Category: The Arting Life

After Open Studios, Time to Relax and Say Thanks

Jen

Well, I’ve just about settled down from the rush of Open Studios at the Brickbottom Artists Building in Somerville. It was a great weekend, despite a rainy start. The energy was terrific. I want to thank the wonderful folks who bought art from me, as well as everyone who stopped to talk with us about our work.

Also all the OS organizers who worked like mad and did a great job, our lovely hosts who opened their loft for us, and my fellow artists with whom I shared the space. It was a blast, thanks to them.

Now midnight approaches, soft jazz plays, and my cat is asleep on my lap as I write this quick note. As soon as I click the Publish button, I’ll shift her so I can go to my own bed, absolutely exhausted – and start afresh tomorrow.

I’ll end with this: Many of the Open Studios visitors told me they were feeling inspired by all the art and meeting the people who made it. They felt excited and interested and wanted to take up creative hobbies again that they had dropped for one reason or another. I can’t tell you how happy that made me. I deeply hope they do it, all of them.

Today’s world is so inhibiting, even discouraging against us expressing ourselves. Before we take the first step, we convince ourselves we’re not good enough. Even to try is just too pretentious of us. But that’s just bullshit.

Art is one of the most basic human things in all of life. It’s like walking and talking – a natural impulse. But it’s not brain surgery. No one will suffer if we screw up an art project. So don’t hold back. Don’t worry about results, or winning approval, or any of that. Just do it. Slap some color onto a piece of paper. Squish some clay. Write down some words. Decorate that cake. Pick up that ukulele. Do it just to please yourself, not for likes or subs. It’ll make things better, I promise.

Good night, everyone, from the EST time zone, and thank you. Never stop creating.

Thanks to my colleague, Amy Norrod, for these photos of my art and set-up.

The New Day, such as it is

Jen
Brickbottom and Joy Street Open Studios, Nov. 23 & 24

End of November Web Forecast: Expect an unseasonably heavy flurry of update posts from yours truly for the rest of this week.

Okay, it’s been a period of time. My last post was made the night before Election Day in the US, and by now, we all know how it turned out. Sigh.

I just want to say that, for me, nothing has changed from what I wrote then. I chose hope. I’m not googling how to change my mind after the fact, like many maga voters reportedly did. You can read the full pre-election post here, if you missed it earlier.

However, when I say I choose hope, don’t expect any pollyanna-ist reassurances here at Jen Fries Arts. No fluttering of the thing with feathers. That’s not my scene. My style of hope is the kind that spits out a bloody tooth and wades back into the fray, because where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I will be damned if I ever give up on what I know to be right.

Of course, it’s all been terribly inconvenient. There were emergency jettisons of certain social and personal connections, some of whom wouldn’t leave quietly. I still feel physically like I’ve been in a car accident. There’s My Sainted Mom who feels just as bad and just as pissed off. And on top of everything else, the cat’s been poorly, poor baby.

All of it utterly derailed what was supposed to have been a whole month of prep and info for my Open Studios event, which is scheduled to start – checks notes – frikkin this weekend. November 23 and 24.

So this is just to get you all caught up. Expect an unusual-for-me rush of posts about the Brickbottom and Joy Street Open Studios weekend here in quaint and romantic Somerville, MA. Also some website and shop updates. I’ll be doing all this work tonight and tomorrow, basically. Apologies in advance, but the new info will be good for you to have.

For starters:

Open Studios, November 23 and 24, at the Brickbottom Artists Building, 1 Fitchburg Street, Somerville, MA.

I’ll be sharing space with some colleagues in Unit B450, in the Bakery Building of the Brickbottom complex.

I seldom do these kinds of events, so this will be a rare opportunity to see me outside my little stoat burrow. I’ll be showing small to medium works on canvas or paper, hand-painted journaling cards, some micro-zines, and maybe some hand-made art books if I can finish them on time. I’m also up for chit-chat about methods, styles, affordability, sustainability, and life in the zombie apocalypse.

