It’s been dark all day today Dark sky Dark light Dark rooms whispering dark news
But the soft air invites a sweater And the birds talk with me among the dogwood leaves in the rain outside my window
Heavy clouds all day. It was too dark to mix colors, too dark to photograph art. The news of the world was pretty damn dark, too.
But then I fed the wild birds on the porch roof outside my studio window. They were waiting for me, as usual – sparrows and mourning doves, house finches in their subdued red, jays in their glamorous blue. So much gossiping and yakking while they ate.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Sitting with them, listening to the rain and their voices, feeling that soft, damp, early autumn chill, it gave a strangely profound sense of perspective.
I have been off wandering in the weeds again, trying to figure out how to organize all the new tools and features I’ve been picking up in building my little corner of the online world. I have progress to report.
Behold!
It’s an org chart.
A Jen-style org chart – over-thought, drawn free-hand, complete with smudges and the ghosts of erasures, a big ol’ patch where I messed up in ink, and pencil notes indicating more to come. Terrible photo, I admit, due to having no scanner at the moment and the weather here being so stormy, I can’t get good light even with lamps. Oh, well, it’s a working draft, still in progress. The original is hanging over my desk now.
The point is that it’s all finally starting to make sense. Take a tour with me:
The Studio: This is where I work the magic, all by myself. This is my workspace, home base, refuge, and one-person think tank. Everything flows from here.
The Website: The official online hub for all things Jen Fries Arts. Whatever happens in the Studio ends up here eventually, and everything else revolves around this site. If you’re looking for anything to do with my work, this is the place. Over the next few days, I’ll be adding some tabs, updating some buttons, and sprucing the joint up.
Community: Free, public, via Patreon. The new social media arm of Jen Fries Arts. This the place to find frequent updates on WIPs and the Arting Life, engage in discussions, participate in challenges and prompts, and purchase digital downloads, starting this month. And we can do it all without the intrusive, passive-aggressive shenanigans of the social media platforms.
Patrons: Paid, exclusive, via Patreon. Friends of the Studio who opt to support me with a $5 monthly pledge receive exclusive content and benefits as well as my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation. Patrons will enjoy free downloads, discounts on purchases, backstage looks into my creative processes, discussion threads on art and writing, invitations to events, and more as we go along.
Newsletter: Free, private, via Email. The newsletter is being transformed into a monthly digest of Studio News and Community content for those who prefer to keep things mellow, far from the social media hurly-burly.
Buy: All the legit venues where my work is sold will be listed and linked on this site. Artrepreneur for original artworks. Patreon for digital images and files (coming soon). My email for commissions, licensing, or offline sales. And more to come, including art prints, books, and other stuff currently simmering in my head or in development.
Offline: I’m a real person living in the real world where I do real things. Watch this site for exhibitions, pop-ups, and in-person events. Check out my public, professional network. Someday, there may even be some courses and workshops.
An Alchemy of Dragons is very much alive. Chapter 4 is getting reposted in two parts for more screen-friendly reading length, with additional illustrations. Chapter 5 is written and waiting for its illustrations. Our second protagonist has arrived at last. Chapter 6 is scheduled for this month as well.
And I’ll be exploring the season with some witchy, autumnal moods. Be on the lookout for moons, dreams, and magical stuff.
So, I’m participating in a city-wide arts event, organized by the Somerville Arts Council, amusingly called YART Sale. (See what they did there? It’s a yard sale, but it’s art, so it’s … yeah, you get it.)
Today is Thursday, 8/10. The YART Sale event is Saturday, 8/12. (Rain date 8/13.)
This is called Advance Notice!
In my defense, or at least deflection, Somerville only published the interactive online map of all the participants yesterday. We’re a last-minute, seat-of-the-pants kinda town here. It’s how we roll.
Here is the link to the online map: YART Map. And here is the link to a pdf of the participants, alphabetical by something (not sure exactly what), that you can print and carry around with you if you prefer to be analog: YART Listings.
And here is the direct link to my listing on the online map: ME at YART!
This will give you all the details in case you are in the metro Boston area and would like to stop by, see the work for real, meet the artist for real, and so forth. I’m #62 on the map and one of the 5 closest to Sullivan Square, which would make me first or last on your itinerary, depending on which end of the city you start at. I will be there the full afternoon from 12 to 6, with a short pit-stop break when I can get one.
