artinjest

Poppies and ponderings

Remembrance Day is definitely different this year isn't it? I wanted to post this poppy painting here before putting it into the world and it made me think about how many strange things - big and small - we're all just doing differently.

It helps me to find the gratitude that is the core sentiment. It's also helpful for me right now to think about the people who lived through having their lives upheaved in much more dangerous and painful ways. Makes staying inside or wearing a mask or w...

Sketchbox Video is up!

Hello lovely folks!

I just finished the Sketchbox video for this month and wanted to share it here before I post on socials. This was a CRAZY week for a lot of people and I am just enjoying my looooooong exhale of relief.

HUGE thank you to you beautiful people for supporting the work I do and making these videos possible. You are all a big breathe of fresh air when the world is crazy. Thank you.

Enjoy!

B

I let the art supply store choose my supplies!

Hello Patrons!

Wanted to drop the new video here before I put it out on socials. I went to my local art supplies store and asked them to choose some random supplies for me to try out! I wanted to make something similar to the Sketchbox videos and you know how we love local here at Art in Jest HQ. All the supplies are from Wallack's Art and they're linked in the description of the YouTube video.

Hope this offers a little distraction during these wild times. Huge thanks to all of yo...

Something new in the works for you...

Hello. lovely Patrons!

Anyone up for some doodling? This month, I have a Sketching for Self Care Workshop and if you're in the $10 or $20 tiers you get a complimentary ticket to this session!

No special tools or skills are needed. If you have a pen and paper, you're all set. I'm looking into adding a livestream / monthly drawing session perk to the $10 ...

RBG Wallpapers are here!

Happy November Patrons! Your desktop and phone wallpapers are here for download! I knew I wanted something RBG themed and went out of my comfort zone a bit with more text-based artwork. Pretty pleased with how they turned out. The mailables include some other designs and a special RBG themed surprise that you might have caught on the lens or via socials. Can't wait for you to see them.

ALSO! Early peek for you Patrons but artinjes...

Reflections on Reflection : Daily Drawing Challenge COMPLETE

Woo!! We did it! 31 days done my friends and what a ride it has been.

The last pages have gone up on socials and wanted to share the final week with you lovely folks. Telling a more personal story like this was surprisingly difficult in places and it was a weird experience to do more auto bio and not keep it to the four-panel silliness I usually stick to.

That said, it was a super interesting exercise to think about this very very strange time in my life and make some work from it...

Daily Drawing Challenge Week 3

WOW we are already at week three!! Posts from day 19-25 PLUS the early look at day 26 that will go up elsewhere tomorrow.

It was profoundly weird to be simultaneously surrounded by people and still completely alone.  I am FASCINATED by other people and I love knowing what everyone's story is so I found it extremely challenging to pretend I was on my own little meditation island. 

The tenet of the meditation retreat was to avoid any and all communication with other studen...

Reflection. Daily Drawing Challenge week two!

The next set of posts from the daily drawing challenge this month. Ohhh what a strange experience it was. Check the first post about Reflection a few down or follow the daily posts on Insta.

Huge thank you to all of you beautiful people for making it happen. Telling this story is so strangely cathartic.

Be well,

B

Patrons only comic: The first and the second.

SO. I got the Covid Alert App when it first came out. I know it's not perfect, but it's what we've got. I was fine to have it on my phone and ignore it. THEN I got an alert that I had been exposed to someone who tested positive and that I should immediately book a test.

My FIRST response was completely and utterly selfish. That VERY self-focused "ME I MINE" mindset. I have it. I'm capable of it. And that was the first thing that kicked in when MY life was disrupted by the fact that I wa...

Happy and Thankful if a little impatient.

Hello lovely Patrons.

Wanted to share the early release of the October Sketchbox review AND with you all a lovely (if atypical) long weekend. I love being able to put together these videos and bring them here before they go out into the rest of the world.

I've been watching all the Studio Ghibli movies for the first time and the No Face character fascinates me. I find all those movies so aesthetically lovely combined with some strange but beautiful storytelling.

Thanks for b...

Reflection, Daily Drawing Challenge Week One

Hello Patrons!