So if you’re around then and there, come on by. Info at Brickbottom.org.

jfries-abstract-landscape-10-4.8.24-copy

Social Media.

I am now on Bluesky. If you use that platform, please look me up there @jenfriesarts.bsky.social.

I joined Bluesky as an alternative to Facebook, but I am still also on Facebook and Patreon. Of course, it’s all just social media with the usual nonsense, so …

Become a Subscriber.

I encourage everyone to subscribe for free to this website, comment on posts, and follow my projects and articles free of algorithmic interference.

Click the little blue WordPress Follow button at the bottom of this and every page to subscribe. And don’t forget to set your notifications preferences, because another upcoming update is that this blog will also serve as my newsletter, with a monthly round-up and other exclusive subscriber content in the new year.

Keep calm and carry on. See you soon.

-Jen

April in the garden and the sketchbook, plus other news

Jen


Spring is in full bloom, and filling my head with ideas. Behold!

Out and about

The garden is up and running – largely without me, I admit. The daffodils are especially robust this year. (I wish I could say the same for the studio lighting or my poor old camera.)

jfries-daffodils-4.8.24-72dpi
JFries hyacinths 4.8.24 72dpi
JFries daffodils still life 4.2024 72dpi
JFries worktable 4.2024 72dpi

A little sketchbook tour

Inspired by the energy of the season, I’ve been letting all my ideas make their pitches. Those glorious daffodils again, this time in two vases. This year’s solar eclipse – from photos. We didn’t get totality over Massachusetts, so while I took a moment to observe the partial over my studio (safely!), I also watched the totality over and over, live on NASA tv. The little Medusa concept doodles happened because I am convinced Medusa and the Gorgons were solar mythic beings. Next, ephemeral springtime forest plants – North American bloodroot flower and fern fiddleheads. (Did you know, that part of the violin is both named and designed after the plant?) All of these sketches are plans for future artworks.

The color sketch was just testing out some watercolor pencils. I’m not particularly in love with this set, but the SATOR design is an idea in development for some typographic abstracts. The SATOR square is one of the oldest good-luck charms in western culture, found decorating doorways of ancient Roman buildings.

And finally, testing out different pens – a dip pen, a bamboo reed pen, and a fountain pen – the one in black. I sketched with a glass pen, too, but forgot to photograph it. I like them all, but I think the reed pen gives that Real Artist vibe, at least in these little drawings.

JFries sketchbook 4.2024 1st daffodils 72dpi
JFries sketchbook 4.2024 eclipse 72dpi
JFries sketchbook 4.2024 bloodroot 72dpi
JFries sketchbook 4.2024 ferns 72dpi
JFries sketchbook 4.2024 rabbits 72dpi
JFries sketchbook 4.2024 sator 72dpi
JFries pen tests 4.2024 72dpi

In Other News

New small paintings are ready. I’m just editing the photos. I’ll post them separately, and they’ll be added to the shop soon.

An Alchemy of Dragons is on a brief hiatus. As I prepare to introduce the second protagonist, Iarius, and expand my characters’ world, I found I need to corral an explosion of plot bunnies. I also realized I made some mistakes in the earlier chapters. So I decided to pause, rework some details, and get more of the story written in advance of posting. Maps are being drawn. Character portraits are being designed. A world-building wiki is coming together as I go along. I’m pretty excited about the upcoming improvements. Watch this space.

An Alchemy teaser.

-Jen

Get to know the artist: Springtime Edition

Jen

Happy Vernal Equinox Day! I thought I’d celebrate the season with a selection of some new and older works on the seasonal theme. No explanations. Not in any particular order. Comments and questions are welcome.

