Creativity jail , being a grown up and the purples....

 

…This may sound dramatic, but this is how I feel when I have the need to create, and I can’t. Why can’t I ,you ask? Well, according to the above, I guess I have the blues also.

Which makes me purple? Yes...I have a case of the Purples….

 

I have decided that I’m not really digging this whole being an adult thing. I mean, how does one get everything they need to get done in a day…done?

 

In the past week or so, I’m afraid I do not have any art to share with you…

As you all know, I am a mountain biker’s wife and a BMX mom… so ‘tis the season of traveling to races, some days we do a race then get right in the van and drive an hour to the next one… I basically live the life of a rock star, expect we do not get paid… we actually have to pay to do it. lol.

Anyway, I did get the sketchbook for this reason and I will be taking it with me to sketch when I can. However, on top of this traveling I need  to get house stuff done, I have a huge project for work where I am getting to use my own art (this is kind of exciting...but very time consuming ), have to get my regular work stuff done AND I have noticed lately that I have not used any of my time to work on ME. so I’ll be taking a little break to do that….. Trust me…. I NEED to….

 

Actually, when it came down to dividing my time I have always had the same issue…. In the little amount of time I can put aside for me…. I always had to decide if I wanted to use that time to work on my art OR exercise… After a little trip to my sister’s house last week, and taking a “before” picture for a fitness challenge I am starting…. The picture pretty much decided my fate… lol. I definitely need to take a short break to create ME, and then get back into the art…. The thing that sucks though? …to actually be sad and grossed out over you own image hurts like hell, but for me…. So does not having the time to get all the inspired images out of my head to where you can see them too…actually, on my way to work this morning I was listening to "A song I wrote for you" and had an amazing idea ... But I know that today there will be NO time. That kills me. Like, for real... 

A co worker's solution for me was "stop listening to Lee then, then you won't get ideas.." Um yeah sure... How about you hold your breath for several days... Lol cause that's the same thing!!! Lol no way can I do that.... It's kinda essential. 

 

So… Last night I started an intense workout program with my husband and his friend and it will last for the next 90 days…. I will still be sketching and hopefully painting… just not nearly as much…which seriously, the thought makes me so sad.... When you have to hold things like emotions, ideas, etc in... It's hard.... 

 

I’m asking that you do not forget about the art and blog because I will not be posting everyday or so… I promise though I WILL still be posting and sharing my ideas with ya.

 

Love,

Jenn

Real life vs LeeLand.... What's the diffrence?

 

 

Hello everyone!

So I am still in sketching mode, I am a little behind on my “sketch a day for 2014”but not by much! However, I have had time to do an actual painting… on actual canvas! (not gonna lie… it felt good) This painting “Again” was inspired by one of Lee’s newer songs of the same title

 

 

The background is an actual map that I distressed and mod podged it down on the canvas before painting my image. This painting is a large scale piece… 12” x 36”.  I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. Applying the map & mod podge and waiting to dry bit took a few days…. But the actual painting part only took about 15-20 min. There is still some detail to go back in and do, but it’s finished enough to share with you. I hope you love it, I do!

 

As always, I am constantly searching for the perfect explanation on why I paint/ sketch what I do. I am constantly asked by people (outside the Lee Fandom)…Do you ever paint anything else? Are you obsessed? What is so special about this guy’s music? And the same worry that I am limiting myself as an artist… but only painting things inspired by Lee DeWyze music.  I’d like to try and explain this again to those that don’t get it. First I will tell you that although I can draw, I don’t nessesarily have the “need” to do it unless I am inspired. Having said that, I have also been asked why I do not draw Owen, or things like that? Don’t THEY inspire you? This is the part that is hard to explain…. I love my family more than anything in the world. I have an amazing husband and son… I love them dearly, they always come first … but it’s different. When I think of them , my heart is filled with love, joy and happiness… the wishy washy love kind. They are my world.

But when I am feeling inspired…. That feels totally different…. When I am listening to music, as soon as I hear Lee’s voice and lyrics… it’s almost like a physical reaction that just comes out of nowhere and hits you. All these ideas just start coming to me, it’s like I can see the songs perfectly through closed eyes and I’m just filled with this excitement that it needs to be brought to life ASAP! This feeling is obviously stirred up while listening to the music, but a lot of times It comes to me in the middle of the night, keeping me awake. Trust me, I have NEVER had this happen to me before, so I am fully aware that it sounds over the top, but that's what happens. I'd probably think the same thing if it weren’t actually happening to me.