I am so glad I took your advice and used Inktober to storytell. Putting “Reflection” out into the world has already been more cathartic than I expected and it’s only week one.

I’m posting the full first week (and a bit) here so you can binge if you’d like. INCLUDING today’s post which hasn’t gone out on socials yet. This story is from a very weird time and I learned a heckuva lot which I’m forever grateful for. I’ll be posting these in batches here...

What happens when you don't recognize yourself?

IT BEGINS! The daily drawing challenge for October. I took your suggestions into account (thanks for that you beautiful people) and we're going to be going through the strange story of how a die-hard extrovert voluntarily went to a TOTALLY SILENT meditation retreat despite NEVER having meditated and probably NEVER having been silent in her LIFE.

This story will go up on Insta and facebook each day, but I'll post the week's worth of drawings here all together so that you can binge in fou...

Fall Wallpapers are here. So is Autumn.

Happy October Patrons! I can't wait to start sharing the daily drawing challenge with you this month. Stay tuned for that. BUT in the meantime, your fall downloads are here and I love how they turned out. I liked these fall leaf paintings so much that I made this little animation. I've been playing with some of the animation functions in Procreate and this little gif was a great was to practice.

Downloadables are attached below. I wanted wallpaper for fall and I am (obviously) obsessed ...

Motivation. You are a jerk.

Sometimes I think of Motivation as this external, separate Brenda that exists outside of me and so can be coaxed and prodded. It's medium effective and sometimes super helpful when I'm trying to give myself a pep talk or a kick in the butt.

It ALSO means that sometimes I imagine Motivation as a SLACKER WRAPPED IN A FUZZY BLANKET AND DEFFOS NOT PULLING HER WEIGHT.

Either way, it's helpful sometimes when I'm trying to talk myself into my better habits and out of my bad ones.

S...

Obliviously observant.

I am the MOST observant space cadet this world has ever seen.

Happy Sunday beautiful people. Spot the small things but try not to kiss the big ones. 🧡

B

September Sketchbox!

Hello Patrons! Dropping the early version of the September Sketchbox unboxing for you lovely folks. For the record I am still unclear what "technical sketching" means. Maybe I've horribly misused those Faber-Castell pencils who knows...

Hope you're all enjoying the first feels of fall. I love this time of year so much. It's my birth month, it's the perfect temperature out, AND redheads looks great in all fall colours! WIN.

Enjoy the video you wonderful people. Thanks for making th...

Patrons only comic. This.

This.

Bubble Gum coloured absurdist game. This is what is making my brain happy these days. The actual content and goals of the game mean NOTHING to me. BUT. Dressing my adorable little Fall Guy up in his werewolf hat, matching gloves, pigeon pants and hectic-patterned outfit? 

Oh HECK yea.

Here's to finding joy in the nonsense any time you need to! Speaking of finding joy, BIG love to all of YOU beautiful patrons for making this little bit of nonsense possible. You are...

Ohhhh the colours I think.

Not so much the colours I see.

Wanted to share a little peek at another painting I’ve been working on. Love me a good architectural drawing. Been taking a lot of liberties colours-wise these days. It seems like a good place to run rampant when we need to be so cautious elsewhere right?

Huge thank you to all of you wonderful people for supporting the work I do and making this a space where my imagination can run a wee bit wild. You’re all a hectic colour explosion ...

ARH IT TOUCHED MY BRAIN

Okay okay it wasn’t so bad. I got a COVID test a while back and the whole thing ran like CLOCKWORK. I was super impressed with how quick and easy it was.

That said, the actual swab itself?? Like the weird qtip thing they put up yer nose?? Yeah definitely felt like someone was touching my brain. Small price to pay but definitely my least favourite part.

Hope you’re all staying safe and healthy friends. I know the back to school season is a stress factor for a lot of people. Thi...

Oooo this was so much fun.

Hello lovely folks! Guess what? Viviva Colorsheets sent me their NEW sketchbooks so I could try them out and share my thoughts. This was a collaboration they set up with Inktober. 

There's been some serious controversy around Inktober this year so I personally won't be following the prompts but I still see a lot of value in a daily drawing challenge and I'll definitely be making something awesome using these supplies.  