Enjoy!

jfries-alchemy-ch-4b-initial-10.15.23-72dpi-1
jfries-alchemy-ch-3-chesny-wold-10.21.22
jfries-alchemy-ch1-initial
JFries dogwood moon sm
JFries The Diver
JFries Boston, South End in June
JFries The Return of Persephone

Happy Year of the Wood Dragon 2024

Jen
A dragon in a thicket, An Alchemy of Dragons, Ch. 2


Happy lunar new year, everyone! I hope your winter has been cozy and all is well with you and yours as the Year-Beginning Season comes to its close.

I love that the universe gives us three chances to start every new year over the whole winter. We get the solar new year at the Winter Solstice, the astronomical new year at Earth’s perihelion in the first week of January, and now the lunar new year, which was celebrated yesterday.

Considering how dragged out many of us were in December and January, getting to count February as an additional start is especially welcome.

However, proceed with caution. 2024 is the year of the dragon, which is a double-edged sword. If you were born in a dragon year, it’s all good, but if you were born under a different sign, you’d better check your auspices. Rabbit-year folks like me, for instance, are advised to look both ways crossing the street, stay out of fights, take our vitamins, and generally behave like smart little bunnies.

I’ve checked Chinese astrology, western astrology, and western numerology, and overall, they all promise a year of great change and a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities. So … yeah, looking at what’s on our plates already, buckle up, kids. It’s going to be a ride.

That’s why I chose the illustration above as my greeting to you. That dragon was in quite the tangle in An Alchemy of Dragons, Ch. 2, but our protagonist, Erran, was able to use the brambles to make his escape. In real life, thickets are nurseries where new forests are born. They offer traps for some and havens for others. Little critters who learn the ins and outs are safe in there. They can find everything they need – food, water, shelter – and come and go as they please. Blundering clods like hunters, on the other hand, can barely get in, and if they force their way, they’ll have a job getting out again.

I think that’s appropriate for this year.

I’m sure you noticed that it’s been another while since you heard from me. I’m doing the stuff, but I can’t quite decide how I want to present it to you.

New small paintings are coming to the shop soon.

I’ve been reworking the structure of the Alchemy of Dragons serial, which may require adding material and reorganizing the chapters again, but I am very pleased with what I’ve got. I had been using the wrong plotting system, and the deeper into the story I got, the harder it was to plan what should come next in the telling of it. Putting together a system that works for me became my main winter project, and I feel like I’m on a much better track now. I’m as optimistic as I ever get.

Video and audio experiments are also in progress. Watch this space for further news on those.

Finally, just about all my online tools need refreshing. Figuring out the best options is an ongoing puzzle. There will be tweaks to the website arrangement, the newsletter, Patreon, and subscriptions. Nothing shocking, but hopefully some functional improvements, like my writing system.

I have a feeling a lot of us have been gnawing things over in our burrows all this winter, but the celestial clocks have turned, and the new season is just about here. Yes, in damp, icy Massachusetts, we just got another winter storm advisory for next week, but the days are undeniably longer and brighter. Buds are developing on trees, the backyard birds are already starting to sing and pair up, and I started spring cleaning today.

So Happy New Year!

– Jen, a rabbit in a dragon year.

-Jen

The Month that was November

Jen

I have been writing, arting, businessing, and planning, and you’re going to have to take my word for it because I forgot to do the updating (and several other -ings as well).

But no, for real, did the things. I drew. I painted and collaged. I experimented with some still raw, in-the-seed ideas. I wrote and illustrated. I prepped several projects. I did a secret thing I’m not going to talk about yet.

I just didn’t mention any of it to you guys. The Communications division of me is feeling a bit exasperated with the Studio division of me. 

Oh, well, I’m telling you now. Let’s get into the update.

An Alchemy of Dragons

As you know, Chapter 6 was posted earlier this month. Read it here.

Chapter 7 is about half written so far. Here’s a glimpse into the current draft:

The first tone of the concert seemed to rise from the Bard of Perna’s fingers of its own accord, tight, hard, building tension until it broke into an arabesque of notes sparkling through the air like the sunlight itself.