 

Since it is so important to me to find the right words to describe this, I was talking to Sarah Bates, an AMAZING blogger/ Author. She does the “Teaspoon of Happy” articles for HelloGiggles in Sundays. She always just has the perfect words for anything she is trying to explain to you and has been a huge help to me with a lot of things. (I ADORE her!!, she is amazing.. you should go read her work!!!)

You can read some of her work here: http://hellogiggles.com/dream-dream

 So I asked for her advice. I explained to Sarah the point I was trying to get across and she asked me, “Why is it inspiring? It's whatever stirs you deep within - some echo of a shared emotion or truth? Or just an artist that shares your exact wavelength so you hear their voice in super-surround sound. Almost like channeling…” 

Umm.. YES…. To ALL of that! That is EXACTLY what it feels like… it’s weird and I know I’ll never be able to fully explain it...but that's pretty close . Just to prove and echo what she asked me, I think I told this story before but last summer I could not sleep because I could not stop thinking about an idea for 2 paintings. It got so bad that I actually woke up in the middle of the night, sketched my two ideas & wrote out my notes and went back to bed. In the morning, I saw that Lee had tweeted almost around the same time that he could not sleep and was up writing… ooohhh…. queue the Twilight Zone music… Those two paintings were for “Fire Away” (Which I actually gave the original to Lee) and “You don’t know me”.

 

Last week, Lee was on vacation, so I did a bit of an experiment… I do not know if it was because I know vacation meant he was not writing songs snd creating ,etc… lol.. but I totally went into a creative funk… it was like I could not draw, it was weird, like I had this super power that was taken away… So I spent the week doing sketches of things that were not Lee-related… but ones that have special places in my heart:

1) A portrait of my husband and son: pretty much self explanatory. I love them with all my heart, and capped it off with a song by the Roots. “Lovey love my family”... How fitting ...

2) My cat. Although I am allergic to him…he is a kick ass cat. He thinks he is a dog, he is obsessed with me and I with him… lol… even if you hate cats, trust me… you’d love him….that is him sitting on my sketchbook because he gets jealous

3) “The Drinking Girl” by Edward McCarton- This is a statue that is on display at our local museum. I have been fascinated by it since I was little. No matter what exhibit we are going to see, I always make time to go visit her….

4) Owen on his BMX bike- My son is 6 ½ years old and is a master BMXer. Between his racing and my husband’s racing,that is all we do. We basically live rock star lives with all our travel. Lol…

5) The logo for the Stone Cat Café… my FAVORITE restaurant in the world. Seriously, out of all the nice, expensive and fancy places I’ve ever eaten…. I’ll always choose this tiny, converted old chicken coup. It’s located on Seneca Lake in upstate New York. Not only is the food amazing… it has emotional attachment for me…. It’s a super special place.

 6) my grandmother's house; the house I grew up in. It's the place I always felt the safest in, it's the place I felt the most "me", similar to the state I'm in when I'm bringing Lee's songs to life, and in the words of Miranda Lambert... It's "the house that built me". 

So since I was in this funk last week… I tried to fill that little void with sketching the things I love in real life. Almost trying to keep me grounded, ya know? I'm fully aware that I let the Lee stuff carry me away a bit. It did help though- They are all things that make me smile.  The sketches came out great I thought… they are embodying everything I love in my life…but again, they invoked that gentle loving feeling in my heart… not that spark of pure inspiration that induces the NEED to create…. Does anyone understand what I mean? Have you ever felt like this about something…. I know I said it before, but I just feel like this is what I have to do…like I am meant to do it. It’s not something that I can make a career with (unless of course I can get paid to ONLY paint Lee art) lol… I just feel I have to do it and when I can’t, it makes me sad and anxious.

I told myself I'd not write a book here, but I'll end with this... Mare actually broke it down to the simplest explanation... That makes so much sense ...(duh Jenn,face palm) the reason the Lee inspired art feels do different is because I'm creating them... I'm turning the music, my thoughts , feelings and daydreams Into something you can see also. I'm giving those things life. Those other sketches , of the things that I love more than anything? Those things already exist, they have a visual that I'm merely copying...as she put it (brilliantly I might add) " It's creation vs copying. Concrete versus abstract. Imagination versus still life. The outside world versus what you alone feel." I love my friends , it feels good to know there are people that just "get it" 

-Jenn 

Happy Birthday Lee DeWyze!!