By the way, if you are in the metro Boston area and have been longing silently for one of my artworks, this is your chance to buy it and avoid prohibitive shipping costs with in-person pick-up. If there’s a piece you especially would like to see in person, just email me at jen@jenfriesarts.com or contact me on Facebook, and I will make sure it is on the porch on the day. Or if you prefer to use a credit card, just contact me about it. If anyone buys art today or tomorrow via the Artrepreneur shop (See Shop tab, above) or by emailing me, and can pick up in person this Saturday, I will refund any shipping costs that may get charged automatically and will have the piece ready for you during the YART event. Make sure you let me know you’re picking up.
This is also a great opportunity to join my Patreon (see button below). Be among the first to join the free community, then introduce yourself on Saturday and get an embarrassing public acknowledgement from me right there on my porch! Or subscribe for $5/month and enjoy a 10% Friend of the Studio discount on any YART purchases, plus an even more embarrassing public acknowledgement.
And if you’re not buying or joining, that’s fine, too! Visit. See art. Chit-chat. We’re supposed to have nice weather this Saturday.
This is my first venture out into the YART wilds, and as usual, I’m doing it completely half-assed. But I dunno, I feel good about it. It’s the kind of casual, heck-whatever event that appeals to me, so I hope to add it to my permanent calendar.
Let’s see how it goes.
-Jen
PS: There is an extremely slight chance that a reading from Chapters 1 through not-yet-published 5 of An Alchemy of Dragons may occur, if requested. Fair Warning. – J
Okay, so I’ve mentioned that I recently launched a Patreon for my studio, and today I have an announcement about new and exciting features on that platform!
As of today, anyone may join my community on Patreon for free, with the option to upgrade to a Friend of the Studio paid membership at any time for just $5.00 per month.
And in the near future, it will be possible for anyone to purchase digital downloads of select artworks and writings via Patreon, even without a paid membership.
Now, this is all brand-spanking new at Patreon, and I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to go. My hope is that these changes will fill certain key gaps in my creative set-up. For example:
Outreach:
Social media is not my scene. I’m sorry, I loathe all the platforms so much. I just cannot with the You-Twit-Face nonsense, and the hopeful competitors desperately winging it, and none of it makes any damn sense except that the algorithm thinks you’re posting the wrong stuff and not enough of it. Ugh.
Don’t get me wrong. Half of the very exclusive club of my beloved followers are on Facebook. But I’m pretty certain most of them know me offline and/or found me on that site from this site. I’m sure as hell not getting any visibility from FB itself because I don’t play to the algorithm.
Patreon doesn’t use an algorithm to dictate who gets seen and who doesn’t. I will rise or fall through my own outreach efforts. Sounds kinda like some old-school internet stuff. I like it.
Community:
This is another, ironic way social media fails me, because if you don’t feed the platforms the way they like, the algorithms will make it very hard for even a hand-built community to work, let alone grow.
WordPress, my gracious web hosts whom I adore, do offer chat and forum plug-ins, but I would need to purchase a higher service tier to add them to Jen Fries Arts, and I can’t afford it right now.
Patreon is charging nothing – a whopping $0.00 – for tools to build a community with people who like my work. And as a platform, it’s not full of extraneous junk, bots, and trolls. It is directed towards fans of the creative arts, so I am hoping it will be a lot less daunting and a lot more constructive to do outreach there than on social media.
A Helping Hand for Writer Jen:
Artrepreneur hosts my online shop for original artworks. It’s fantastic. I love it. You guys need to check it out.
But it’s just for the artwork side of the studio, especially, the physical pieces of art. (I will offer giclee prints once I (a) find a domestic, unionized, green printer I can afford and (b) learn how to prep images properly.)
I have had no similar outlet for my writing to connect with an audience, to promote my projects, and to earn some income. Patreon offers that, so the writing projects such as An Alchemy of Dragons will be prominent there.
Downloads:
It is surprisingly tricky to sell downloadable art and writing online – like, technically challenging. You end up with a lot of half-assed not-quite-right tools cobbled together with cyber-spit and string.
Patreon is now enabling me to sell art and writing in digital formats with, we hope, very few headaches. I’ve wanted to do this with some of my works for a long time but couldn’t get it set up right, with proper security, etc., on my own website. Artrepreneur doesn’t handle this kind of thing at all. So I’m eager to get started with this.
Be on the lookout for printable cards and booklets, images to use on your screens, etc.
I am building some redundancy into my system with Patreon. Its interface is very similar to social media and this very blog. There will be exclusive content on Patreon for paying Friends of the Studio, but most of the public content there will mirror or just link back to Jen Fries Arts, to reduce duplication of labor.