He let the passage fade into silence, then repeated, and with it, the Lady of Arrak rose and began to dance. His music and her movements were relaxed and breezy. Her veils floated and subtly slipped away, exposing slender bare arms, then a hint of a colorful bodice, all grace and tender gestures

November Art Highlights

Studies for seasonal paintings.


Illustrations for Alchemy Chapter 6 were posted.


Studio Assistant Princess LunaLynx posed for a photo shoot.


“I have traveled far to share this with you,” collage postcard with asemic writing. This was a mark-making exercise, related to a workshop idea in development. It resulted in a two-sided art object and an examination of my creative process.

And I have a question for you!

Little by little, I’m organizing my online realm and figuring out how all the knobs and buttons work. The next phase is to integrate all the parts of the Jen Fries Arts Community, i.e. all you wonderful folks who subscribe or follow in the various ways. I’m going to be tweaking some features of the website and adding some more ways for us to interact, but I need to plan which skills to learn and gear to acquire next.

I would love to get some guidance from you via the form below. Let me know what you’d like me to develop for our little circle, and I’ll see what I can do about it.

Go back

Your message has been sent

Choose the features you’d enjoy as a member of the JFA Community. Select all that apply.


Thanks!

– Jen

For the Record, Jen Fries Arts is an AI-free studio

Jen1 Comment

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.

No AI here, thanks.

-Jen

Magic, Moons, and Masks

Jen

Happy October! Tonight, the full Hunter’s Moon is shining side by side with Jupiter at its closest and brightest, and Halloween is coming up fast.

I’ve always been inspired by things associated with this time of year. Magic and the occult. Myths and monsters. Dreams and the night. The masks we wear and what lies beneath them. And above it all, the beautiful, changing, eternal Moon.

To start the celebration of my favorite month and my favorite season, here is a selection of artworks I’ve made through the years, exploring these themes.

jfries-gibbous-moon-june
JFries april moon 4.22
JFries dogwood moon sm
JFries Estuary Moon 6.30.2020
JFries Midsummer
George in studio 1
JFries Call Me Ishmael
Figure 2: Lovers
Figure 1: Seated
JFries Interphase Multiversal Observatory

Getting a Little Perspective

Jen

So hi. How’s it going? It’s been a challenging few weeks, hasn’t it? Yes, it has. It freaking damn well has been challenging. And I’m sure those whose idea of fun is to make life harder than it needs to be have plenty more challenges in store for all of us.

But you know what? The hell with them.

Because you know what else happened since my last post? NASA started receiving the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s spectacular! Here is NPR’s report about it.

Our universe is bigger, fuller, and more sparkly than I, for one, dared to hope.

To quote Jane Rigby, operations project scientists for the JWST, “Everywhere we look, there’s galaxies everywhere.”

It’s so wonderful, and honestly, by comparison, I’m just done with all the petty, trivial, back-biting toxicity that some people on our little planet want to waste everyone’s time with.

Look around you. There are galaxies everywhere! And flowers, and bees, and rainbows, and rabbits. The other day, I baked a cake with raspberries from my own garden. Here’s the recipe, courtesy of King Arthur Flour (an employee-owned company; no affiliation): Late Summer Berry Torte. It’s super easy, and you can make it with just about any fruit.

This is what matters in life.

So here’s what we’re not going to do: We’re not going to waste any more time with crap that doesn’t matter. We’re not going to let the bastards take away our rights, ruin our environment, get us sick again, or otherwise make our lives revolve around them, because they are tiny, stupid, pointless, and they don’t matter.

Here’s what we are going to do instead: We’re going to make art and look at art. Read stories and write stories. Eat yummy things. We’re going to keep everybody’s rights – period. We’re going to keep transitioning to clean energy and saving Planet Earth – period. We’re going to pay attention to the countless galaxies and stars sparking like jewels out there in the forever and ever.

And we’re going to know that this is the reality we all live in together, not some bleak, zero-sum, dead-end bullshit a certain bunch of raging randos dreamed up for themselves.