Today’s sketch is a Birthday gift to Lee. Happy Birthday!!!!!!

 

Lee, I saw this picture of your grandfather posted by Mike and wanted to sketch it so that you and your family had something amazing to remember him by. When you have something that kickass in your family tree… you’re gonna want to cherish it. Happy Birthday, I hope you love it!

 

Did you guys know that Lee’s grandfather was a relief pitcher for the Phillies in the 1940’s?

Mike DeWyze, Lee’s brother posted a picture back in the beginning of March and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I LOVE old vintage pictures and baseball… so I asked if he’d mind if I sketched it. I have to tell you, this turned out to be by far, my favorite out of anything I’ve ever done… so Lee, I hope you like it and I hope you have an amazing day! Happy Birthday!

 

** Isn’t it insane how much Lee looked like him???

 

I am so honored to have been able to do this sketch for so many reasons. Obviously first and foremost, I’m honored that I was able to capture something so special for the DeWyze family. I mean, it’s an amazing picture and how awesome is it to say that your grandfather played in the MLB… for the Phillies even? (if you haven’t noticed by now, I am a huge baseball fan and have always been a devoted, loyal Phillies fan…even on bad days!)

 

This is also special to me though for a few reasons… I love to be able to do something that makes others happy, especially for Lee,who’s music & inspiration helped me find "me" again. I finally have an outlet & purpose for my talent and that is pretty awesome. I can honestly say that, having the ability to create art pretty much meant nothing to me until now, and people "get it"... It's an amazing feeling. 

For those of you that know me…you know that themost important things I hold dearest to my heart are my family,my art/inspiration, Lee’s music, horror movies and the Phillies…. So far… because of Lee, I have been able to incorporate all of these things at one point into my art. As you have seen in past posts about my relationship with my grandmother, she was my best friend, mother and roommate…however, my grandfather passed away when I was in 7th grade, and let me just tell you… there are no words to describe the relationship I had with him. Think about how much you love the most special and important person in your life and multiplythat by a million… that is how much I loved my pop-pop.

I was a tomboy, we bonded over Phillies baseball…. That was our thing. At one point, I was able to tell you every stat of every player… I was known to all his friends as “Charlie’s girl”, he practically took me home from the hospital when I was born and just never gave me back. Lol. I love him with all my heart….. So doing this portrait of Lee’s grandfather just brought back so many memories and feelings. If he were alive today for me to show him this and then to hear how it ties in with something that has been such a huge inspiration to me…he would be beyond excited and proud. He was extremely proud of my artistic ability back then and my baseball knowledge lol. …It’s kind of fascinating to think that being the fan he was… my grandfather probably knew who Deacon Donahue was. Smallworld, huh? Again… the circle of inspiration emerges and it ALWAYS starts with Lee… just say’in…ALWAYS.

 

So enough about my reasons for wanting to draw this…. This is for Lee, Mike and the rest of their family to have as a keepsake. Thank you for inspiring me, Thank you for being an amazing person and by being so supportive & appreciative of what I do…seeing your excitementwhen you look at the art is probably the best feedback I could ever ask for.

        Again, Happy Birthday Lee!!!!

 

-Jenn

 

Beauty can be found in the darkest moments ...

Hello everyone. This post is going to be about two sketches and how they come together full circle for me… and of course Lee’s AMAZING new song, “Blackbird Song” that was the perfect way to start and end the last episode of “The Walking Dead”. Everything I am writing towards today goes hand in hand I think. ….

 

First off, all of you know by now know that about 99.9% of my inspiration comes from Lee, his music, lyrics and of course you guys. I found some new inspiration a couple weeks ago on Instagram. Have you ever heard of Urbanex ? aka Urban exploration:(often shortened as urbex or UE) is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not usually seen components of the man-made environment.