If you already follow this website, you don’t need also to join the Community on Patreon, unless you would like to sign up for a paid membership. But if you wish to sign up there for free to help me get the ball rolling, you might want to tweak your email notifications from this website. Patreon will automatically send you email notifications of new posts, and I don’t want you to get double notifications.
In any event, Patreon is a new addition to the JFA system, and I hope it will be fun and useful!
Visit my Patreon here or via the button at the bottom of the page, and see what you think.
I have posted my very first online poll. It’s on my shiny, new, barely scuffed Patreon, and I would like very much if you would check it out. If I’ve done it right, you should be able to vote for free, without setting up a new account or becoming a patron. You can see it here: Jen’s Patreon – Public Poll.
It’s kind of a focus-group thing. An Alchemy of Dragons is my biggest current project and the one I’ll be talking about the most on Patreon – and increasingly here, too, fair warning. So to help me get organized, I’m tapping all you fans of writing, fantasy, and world-building to let me know which parts of the process you’re most curious or enthusiastic about. The options are:
World Building
Character Design
Magic System
Art and Illustration
Choose as many as you like.
Becoming a patron, aka a Friend of the Studio, is entirely optional.
Some content will be reserved for patrons only, such as video projects, podcasts, tutorials, etc. Those kinds of projects are high on my future plans list, but they cost quite a lot to make in both money and time, so I really can’t do them on spec, as it were. They will need to be paid for. And there will be other thank-you perks for people who like my work enough to want to support my studio with a monthly pledge.
But I’m about selling finished work – art, books, poems, etc. That’s how I would ideally like to earn my living. So this site will always be a place where people can keep up with me and enjoy what I do and have the option to make a purchase.
But if you would like to become a Friend of the Studio by supporting me, you can sign up for a monthly subscription via Patreon, or make a one-time donation via Paypal, using the buttons in the website footer.
For now, though, please check out what should be a free poll, especially if you are a fan of An Alchemy of Dragons.
Well, I guess it’s time for an official Jen Fries statement on generative AI. Here it is:
AI doesn’t live here.
There is no AI in my work, and there never will be. I do not use AI, and I do not authorize any AI app to “train” on my work. I can’t stop it until some proper legislation happens, but I do not give permission for it. I will support my fellow creatives’ copyrights by never posting any AI-generated content on my website or social media, as well.
I have strong and detailed opinions about AI that I won’t get into right now. Maybe later. If you’ve read this far, you can tell I’m in the anti camp. I agree with the many well-articulated arguments about copyright, privacy, energy consumption, misinformation, and unethical business practices. Some of my loved ones feel differently. We’re working on peaceful co-existence.
The thing is, my work is analog. I make art with physical materials. I write words on physical paper. I drafted this statement in pencil while drinking tea on my porch and watching storm clouds break up. I have no use for AI, and there is no way it can be relevant to what I do.
I don’t hate the technology, per se. AI shows great promise in the sciences, medicine, space exploration, robotics, and other typically unprofitable R&D fields.
Unfortunately, the short-term profit is in what I’m calling Liberal Arts AI in entertainment, journalism, art, and other fields for which it is singularly ill-suited. That’s what all the hype is about, and the effect of AI on these fields has been, um — not good. Bad. Actively worse than useless.
Hopefully, the novelty of Liberal Arts AI will soon wear off, and it will go the way of NFT’s. Anyone remember those?
Full disclosure: I do use randomization. I like to brainstorm with simple word and prompt generators. I toss coins, throw dice, and pull Tarot cards. As a collagist, I combine random materials and appropriated vintage images – all public domain, of course, I might add.
But I don’t outsource my creativity. I don’t ask someone else to draft my stories, do my research, lay out my compositions, or even make the actual piece for me to sign and take credit for. I express my ideas myself.
What does that mean for you? It means I can promise the following:
All works with my name on them are 100% my original creation.
All my communications are 100% me talking and writing.
If you find me inconsistent, unpunctual, and other annoying things, it’s because I’m a human. You can take my moody, messy imperfections as proof of reality.
And since AI is already causing trouble with misrepresentation and fraud, I want to highlight some important, practical guidelines to protect you and me both:
There is only one source for Jen Fries art and writing, and I’m it. All my work is represented on my website, Jen Fries Arts. That is the hub for everything that comes out of my studio.
I decide where my work is sold. All authorized vendors and platforms are linked on my website.
If you find my work for sale or giveaway on any site not linked on my website, it is not authorized and might be counterfeit. Please contact me.
If you see any work in a style similar to mine but not represented on my website, that is someone else’s work. Whether legit or not, it is not mine. Please contact me.
