Some Project Catch-Ups

Back in action after a week off for my birthday. This year, as a treat to myself, I took a hiatus from work and most computer-related things to reset some priorities and dig in to some personal projects. I finished a few projects that had been languishing, “nearly” finished a few others, and started prepping for some brand new work. Also FINALLY bought my new MacBook. It’s so nice to have a machine do my bidding without the 10 minute pinwheel of doom each time I click …

Mini portrait sketchbook (SB8) - nearly there with 4 pages left!

All in all it was the best way to kick off this year’s #43initiatives project. Determined to stay focused and productive through to 44!

Celebrating this Beautiful World

Happy Earth Day! I hope everyone can take a moment to get outside and observe just one amazing thing about the world around you. It’s there if you’re willing to take a moment and look!


Today I’m celebrating by continuing hand coloring experiments on relief prints. I pulled out an older artist proof of my butterfly creation myth linocut before I make final plans for an edition. Just playing around with colored pencil today.

I hope you experience something amazing today!

Happiness Returned: A Butterfly Creation Myth, Hand colored linocut (1/1). © 2022 Jen Sheckels

January Moods: An Experiment

In December, while sorting through all sorts of feelings and moods, I discovered that I (more often than not) found a moment of solace and/or a sense of camaraderie with the aspects of the day's weather. I'm not 100% sure what spurred me to do it, but starting with January 1st I made point to look to the skies at multiple points during the day, taking mental notes and photos. At the end of the day I created a small, abstract pastel work that combined those notes and my overall mood for the day. Thus was born Weather as Mood: January 2021.

"Weather as Mood: January 2021", pastel on paper. ©2021 Jen Sheckels

For 31 days I recorded these observations and moods in quick pastel impressions. This is well out of my usual wheelhouse, so it was fun to simple play with color and shape. If nothing else, I got my hands dirty with pastels, which is always a good feeling. I may make the attempt again in the future.

What's in an Expression?

Somehow, I never make time to post. That’s life I guess. But after pondering how to jumpstart some creativity over the last few weeks, I've picked up my sketchbook to explore facial expressions. With all the Zoom meetings and classes, I see a lot of different faces on a daily basis. So why not?

I'm using short gesture drawing sessions as warm up. In today’s haul:

And at the end of today's session, picked up a sketch from last week to play around with a possible "next step" in pastels. Not sure this will lead anywhere, but it's been fun to play around with.

Possible next steps for the sketches … pastel portraits? We'll see!