In the Reality Universe, we live in light, color, sparkles, and bunnies, and we have cake, so we win.

Sound like a plan? Good. Let’s get on it.

Updates from the Studio:

Summer Exhibition: “From Dark to Light,” July 14 – August 20, at the Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville. Visit their website for details and directions. I will be showing one of my Blue Lake paintings.

Poetry: Four new poems are up for reading. Click the Books & Writing tab to check them out. They were all written one sunny day when I was trying to work on my porch but got distracted by the perfection of the afternoon.

Web Novel: An Alchemy of Dragons, Chapter 1, is coming next week, around July 20, hopefully. Here’s a rough hint about the in-progress illustrations, from my sketchbook:

The Art of Words

Jen

A new section is added to the website!

Please click on the shiny new Writing & Books tab.

At long last, the Letters half of the classic Arts & Letters combo has arrived. Wait until you see – omg, I’m so happy about it.

Writing & Books is the index page to my written works. You can read the stuff, comment on the stuff, follow the stuff. Eventually, you will be able to order print editions via that page. At some point, I will likely add artist books and zines as well. Basically, anything bookish goes under Writing & Books.

So what is it, exactly, that I do write?

Well, similar to my visual arts, I like to switch and blend genres. You may choose among fantasies, mysteries, romances, or thrillers, but they are all linked by certain common themes. Just as nature, memory, and dreams run through all my artworks, so I think you’ll find most of my writing deals with emotions, relationships, and wild, sometimes dangerous landscapes, both external and internal.

Right now, you can dive into four of my 50-word micro-stories: “To the New World,” “The Runaways,” “A Lot of Frogs to Kiss,” and “Faith.”

Some of you may remember my 50-word story challenges, based on a surrealist word game, in which a complete story had to be told in precisely fifty words, no more, no less. I liked to raise the ante by randomly pre-selecting five of the words, which every participant had to use in their stories. It’s actually quite a lot of fun.

You can also read the very first poem I feel brave enough to show to anyone, “Night, April.”

Inspired by the American-style haiku of such intimidating giants as Ezra Pound and Allen Ginsberg, I decided to experiment with this form because why the hell not? To me, this is such a perfect and basic form of expression – to capture the essence of a moment, to make a picture in words of ephemeral experience – I really think everyone should try their hand at something haiku-esque, just to get the feel of it – the feel of one’s feelings. Go and take a look, and let me know what you think of my effort.

Finally, there’s the big project. Oh, boy, this is the one that’ll have you saying “Wow, Jen, you really went off the edge this time.”

Yeah, you’re damn right. I’m going straight off the edge – of the map – where there be dragons. A whole alchemy of them, in fact.

An Alchemy of Dragons

One peace-loving ranger with a past.
One audacious bard with an agenda.
And one deadly conspiracy – with dragons.

You’re not hallucinating. It is, indeed, a fantasy novel. What’s more, it’s a serialized web novel, which means it will be a hell of a lot longer than a haiku or some fifty words. It will be posted on this site by chapters, as they are written. It will probably be illustrated, too.

Now granted, fantasy is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we don’t drink tea here at the Jen Fries Arts studio – we spill it. (Actually, we do drink tea, every day, but you get what I mean.)

Yes, An Alchemy of Dragons will feature both swords and sorcery. It will have creatures and fancy outfits and very high stakes, but this is not going to be that Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings type stuff.

This is a Jen Fries project.

So check out the stories and poetry, reacquaint yourselves with the artwork, and you’ll get a sense of what you’ll be in for. I think you might enjoy it, and I hope you’ll give it a try. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter, if you haven’t already, to get email notifications when chapters are posted.

In other news, it’s spring time. And yes, a lot of shit is happening in the world, but the trees and bulbs are flowering and the birds are courting, and that’s what I’ve decided to focus on. Look for an upcoming blog post about spring time artwork, soon. Also please visit the Shop for seasonal works available now.