If you see any kind of work claiming to be made by me but not represented on my website, that’s a fake. Please alert me immediately.
If in doubt about the authenticity of any work, check this site and/or contact me at jenfries.artist@gmail.com.
I’m pretty sure my work has not been added to any AI data set, but the way the apps scrape the whole internet, it’s only a matter of time. Don’t be misled. Always check with me.
The bottom line is Jen Fries makes and sells Jen Fries work. If you’re not getting it from Jen Fries, then you’re not getting Jen Fries. Simple as. Caveat Emptor.
As my long-time subscribers know, when I run into a creative problem, I tend to retreat into my burrow and gnaw on it – and gnaw and gnaw like a determined squirrel – until it’s dealt with. Then I come back and tell you a bunch of new stuff and resume posting.
Well, I’ve just finished another round of gnawing, and I am now emerging from the burrow.
The tough nut this time was Chapter 5 of An Alchemy of Dragons, appropriately enough. In Tarot, 5 is the number of struggle, complications, and finding one’s way, all of which describes the part of the story where Protagonist 1 finally meets Protagonist 2, and the perfectionist author has to obsess over every single freaking word and comma and every possible plot permutation over and over again.
I finally cracked it. Vistas have opened before me. The plot is improved all down the line. Necessary world-building edits for continuity are identified. Research has been done and decisions made about how to handle things that will come up later.
Plus, a lot of new writing and art projects were spawned in the process. Ideas a-poppin’ all over.
While I was at it … I launched a Patreon!
Now, don’t get nervous. Yes, I’m asking for money. I’ve been asking for money. There are donation buttons all over the website. Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed them. I have an online shop at Artrepreneur with its very own link in the navigation tabs. I know you’ve been avoiding it.
All I’ve done is add another support option. Jen Fries Arts is not going to change.
So why a Patreon, then?
Because Patreon will provide a secure system for subscribers who wish to become monthly supporters, and it will, I hope, help me manage my time and work flow and offer projects that would be hard to do on the WordPress website, as it’s currently set up.
Patreon demands consistent engagement by me, the creator, which should address that whole burrow-retreat problem. No more only hearing from me after you’ve started thinking I must have died. With Patreon, I’ll be getting paid to produce work on a real schedule, so I’d better do it.
Also, Patreon provides tools and a platform for things I really want to do in future, such as invitational social events, interactive online projects, discussion groups, and so forth.
Supporting my studio is completely optional, but it is deeply appreciated.
I will always strive to make my money by selling my creative works, but we all know how the world is today. Sales lag desperately behind basic living costs. A creator can easily go utterly broke before their career can catch up with their rent. If I want to keep doing what I’m good at, I need to monetize it.
I refuse to put ads on my site and turn Jen Fries Arts into just another corporate marketing page. The only alternative is to encourage people who like what I do to pay for it, whether by purchasing the finished works or by patronage.
In an upcoming post, I’ll explain the details of the options I’ve set up. Please watch for that. It will be added to the About section, as well.
Click here to check out my Patreon now: Jen’s Patreon.
More upcoming posts will include a statement regarding generative AI because all the cool kids are doing it, and my big-picture plans for the Alchemy project, which is getting pretty ambitious.
In additional studio news, I have a new artwork on display in the summer show at the Brickbottom Gallery in scenic Somerville, MA. The exhibition is called “Carnival,” and it is running now through July 29th.Click here for gallery details. I will post notes about the new piece soon. The snakes are part of it.
So that’s the update. I’m back, sleeves rolled up, getting down to business, and I’m really glad to see you all again.
Happy Year of the Water Rabbit, on the Chinese lunar calendar!
This morning, I finished my first art of the year, “Rabbit and Moon” (working title; I may change it).
It’s about 9 x 12 inches, on paper, mixed media – watercolor, graphite, and ink. The asemic writing in the upper right corner is actually my real, gloriously illegible handwriting, turned on its end. This time I’m quoting Robert Frost, a line from “Mending Wall” (1914):
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding to please the yelping dogs
In the verse containing that line, Frost talks about going out in spring with his neighbor to repair the damage that happens to their boundary wall over the winter, including the vandalism of hunters who knock down the stones to flush out their prey, because “they would have the rabbit out of hiding.” (Click here for the full text, off-site.)
That poem also gives us the famous line, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Frost’s neighbor repeats that saying, and the poet Frost wonders why good neighbors need fences at all. Shouldn’t they be able to rely on their mutual understanding?
Myself, I’m a little on the fence about that (har-har), but I do appreciate that, even though Frost might not like the barrier between people, by mending the wall, he’s evening the odds for the rabbits.
