plot twist.

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November 26, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: Darker ArtTags: american civil war, art, art commissions, arthrogryposis, artist, atlanta, atlanta artist, black and white, charcoal, commissions, dark, disability, disabled, disabled artist, graphite, history, intuitive, john wilkes booth, medium, past life, past lives, pencil, pencil drawing, portrait, portrait drawing, psychic, reincarnation, southern artist, spirit guide, spirit guides, spirits, spooky 2 Comments

Struggling With the Witch Cottage Series

I had the bright idea in the autumn to start a series of highly detailed, realistic pencil drawings of domestic scenes based around my concept of how a witch lived during colonial America. It’s sort of fantasy, sort of ancestral reality, and altogether original. My goal was to complete one in time for each of the four seasons. Loosely, they would be themed around Samhain, the winter solstice (Yule to some), Imbolc into Ostara, and Beltane into Lughnasadh.

I have completed Samhain and Yule so far. I think Samhain was fairly easy because I hadn’t yet decided to make it a full series, so I wasn’t feeling any pressure. Samhain is my favorite period of the year too. I can whip out art along the themes in that season with my eyes closed. Take a look at the one that started my bright idea.

Witch Cottage No. 1:

5×7 print on Etsy for $10.00
11×17 print on Etsy for $20.00
ORIGINAL PIECE SOLD

I’m really proud of that one. People often send me messages asking if I intentionally hid images in the fire or in the shelf. I didn’t, of course, but I adore the idea of people seeing things in my art that speak to them. It means I somehow tapped into some amazing creative energy.

Then I decided I would do it again. A story began to form in my mind because I spent so much time with the first piece and everybody loved it so much. I had to restock it three times, which has never happened in my little shop with another piece of art. The story took shape for a more formal room designed around the winter solstice, which doesn’t look very different from Christmas. The trouble was I tried to finish a major piece of art during the real holidays. I ran out of time! It was tough to balance home life with my artistic ambitions and I had to learn a tough lesson about best laid plans. Witch Cottage No. 2 wasn’t finished until after the solstice.

Witch Cottage No. 2:

5×7 print on Etsy for $10.00
11×17 print on Etsy for $20.00
ORIGINAL PIECE on Etsy for $180.00

But I finished it and I think the challenge was good for me. I changed up my usual way of setting up a composition for domestic scenes. Everything was done to historical specifications regarding colonial America while adding subtle hints that a witch lives in that home. I had trouble though. It was tough to keep my perspective points straight and I still think I couldn’t get those points exactly right. One point perspective I’ve mastered pretty well but two point perspective or more still wreaks havoc on my dyslexia.

Still I’m pressing onward to new challenges. At the moment, I’m working on the third piece in my Witch Cottage series centered around the rebirth and renewed light during the period of Imbolc into Ostara. I had the fabulous idea of a greenhouse scene to show where the witch in this artistic story grows her plants, flowers, and herbs.

Again, I’ve run into delays and the sacred days have already come and gone. This time it was my health. Chronic pain is a companion to my disability and I had to have an invasive procedure this spring. I might even be looking at surgery this year too. So I’m doing my best to be kinder to myself about missing my self-imposed deadline because this is not something that could have been avoided.

Let’s take a look at my work-in-progress of Witch Cottage No. 3, shall we?

I’m not sure how much you can decipher about what’s going on in this piece but you’re looking at the interior of a greenhouse. There are drying herbs strung across the top. A table and chairs are in the middle with a bench on the right. Through the open door will be a glimpse of the outside as well. I’m planning to set up an Imbolc altar on the table and maybe hide an ewe outside somewhere. We’ll see where things take me as I go. This one has been daunting because I rarely draw plants, but I’ve been practicing in other sketchbooks.

Of course, since I’ve made it this far, I can’t stop now. I don’t really want to stop either. I did not, however, believe I was going to be so challenged by this project. Once I’m done with Witch Cottage No. 4 in a few months (I haven’t yet decided how to depict summertime), I’ll be able to sit back and enjoy the fact that I succeeded at a challenge I set before myself almost six months ago.

Don’t get stagnate in your art. If you’re not feeling challenged, or you’re not slightly nervous about your work, then you’re not developing your skills. An artist needs constant growth in order to experience life at its fullest. Sometimes being nervous is a good thing because it makes your accomplishments all the more potent and special.

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April 3, 2018June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: Darker ArtTags: art, artist, atlanta, autumn, charcoal, christmas, disabled artist, drawing, easter, georgia, graphite, halloween, history, imbolc, inspiration, motivation, night, ostara, pagan, paganism, pencil, samhain, southern artist, spooky, summer, wicca, winter, witch, witchcraft, yule Leave a comment

Goals for 2018

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I do, however, believe in mapping out goals for the year and checking back every so often to see which ones get accomplished. A lot of these are related to art but some are about my writer life as well. Some combine the two halves of who I am. Still others are about personal growth, which we should all strive for on a daily basis.

In no particular order, here are my goals for 2018.

1. Finish novel Exile to the Water’s Edge.
2. Finish the Witch Cottage art series.
3. Teach online class about American witchcraft.
4. Be a better friend.
5. Begin paintings for art book about decaying plantations.
6. Learn embroidery and crochet.
7. Get better at cooking.
8. Visit more Civil War sites.
9. Work more on my family Grimoire.
10. Be brave and try public transportation.
11. Try acrylic painting again.
12. Continue work on book about my ghost encounters.
13. Remember to stop and breathe.
14. Take better care of my health.
15. Forgive myself more often.
16. Improve figure drawing skills.
17. Spend more time drawing from life.
18. Be braver about artistic subjects that matter to me.

