Odes to Animals

I've just finished up a short series of five portraits, this time the subject is animals. The portraits are odes to some of my wild friends, including: Brown Bear, Sparrow, White Tailed Deer, Fox and Jack Rabbit. I've surrounded them with some of their own loves as well as some of my own.

My friend was leaving his house the other day to go feed birds in the park. "I love animals!" He smiled. He pointed to his shirt, which was teeming with bears and trees and wildlife. "See?!" He gave me his 10 pound sack of bird seed and said, "You know what you can tell about a person that loves animals?" He paused and I tried to understand the question. "...They love people even more." He gave me a hug and we went our separate ways.

Animals have a soft and mysterious place in my heart. They seem to know something we don't and we've been given the unique responsibility of caring for them and sharing this world with them. These portraits are my small attempt to capture their majesty and mystery.

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I'll be turning one of my five portraits into a beautiful letterpress print. Please vote for your favorite here.

FREE Digital Portraits!

The $20 Digital Portraits have been showing up in some good places lately, thanks to some generous magazines and blogs. Thank you to everyone who's been spreading the word about the portraits, and inviting people to the Facebook group.

Keep your eyes on 21st & Ivy and the UVU Review in the next week or two, for a chance to win a free Digital Portrait!

$20 Holiday Portraits

Need a fun and unique Christmas/holiday gift?

$20 DIGITAL HOLIDAY PORTRAITS

From now until November 25, I'll be taking orders for $20 Digital Portraits. Using a photo of your choice, I'll draw and color a picture of you (or your person of choice) on the computer. I'll give you an 8.5x11", 300 dpi, CMYK, print-ready file that you can hang up on the wall, or use as a profile pic, or whatever. (See pictures on wall for examples)

HOW DO I GET ONE?
1) Send 1 or 2 pictures of yourself to jess.smiley@gmail.com
2) Tell me your favorite animal and/or colors (really!)
3) I'll start your portrait once you've put $20 into my paypal account (I'll email directions).

Check the Facebook page if you have any questions, or send me a message: jess.smiley@gmail.com

Thanks!

Digital Portraits II: With A Vengeance

Here are some more digital portraits I've been working on. I know you didn't ask to see 'em, but here they are...

$20 Portraits

I'm saving up to get a new printer/scanner/copier, so that I can make prints and better pictures. So...

From July 27-August 10, I'll be offering digital portraits for only $20. Here's how it works: 1) Send 1 or 2 pictures of yourself to jess.smiley@gmail.com 2) Tell me your favorite animal and/or colors (really!) 3) I'll start your portrait once you've put $20 into my paypal account (I'll email directions). What you get: an 8.5 x 11", CMYK, 300 dpi printable portrait, and a profile pic-sized version. Check out the Facebook group here.

***If you just want a small portrait for your profile pic, I'll do it for free, but paying orders will take priority.

Portraits

Here are some digital portraits I've made. I can't help but think of early cameras and the way projectors were used in early paintings, casting moving images on the dark walls of a room. I like using a solid color in the background, with line drawings of mountains, clouds, trees, etc. Do you need a portrait? Let me know.

Self-Portrait (Blanket Magazine)

Blanket Magazine was kind enough to invite me to contribute to their Portrait Issue (out today!) and asked me to make a self-portrait just for them. (I guess I cheated, though, 'cause I kinda made it for me, too). 

How rad is this cover? They include the image as a free wallpaper in the magazine and they also include another wallpaper and font that come as a package. Very cool. 

It's been a while since I consciously made a self-portrait and it was a fun project. I haven't done much with digital imagery, so I designed my portrait in Illustrator. It was fun enough that I just might make some more pictures like this...

In other news: 

>Thursday, June 4: Free concert at Gurus in Provo from 8-10pm

>Friday, June 5: Exhibit of my newest series of drawings "New Mistakes" at the Utah Arts Alliance Gallery in SLC, 6-9pm (music by James Barlow and more pictures by Gheybin Comish and Patric Bates)

>Saturday, June 6: 1-hour concert at Wheeler Farm as part of "Farm Days", with Andy Bean, Mitch Parker, and Jordan Hix

Self-Portrait

What's with all the self-portraits? (Besides the fact that this Jess Smiley character is so self-absorbed?) I think it all comes down to the fact that "self" is the only thing I can really gauge.  This picture was made two years ago with a film camera, some drawings, tape, a mirror, and a borrowed camera. My hair was shorter then, and I always wore that dark blue jacket and a Walkman. Talking Heads "Little Creatures" was my favorite album at the time.

Last year this time it was Tom Petty's "Wildflowers".

Now I don't listen to music much.

Why did I tell you that?

Mel Order

Mel Stringer is quite the gal. She drew a picture of me and didn't even tell me! I stumbled on it while checking out her website and was filled up with a month's worth of sunshine!

As if I needed another reason to draw completely digital! 

Portraits of Me!

You're in a pinch. You have to draw a self-portrait for class, but you suck at drawing and its due tomorrow. No problem! Just have Rob or Gheybin draw you!

Gheybin drew this while we all waited in the hotel lobby.

Rob is a copy-cat and has to do everything Gheybin does. So he drew me in the lobby, too. I think I tried drawing Gheybin, but its probably suck.

If you aren't pretentious enough to be satisfied by your friend's portraits alone, get your family to draw pics of you: