2019 Year in Reivew — Jennifer Elizabeth Studios

Hello, friends. It’s been awhile! In hopes of keeping this blog alive, here’s a look back at 2019.

Meeting up with friends old and new

I made a point this last year to reach out and grab coffee with artistic women in the Seattle area that inspire me. I was lucky enough these kind ladies agreed to my ask and we had some great conversations! Amber Leaders, Ragon Dickard, Evan Elizabeth, Ericka Wolf, Amy Stone, and Chi Michalski are all rocking it full time in their artistic businesses. I’m so happy and excited for them! I’m planning on making a post highlighting some learnings I’ve taken away from them and just bragging about how awesome they are. I’m so thankful to be in this city and surrounded by other artists and creative, like-minded women. It was incredibly encouraging to know that I’m not the only one trying to find my style, figure out how to run a small business, be my own boss, and charge what we/our art is truly worth. If you’re inspired by someone you come across on the big ‘ol interwebs-reach out! You never know what might happen.

January: Ron Stocke watercolor demo

I always love watching other artists at work, and Ron Stocke was no exception! He visited the Daniel Smith Supply Store and took an afternoon to explain his process, show us his sketchbooks, and talk about his journey as an artist so far. I also picked up his beautiful book filled with examples and the techniques he uses throughout his watercolor pieces. What a resource! If you ever get the chance to see his work in person at the Cole Art Gallery in Edmonds or watch him paint right in front of your eyes it’s so worth it! He’s an incredibly kind and well-spoken artist and I was inspired watching his painting come to life over the course of a few hours. His lovely wife Angela Bandurka was there cheering him on and recording the entire workshop on video in the back of the room. She’s an oil painter herself! Ron does workshops throughout the year if you’re interested in getting some hands-on practice and advice from the master himself!

MARCH: Seattle West Elm Art Show

The biggest show I had this year was at the downtown Seattle West Elm. What a day! It made me so happy to see so many familiar faces and a few new ones too. The experience of selling art in person bring so much more connection between the artist and the buyer. I love seeing what people are drawn to and how and why they make their selections. I can’t wait to do more shows like this. For other artists who are looking to sell in the Seattle market I’d highly recommend selling at West Elm. They don’t take a cut of your sales (as of the writing of this post), there’s no fee to show your work, you’re there for one afternoon, they provide you a beautiful table to set up at in their lovely store, and there’s so many windows that people just walking by the store get a great view of what you have on display! Feel free to contact me to learn more about this.

The second art show I ever did was put on by a wonderful and experienced woman named Anne who wanted to show my work and suggested I make collections. In her experience they sold better than a bunch of one-off pieces thrown together. For some reason that thought had never crossed my mind before. Even though I went to “art school” for my bachelor’s in media arts and animation I’m a self-taught watercolor artist and had never really considered myself good enough to make a collection. In my eyes I was still “just practicing”. At the time I had only shown mywork at Herkimer Coffee previously and didn’t consider myself a “serious artist” as I wasn’t selling my work consistently. I knew I loved to paint and draw but didn’t really think I could make enough money to consider it a serious side business, but Anne was totally right. I had people buying multiple pieces of mine at the show she put on because the customers could see how they looked together, had a consistent color theme and style, and wanted to cover a wall in their living room and even a nursery! So when I knew I had a show at West Elm coming up I printed off mini versions of my paintings that I had and arranged them on my desk beforehand to get an idea of what things looked like together and what else I needed to make before I could create a cohesive show. It also helped me see the similarities in my style across different pieces. For this show i focused on lots of nature and still life paintings that had similar color schemes that people could mix and match together.

APRIL: Buying our first home and having studio space!

This past year my husband and I were fortunate enough to buy our first home together! We were wary about finding something in the Seattle market, but luckily we had been going to open houses for months and knew what we wanted, what we didn’t want, what to expect for pricing, and what we were willing to sacrifice. We found a beautiful home in the Edmonds area and thanks to Jim and Monty we sealed the deal within a week of seeing the property! They were absolute life-savers when it came to confusing paperwork, deadlines, and terms I’d never heard of before. It was a whirlwind experience but we are all much more sane living in a larger space with twin ten-year-old boys, three cats, and two (mostly) adults-haha! Our 1000 sq. ft. two bedroom apartment had us all going more than a little nutty.

This is the first home I’ve ever purchased and I noticed myself realizing it had been over ten years since I’d washed my own car in a driveway or hadn’t had to deal with noisy neighbors or had a yard to mow and grow things in. I don’t have to put on my noise-cancelling headphones just to think and paint anymore and that feels like a luxury! We are looking forward to hosting more friend get-togethers and afternoons of painting and drawing with other artists here. I can’t wait for the spring to come around again to see all of our flowering bushes and trees come to life! Having a home does come with it’s own projects though, and Aaron has already tackled many things like making screens for our windows, pulling out rotted boards from the deck and replacing them with new ones, weeding, weeding, and more weeding of the yard that had gotten out of control, and spending several afternoons assembling IKEA furniture and storage solutions.

My husband Aaron and I also have our own room dedicated to a studio space we can work out of now! I think this is the room we are most excited about having and I’ll have to give a proper studio tour when we have things more put together. It’s been amazing having space for a proper desk, my supplies, scanner, printer, paper, paints, and stacks of inspiration. In the spring and summer you can look out the windows and see the lilac and rose bushes! The whole setting gets me relaxed and inspired to make some new art.

Printing out thumbnail versions of my paintings help me see what I have to work with for my upcoming shows.

APRIL: Trip to NYC!

My sisters and I in Central Park at our finest.

Aaron and I went back to the scene of the crime (where he proposed to me in Central Park in NYC) to see my youngest sister Rachel’s amazing musical being performed off Broadway! It’s a show titled Medusa which she and her cowriter have been working on for the last several years. It was so moving to see everything come together to create this live performance. It still amazes me how people write lyrics and create music from ideas they have in their heads and bring them to life. They recorded some of the songs from the show so please take a listen to them here! We ate tons of delicious food, navigated the subway, dined at a Jazz supper club , visited the Museum of Natural History, Grand Central Station, harassed my sister’s new boyfriend, and had more cream cheese on one bagel than I’ve ever had in my entire life.

While we were there I also got to meet one of my heroes, Fran Meneses. She’s been a huge inspiration to me artistically and personally. I discovered her on YouTube when I first moved out to Seattle a couple years ago and was trying to find my footing in a new city. While I was working part-time at two different design jobs she kept me company in my studio apartment. I love her honest and funny videos and illustrations of her life in Chile and Hastings with her husband and two cats. Back in March I found out via her Patreon that she was having a show at MoCCA (in NYC) and so Aaron and I made our way over to see her while we were in town. I was a blubbering mess meeting her and she is the sweetest human being ever. I discovered her at a time in my life where a lot of things were new and uncertain and I was feeling really insecure about myself, my art, and the direction my life was going in. Her calm, silly, fun, and educational videos brought a sense of peace and encouragement to be myself and that everything would work out. Fran has gone through several moves to different countries and cities herself and she always made it work even if it wasn’t the most ideal situation at the time. Now she’s thriving in the Big Apple! She really is just as wonderful in person as she is in her videos. You can read more about my experience on my Instagram here. I just truly appreciate how honest, open, and sincere she is about her journey as an artist and human being doesn’t apologize for being who she is. It’s so refreshing to see that amongst all the perfectly styled and curated Instagram feeds out there. She’s a wonderful reminder to be yourself and your audience will find you.

We brought her flowers for her show and she mentioned us in her next YouTube video! WHAAAT?!

JUly: Oregon coast + CAMPING

In July we took our annual trip to the Oregon coast with Aaron’s family and the boys and it was a lot of fun. We visited Haystack Rock, Seaside, and the little beach town of Gearhart (our favorite). It’s such a nice getaway with long sandy beaches that stretch for miles and miles. It’s so easy to relax and soak up the sun and enjoy some people watching while the boys jump waves and make sandcastles. One afternoon I was abruptly awoken by a dog sniffing my hat as I was napping on the beach!. I also think the little Piping Plover birds that run along the shore in their groups are the cutest little things with their little legs going a mile a minute. So much so, I painted one you can buy here!

Aaron and I also celebrated our one year wedding anniversary while we were here! The Grandparents watched the kids while we went out for dinner at a beautiful restaurant in Gearhart. What a treat! We talked about life, our future goals, how we were feeling a little overwhelmed with how busy the year had been, and how we can make more time for just us. I love that everything you need in Gearhart is within walking distance and when we were done stuffing our faces full of bread and seafood we waddled back to the beach house and could walk to get some gelato and then to the beach the next morning. There’s so many cute shops and beautiful galleries to see it makes it even harder to leave!

While we were in Canon Beach we had to stop at Sesame and Lilies. It’s my absolute favorite home good store. Diane Speakman curates the goods sold along with being the artist of all the paintings in her store! What a lovely combo! The first time I came across her store I lost track of time and found myself taking in all the beautiful rustic goods, linens, dinnerware, candles, and gorgeous paintings. I love the way she uses color and features the Oregon coast in her paintings. One of my lifetime goals is to have one of her paintings in our new home someday.

Just a regular outing with the Schlichting boys!

My phone didn’t do this sunset and sunbeams justice.

I’m always inspired to paint ocean life coming back from a beach trip!

JULY: Reuniting with family and cats

Max, Little Dude, and Princess together again!

When I moved out to Seattle three years ago I knew I couldn’t take all three of my cats with me to live in a tiny studio apartment in Seattle. Call me a crazy cat lady, but choosing which cat to take with me and not knowing when I’d be able to see the other two again was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in my life. Luckily my parents graciously took care of my two boy cats while I trekked across the country in my SUV with my girl cat, Princess. After moving into our new home last spring (and having much more space than our two bedroom apartment) we now had room to welcome the boy cats back into our lives!

So in July my middle sister Melanie and her husband took a road trip from Iowa to Seattle with my other two cats (Max & Little Dude) to reunite us all (much to Princess’ dismay…she liked being an only child)! After several long days on the road we thanked them with seafood, hugs, and beautiful views. While they were in town we did some site seeing and relaxing and Aaron got an idea of what living with three cats is like…haha. We joke that I brought the cats and he brought the kids into our relationship.

September: Grandpa’s suicide + Friday harbor trip

In September I got a text out of the blue from my sister Rachel to call my parents if I hadn’t talked to them recently. I called them right away and found out my Grandpa had taken his life that day. This came as a shock and incredibly sad news which left me with a lot of unanswered questions and heartfelt conversations with my sisters and friends. This is the first death we’ve had in my family since I was three where my other Grandfather passed away from a blood infection. I feel extremely fortunate to have trusted people I can go to in hard times like these and some friends who have gone through very similar experiences in their own lives. You never know how you’re going to react in these situations until they’re actually happening, and I’m so thankful for friends with big hearts like Jen. My husband knew I needed time away to help me process and recharge. At this same time our friend Jen already had a trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juans planned with some of her family and friends. She graciously invited me along and listened and shared her own stories of heartbreak and loss through my tears as we sat across the table from each other. The rest of the long weekend was filled with hikes, homemade meals, wine, Armie Hammer, Tom Hiddleston, laughter, tears, family, the best margarita I’ve ever had, and so much good food. It was just the ticket. Nature is abundant out here and is usually only a drive or ferry ride away. Being outside always helps me slow down, process whatever is happening in my life, and seems to uncomplicate things.

While I’ll never know the reasons he decided to end his life when he did, I’m glad to know my Grandma is being taken care of by her many children and grandchildren and is now in a home with other “inmates” (as she calls them, haha) where she can relax and not worry about caring for the farm my Grandma and Grandpa ran together all by herself. I got my artistic gumption from this side of my family and growing up my Grandpa would always want to see what sort of art projects we were working on so he could “grade” them. He enjoyed drawing himself and later in life got into metal sculpting. I keep one of the tiny “crickets” he made out of a fork on my desk to this day. While he was never the warm and fuzzy type, he embodied all that a conservative, calloused, opinionated, crotchety Iowan farmer would be-having been through and seen all he had in his life.

Several years ago when I was just getting into watercolors I gifted him a painting I made of his boots he wore every day around the farm. Rain, snow, or shine he had those boots on. He fed the cows in them, walked his land in them, and were always left on the front porch in the summers when he wasn’t working on restoring his old Ford model T.