 

I never heard of this before finding the work of this amazing photographer on Instagram; @ingodwerust , her name is Mandi and you should go follow her work now…I’m totally obsessed with it! There were a couple of specific photos that caught my eye because they made we think of some of Lee’s lyrics, so I asked Mandi if I could sketch some of them. **you can also visit Mandi’s Esty shop:http://www.etsy.com/shop/InGodWeRust

 

I chose to sketch her Photo, “ComingHome”, as seen below:

I was already enchanted by this photo… I had a few lines of “Fight” in my head for it… until I showed Mare (I love telling mare my ideas because she just gets it right away and I love that…it catipults my excitement for the project at hand) ; she looked at it and just heard, “Again”:  “And I know it won’t be long, ‘til I pack my things and I’ll be gone”… She is a genius, as soon as she replied back with that line I was so excited. It fit perfectly…and that’s all I could hear when thinking of the visual in my head. Here is my interpretation of Mandi’s photo:

 

 

Now here is where the circle starts to connect… After posting this sketch the night before we heard Lee’s new phenomenal Song, “Blackbird Song”, I rec’d several messages about how the beginning line of the new song fit this sketch… and it really does…. “Pack your things and leave somehow…blackbird song is over now…”It’s actually so perfect, that it’s eerie and beautiful.

Later in the post, I’ll post the video for you to listen to the song while looking at the painting…. It really is hauntingly beautiful…almost mesmerizing.

 

The next night I was asking Mandi about the photos, and fell even more in love with this photo and everything about the whole concept of Urban Exploration after reading about how she finds these places, the stories behind them, etc.

Below the link is part of the actual story behind that suitcase picture, which is fascinating on it’s own, but then add the backdrop of “again” or “Blackbird Song”…it comes to life!

 

Listen to “Blackbird Song” here, courtesy of LeeDewyzeOffical:

http://youtu.be/Wbgb3lgMluA 

 

“It's sad to see such beautiful places fall into disrepair and just left forgotten, and the things that people have left behind like that suitcase you drew. That was left in a building that was a home for nurses that sat across from an abandoned hospital. It was filled with suitcases! I learned that the nurse’s home was left abandoned in the late 70's, but why were all the suitcases left behind?”

 

…I love that! Don’t you?? I really wanted to share that with you because I find it soooo fascinating… makes me want to be photography to go on a road trip to find these things…. Maybe someday ;-) I think it also ties it to the “Blackbird Song” because the image and the question of “why were they left there”… gives it an apocalyptic feel to me…Again it shocks people sometimes to learn that I am so in awe of dark things, horror and mysteries because I’m so nice and bubbly all the time… can’t explain it, I just love it.

 

Now… on to the Blackbird Song sketch…. This one is self explanatory... lol. I did this to post when telling people to tune in… that’s it… short and sweet. My way of advertising I guess… some people just need pictures…. Lol….  Although it was done before I watched the episode… so I had no idea Daryl would end up alone… lol… score one for me!

 

 

I will say that the song is truly amazing and I can not believe he kept this a secret because it’s a big deal! The Walking Dead have never used the same song in the beginning AND end of an episode. It’s stunning, haunting, beautiful, dark, astounding and I love everything about it. It was the perfect choice for Bob’s theme song. I’ve never heard such a perfectly scored scene. Bravo to everyone involved. I’m also excited to read all the gushing reviews from people...to read all the love, seeing people finally see what we have seen all along…. Proud of you Lee!  And thank you Walking Dead for a show that gave me two of my favorite things in one hour.

 

-Jenn 

Can't force what doesn't fit...

For those of you that don't know, I was raised by my grandparents . In 7th grade my grandfather passed away which left my grandmother and me...just the two of us. She was my mom, my best friend and my roommate until I moved out after art school. We talked about everything and she was brutally honest too, even if you didn't want to hear it. Lol. She passed away about 6 years ago and I think of her everyday. Last week I thought  of this sketch, of the puzzle pieces... She always used this puzzle analogy, you can't make a piece fit if it doesn't, no matter how well of intentions you have, or love, Etc. If you think about it... This fits in everything about life: a job, friends, love... No matter how much you love or good intentions you have for any of those things, no matter how much you may want something in your life... Just can't make that fit into the puzzle of your life ... I think that advice should be heard and taken by everyone. I wish I'd listened to her more, about my art.... Everything. I wish she was hear now to see how inspired I am and that I'm creating again.... She'd have me draw things for her and brag to her friends... But she never saw me truly inspired, me at my best... I wish I could show her, and talk to her about all kinds of things.... So this sketch is dedicated to her. 

While working on this, I had a million thoughts running through my head ( as always), and I couldnt stop thinking of "open your eyes".  Wow, those lyrics fit perfectly with my mindset while sketching  it...it also fit as almost a promise to fix the damage one causes my trying to cut that puzzle piece to fit where they THINK it belongs, "I'll put together what you tore apart ..." Crazy deep, right?!?! My original plan for "open your eyes" was going to be a self portrait for lots of reasons ... But I think this fits the song better. Whether you think of it from a personal angle, or whathing someone you care about cut those pieces to fit until their puzzle just isn't "them" anymore... 