I’ve already begun working on my goals about improving my skills and being braver about my subjects. This is my newest piece of art in my sketchbook completed just a few days ago. She is a reflection of myself in the 18th century using a photo of a living historian for reference but changed at my own discretion. This is brave for me because of the way I drew it and what materials I used. I think it turned out well.

What are your goals for 2018? Tell me about them in the comments.

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December 30, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: UncategorizedTags: art, art book, artist, atlanta, book, charcoal, colored pencil, dark, disability, disabled, drawing, gallery, graphite, historical fiction, history, illustration, illustrator, ink, novel, oil painting, oils, old south, pagan, paganism, painting, pencil, plantation, sketchbook, sketching, southern artist, southern gothic, watercolor, wicca, witch, witchcraft, writer, writing Leave a comment

Finding my darker niche. Let’s talk about authenticity.

It’s been a little while since I last blogged (except for my Arteza brush pen review earlier this week!) but it’s all for a good reason. In the last couple of months, I’ve been working very hard building my artistic style. Almost by accident, I discovered that I’m great at expressing ideas and aesthetics related to my spiritual path as a pagan woman.

I’ve been tapping into my spirituality to create more interesting art and touching the deeper, more authentic part of myself has resulted in more self-fulfillment. It happened because I was starting to feel my creativity dry up and that’s a dangerous thing for any artist. Part of me was starting to fall into the trap of creating what I thought people wanted instead of engaging the people who find passion in the same things I do. I thought I was simply taking time to make art that I care about without any plan for engaging people. As it turns out, I’ve engaged many more people because I’m showing more of who I am. Authenticity is what makes an artist great. I’ve found that an artist can have all the technical skills in the world, which I certainly don’t, but it won’t mean anything unless the creative process comes from a real, true place inside.

In August, I was reading about the Otherworld in ancient Irish tradition, which is (without going too deep) the old Irish interpretation of the afterlife. Ancestor worship is a big part of my spiritual tradition. I’m one of those people who enjoys visiting cemeteries – the older the better! – and I think some of the most beautiful places are where we honor our dead. That led to creating this piece. It sold within fifteen minutes of posting that it was finished and (maybe) there will come prints out of it. All because I decided to try making art that was interesting to me!

The Cemetery At Night, Jessica Jewett — The Cemetery At Night is 11×14 on mixed media paper, drawn in black charcoal, white charcoal, and graphite pencil.

Is it perfect? No. I think what people responded to the most was the way I showed my passion for what I was doing, and that’s something to think about for any artist.

So I tried it again. My next project for most of September was something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Since we’re getting close to the Halloween season (Samhain for me), I’ve been watching a lot of witchy movies like Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic, and The Craft. I find the fictional witch aesthetic really fun and I’ve been feeling the urge to add my own contributions to that image.

I came up with a witchy hearth based on 18th century colonial homes. Like, how would a witch decorate her cottage in the colonial frontier? I thought most of his or her belongings would be functional to their craft but even functional things have their beauty. Improving my skills in drawing different textures has been more fun because I enjoyed the subject. I learned a lot about the texture of wood, stone, fabric, and the need to maintain good one-point perspective.

The Witch's Cottage, Jessica Jewett — The Witch’s Cottage is 11×14 and it was done on mixed media paper, drawn with charcoal pencil and graphite pencil.

Once again, this piece sold within minutes of completion. I was shocked! A lot of my audience has been finding things in this piece that I never intentionally placed but I don’t dare mess with those things now. People tell me most often that they see a face in the hearth fire, while others say they see the silhouette of a witch in the shadows in the back of the second shelf.

Beginning this journey into doing art that I thought was only interesting to me has been an eye-opening experience. It’s fun for me to do pieces with a lot of detail and show imagery related to my spirituality while combining it with occasional fun and fantasy, and especially history. This is who I am and I was afraid of showing it for so long.

That’s the moral of this story. You may find yourself falling into the same people-pleaser trap if you’re not careful. Things you create might be what’s popular or trendy at the moment and you may produce technically beautiful things but there will always be something missing. It’s almost a sixth sense thing with the people looking at your art. If they don’t “smell” your soul on it, they’re not going to be as responsive to what you’re offering as an artist, writer, musician, or whatever it is that you do.

But the second you allow your personal authenticity to come though, people will start engaging with you even more. My darker themes or pagan themes certainly won’t appeal to a wide audience but the people out there who are like me will and do respond at a much higher rate.

No matter how odd you think you are, there are always people like you. Be yourself.

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September 27, 2017June 17, 2018 by Jessica Jewett Categories: Darker ArtTags: atlanta, cemetery, charcoal, cottage, dark, disabled, disabled artist, drawing, graphite, halloween, night, pagan, paganism, pencil, samhain, spooky, wicca, witch, witchcraft 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

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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

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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

Progress on my 2nd Gone With the Wind drawing

Here’s the progress on my second piece of Gone With the Wind fan art. I started this one when I was a student in 1998 and I recently found it after thinking it was lost. I’m not done yet but I’m getting there. I have to redo Rhett’s hands and finish both of their clothes. Also I’ve erased Gable’s ear like four times and it’s still not right. Ugh! But still. I’m making progress. This picture is REALLY hard to do because it’s so big and I’m doing it with the tools in my mouth due to disability. I’ll be very happy to get it finished though. It’s been 20 damn years!

Gone With the Wind art — Begun in 1998. Resumed in 2017. Done in charcoal and graphite on drawing paper.

If you’d like to see a video of this drawing in it’s current state, click here.