NOVEMBER: Whidbey Island Cabin Getaway

Aaron and I agreed we needed a getaway from all the busyness of the year and decided to rent a cabin over on Whidbey Island for a long weekend together just the two of us. We enjoyed slowing down and eating the local food, hearing the pitter-patter of rain on our cabin rooftop, and snuggling up next to the fire at night in the wood burning stove. We both loved drawing in our sketchbooks and reading in the quietness of nature. I still find it so fascinating that everything is covered in moss here in the Pacific Northwest and the weather is always mild no matter what the season. You always have to be on the lookout for snails, slugs, and frogs along the trails and in the woods. I’ve also been surprised to find them on our porch or deck in the mornings from time to time! Turning over any rock reveals a collection of bugs, slugs, and other small creatures.

The cabin we stayed at was right next to a lake and had a few other cabins nearby as well. I didn’t realize how much city noise we hear at home on a regular basis until it was juxtaposed with how quiet the nights in the cabin were. I could definitely see us living on Whidbey in the future and being surrounded by nature and the stillness of it all. It really got out creative minds going. I think our only regret is we didn’t book the cabin for longer! We were just winding down before we had to wind back up to another week of work, cooking, cleaning, running the boys around, taking care of the cats, helping with homework, cello lessons, tutoring, and on and on. Any other parents out there feel me?

NOvember: Art business taxes-not so scary after all!

The perfect guide to Seattle small business taxes!

Jenny MacLeod has been a life-saver when it comes to taxes and managing a small business. She truly has a passion for helping small business owners (especially women!) and, being one herself, has first-hand experience in handling all the confusing and stressful parts with ease. Thank you, Ragon for recommending I get in touch with her! To be honest I think subconsciously I was holding myself back from doing more sales and shows this year because I was scared of handling all the tax parts myself. Enlisting Jenny’s help (and reading her fantastic book) has given me the confidence to tackle things like Urban Craft Uprising, the Edmonds Art Festival, Renegade Craft Fair, local farmers markets, and neighborhood art walks in the future. If you’re an artist or small business owner in the Seattle area and math and taxes freak you out too I’d HIGHLY recommend getting in touch with Jenny. #notanad

December: Commissions + work/life balance

Wrapping up the year, I had a commission to paint a friend’s dog, Frank (their cat’s name is Beans-get it? Frank and Beans? Ha!) which I painted in alcohol inks. I ended up painting two versions, scanning them in, and combining them in Photoshop. The result turned out pretty cool! I don’t know if I’ll be doing more pet portraits in the future but it’s something I’m exploring right now. Currently I do design work, motion graphics, and video editing during the day and paint on my nights and weekends. The goal is to eventually get to the point where my art is supporting me full-time but I’m a few years away from that still. Getting there! In December I also switched to a new team at work. Similar work to what I was doing, just more web and social based projects now. Being a part of this new team will give me better work/life balance, less stress, and a better state of mind to create on my off hours. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to coming home and not having anything more to give after a long day at work, commuting home, having dinner with the family, helping with homework, getting kids to bed, and playing with your animals. How are we supposed to have time to also create work that fulfills us after all that? I’ve been mulling around the idea of getting up earlier and creating work or just getting in the studio for an hour or so before my day really starts going. It’s hard thinking about that right now as I’m coming off a nasty head cold and the winters in Seattle are so long and dark (the sun doesn’t start rising until 8am-yuck!), but we’ll see what happens.

Looking into 2020

I’m not sure what all 2020 will bring, but I’m planning to have a work session with myself in the next couple weeks where I plan out at least a rough idea of goals I want to hit and things I’d like to do this year. I’ve realized the only plan I’ve had for the last three years has been “just get through today”. That’s no way to accomplish what you truly want! It’s just been such a busy time period of my life-moving across the country, finding work in the motion graphics field, networking, getting used to living in a bigger city than I’ve ever lived in before, finding a new place to live, dating and marrying a wonderful man with kids, learning to be a stepmom, buying my first house, navigating corporate America, selling over $1,000 worth of art in a year….it’s just been a lot! Now that we’re settling into our new home and routine, and I’ve been in the stepmom role for over a year now AND I’m part of a new team at work that really values work/life balance I feel like I can finally breathe again and have some headspace to think about things I WANT to do, not just stuff I HAVE to do.