I was discussing this with Mare because I can always count on her honest opinion and she seems to just "get me" and how I turn that into art... Her thoughts were right on: 

"Sometimes that last piece of the puzzle is your "self", your TRUE self. 

Ppl give pieces of themselves away kinda thing. But what if it's ruined? If it's cut like that picture, will you ever really be "YOU"?" 

I hope you like it and interpret it in a way that helps you <3 

-Jenn 

Just checking in....

Hello everyone!

Remember me? It’s been a while, huh?

As we all know, life can get pretty hectic and crazy…Just wanted to say hello and give you a few updates.

 

I’m still sketching although I have not posted anything on the Face book page or twitter in over a week. This past week I took time for me to work on myself; went to the gym with a friend, overhauled my diet, etc…lost 5lbs (woohoo). I will say though, I hate the fact that with balancing home and work…. It forces me to choose art or health…there are just not enough hours in the day to commit to both….

 

As far as “A sketch a day” goes, have no worries… I DO sketch everyday, sometimes a few a day… I just do not post them all. As Pablo Picasso said, “Painting is another way of keeping a diary” That is one of my favorite quotes…

 

This week I will be posting more sketches and hopefully will get some time to work on some paintings this week.

 

I do have a funny story for you... In the break room this morning, someone's phone starting ringing and it was a music ringtone. My co-worker asked me "what song was that?" I honestly did not know and she was like, "oh that's right, you only listen to Lee.." LOL ok, now is a good time to clarify something.... I do not ONLY listen to Lee. I like all kinds of music. I'm actually borderline Musically bi-polar. I can go one min listening to Lee, then Tupac, then The Murmurs, to Sunnyday Real Estate, back to Lee then go on a 90's dance party... LOL It just so happens that I choose to listen to Lee the most because of how the music and his voice makes me feel. Wouldn’t you want to spend a majority of your time listening to something that makes you happy? Exactly.

 

Stay tuned for more lyric sketches this week and hopefully some progress on paintings this week. Didn’t forget about ya :-)

Have a good week everyone!

- Jenn 

please read this and help spread the word!

 

One of the most intense feelings of love you will ever feel is when you become a parent and being the mother of a six year old boy....makes this project that much closer to my heart, not to mention, an avid Phillies fan myself.

 

A good friend & co worker of mine; Netta, lost her Step daughter Colleen in a motorcycle accident back in October (I had previously said November in error on my other posts, I apologize), leaving behind a beautiful 4 year old son, Cole. It is such a tragic story that just breaks my heart. A lot of you might remember, I had done a portrait of Colleen and her son to give to Netta & her husband Jimmy at the time of the service. Something special to give to the family. It was probably the most touching memorial service I have ever attended. Seeing so many people there, seeing just how many people’s lives were touched by this one woman…I can not even begin to describe it…

 

My friend Netta has been following my Lee DeWyze inspired art journey since the beginning and had asked me to do a sketch of a picture they had of Coleen & her son with hopes to send it to Chase Utley, of the Philadelphia Phillies to sign it for Cole. The entire family are huge Phillies fans (as am I); it was something they bonded over... So they thought it would make a special keepsake for Cole to remember his mother and the times they spent together.

 

Of course I agreed to do this for them! I’ll always do anything to help out a friend! All I have to say is this precious 4 year old boy has been handling this loss better than I ever could. He is brave and seems to almost understand... Asking his grandfather not to be sad... He is an extraordinary little boy. Netta talks about him everyday, so it feels like I'm a part of his life and you can’t help but be touched, saddened and a little proud all at the same time.

 

I have made this sketch for them from one of their favorite pictures taken while watching a baseball game and on it, is a message from her Father, Jimmy. Please help me get this story to the Phillies and to Chase Utley! Please use hash tags, re-tweet on Twitter, post on Instagram and share my Facebook page... Asking all to do the same. Help me make this happen for Cole. I think he more than deserves something this great!!

 

http://lancasteronline.com/obituaries/colleen-e-nesbitt/article_289ae845-a718-5332-b862-b13c927b51d5.html

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and re-posting! Here is the link to the Facebook page! Please "like" and share!!! 

 https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=514287565350916 

Thank you again! 

Love,

Jenn