Viviva is doing a great job of focusing on bringing...

September Group Shelf Portrait!

Hello you beautiful Patrons and happy September!

I had SO MUCH FUN making our group Shelf Portrait and I must say our book stack turned out absolutely fabulous. We had a huge variety of genre and tastes, some multiple suggestions and even requests for the same book! I'd say this Shelf Portrait reflects this fabulous community pretty darn fantastically.

Attached are the digital downloads if you'd like to adorn your desktop or device with some snazzy wallpaper and as always if you n...

Inktober Is COMING! What shall we do?

TLDR: What would you like to see for Inktober this year? Polling the Patreon fam!

Hello beautiful Patrons! Inktober is JUST around the corner and the planning starts now! For those not familiar, Inktober is an annual drawing challenge where artists all over the world create pieces based on prompts every day of October. 

My first year of Inktober, I created Further Still. I ignored the prompts and made a story that ...

Sketchbox video time!

Hello Patrons!

The early release of this month's Sketchbox video is here. I hope you all enjoy this little unboxing before it goes out into the world of socials. Pastels are definitely NOT my strong suit so this whole box was a big time stretch out of the comfort zone.

If you happen to be a lover of pastels let me know! I'd love to send some of these to someone who's looking to get into them since I suspect they MAY not be my medium!

That said, I hope you enjoy watching me f...

Practice doesn’t make perfect.

It just makes progress.

Speaking of progress! I’m finishing our shelf portrait this weekend so if you haven’t had a chance yet, send me a note here or on any social media with the book of your choice and big love to everyone who sent in their picks already. I can’t wait to send you some September Shelf-Portrait perks. All my thanks for supporting the work I do so I can make them!

Happy Friday friends.

B

Excessive necessities.

I've tried (and failed) multiple times over the course of my life to try to become a runner. As someone with a moderate level of exercise in my life, I actually felt entitled to being able to run. Lemme tell ya, running has humbled me every time. I have long had the mindset that I am not a runner (and I still do). 

So when my partner got this giant treadmill, I didn't really expect to use it. At the start of the pandemic it seemed excessive. The thing is huge and ornate and complex...

On Judgement.

Hello lovely Patrons.

Wanted to share this comic here before it goes out on socials and ramble on a little bit about it. So my return to the gallery was overall lovely. It's really easy to socially distance in the National Gallery because she's HUGE. I had the most wonderful visit that felt largely normal - something I have a real hankering for these days.

BUT I noticed that my brain was making up all kinds of stories about the people around me if they were acting in a way I didn'...

Inner child is bulldozer.

I get a nice routine alllll laid out and every damn time...

New comic for you beautiful patrons before it goes out on socials. Do you ever just get things in place and your left brain / inner child / chaotic self just rolls in on a bulldozer?

Sighhhh.

B

NEW Class up on Skillshare! Painting Shiny Objects ;)

Hello lovely Patrons!

I just added a new class to Skillshare and wanted to give you guys access if you'd like to try it out! 

Already on Skillshare? Find it here: https://skl.sh/3fhSnQ3

If you use this referral code, you should be able to access the class without a membership if you'd like to give this platform a try: https://skl.sh/30er9pl

August Wallpapers: Cool Cats Rockin' Masks!

Iiiiiiiit's August! Maybe the weirdest summer of all yeah? This month's designs are all kinds of cool cats rocking their sweet masks. If Mr T, the Queen of England, Ru Paul, Wonder Woman, Marge Simpson, Snoop Dogg and Ruth Bader Ginsberg can rock their masks we can too!

Hope you dig the wall papers this month and as always, if you need sizes for alternate devices just let me know and we'll get you sorted. 

I can't wait for you all to see the sticker sets and paintings in the ...

It's technically still July!

Hello Patrons! 

JUST in the nick of time we have the July Sketchbox video! Bit of a longer version for you folks on Patreon and if you'd like the quicker one check out my instagram or youtube channel.

This month I was inspired by the work of civil rights activist John Lewis. If you're curious, The Daily just did a great podcast about his life and work that you can check o...