Jumping back from West to East, Chinese astrology says that the Water Rabbit brings in peaceful, patient, and creative energies and encourages us to rely on our inner wisdom and trust our instincts. We should approach this year’s challenges calmly and rationally, and be kind and considerate to each other and to ourselves.
Water Rabbit Year 2023 could turn out to be all about good neighbors – having them and being them. Just remember that the barriers that delineate our personal boundaries are best when everyone finds safety in them – us and the rabbits.
I buy into the old superstition that whatever you find yourself doing on New Year’s Day will set the tone for the whole year to come. So I make sure I spend every New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day doing just want I want to do and nothing else. Generally, this consists of being in my studio, in my pajamas, with a cup of something caffeinated, some music playing, doing creative work.
Which is exactly what I’m doing right now – working on An Alchemy of Dragons. I just took a short break to post this note to my readers and friends.
I made a quick check of the auspices, and it seems my instincts are in track, at least for the start of 2023. See, we’ve all been through a lot of changes – both setbacks and advances – and I’ve had a hell of a time coming up with resolutions, plans, all that sort of thing. So I’ve decided that, for me, 2023 is going to be a year of figuring things out. Analyzing trends. Taking stock of changes and new contexts. Choosing where to go next, and picking how I want to get there.
And it turns out the divinatory signs agree with me.
Numerology says 2023 boils down to the number 7, a number of deep analysis and the search for wisdom, of questioning, examining, thinking things through, making decisions.
In Tarot, the 7th card of the Major Arcana, the Chariot, signifies the force of will joined with action, the path forward, doing our best with what we have, guided by what’s within us.
The 7’s of the Minor suits are similarly suggestive. The 7 of Pentacles is the nervous optimism of the farmer devoting labor now for future goals, setting aside anxieties to nurture his work. The 7 of Swords encourages us to grab opportunities when we find them, while being cautious of distracting blather out in the world. Don’t be shy, but don’t get too tricky at the same time. The 7 of Wands promises success if we stick to our principles and put in the work, no matter how daunting. And the 7 of Cups shows us all the options open to us. The challenge is to think before we choose.
Finally, the Chinese lunar new year on January 22 will usher in the Year of the Rabbit, predicted to start a period of relative calming and growth – a good time to approach our plans with optimism tempered by patience and planning.
Are things guaranteed to be easier? No. But I have a feeling this could be a better year, if we make it so. I feel like 2023 is one of those starting-a-new-chapter kind of years – a chance for us to stock of where the past few years have brought us, what real options we have on hand, and what suits us best in our lives right now.
Personally, I’m looking forward to it.
So in keeping with the holiday, I raise a figurative glass from me to you. Happy New Year!
Merry meet and merry part, I drink to you with all my heart.
Illustration from An Alchemy of Dragons, Ye Olde Ram tavern
And this time, I’m only a little late! Like many other people, I am just winging it wildly this holiday season, and it turns out I am a terrible business person. I should have had all this Yuletide stuff done months ago, so I could share it with you all before actual and literal Christmas Day.
But Christmas, Yule, and all the other winter holidays are really not about business, so rather than leading into the season with various “calls to action” and whatnot, I’m just offering you a gift from me to you.
From today until December 31st, please feel free to download printable copies of the original line drawings for the four winter cards I painted yesterday. New art! Fresh out of the artist’s brain! All four images are in a single-page pdf file, accessible at the link below. Use them as-is or color them as you like. They are just rough drawings, suitable for tags, bookmarks, or cards. Personal use only, naturally.
Download the winter cards here.
By the way, do you realize we have four new year events running relatively close together this winter? The Winter Solstice on December 21st was the solar new year. January 1st is the calendar new year. The next Perihelion (Earth’s closest orbit point to the Sun) comes on January 4th and may be considered the astronomical new year (I decree). Finally, January 22nd is the lunar new year on the Chinese calendar – Year of the Water Rabbit.
I’m taking this as a sign that this mid-winter is an optimal time for fresh starts and attitude shifts. So maybe next year, I’ll have winter cards ready in time for you to use them. 😉
Meanwhile, please enjoy your holidays and multiple new years. Below are the final paintings of the cards, which should be available as prints and cards next winter. See? I’m not late, I’m early.
And the start of another next-winter project – a Partridge in a Pear Tree. I plan to do the whole Twelve Days, and will offer them next year as prints and perhaps even a book.
All of these small paintings are done in watercolor, pastel, and ink.
Wishing you all happy, merry, and joyous holidays.
Jen Fries Arts 