#artbyjessicajewett

[artbyjessicajewett]

Hi everyone! I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Jessica and I was a previous user of Tumblr before it was bought. I decided to come back.

Today I'm not so much a fandom person (my first account was a Supernatural and Destiel vibe) as I am living my "real" life as an artist, author, historian, and disability rights activist. I'll be 42 in February and I live on the border of Ohio and West Virginia - like, literally on the border. I can almost throw a rock and hit West Virginia from my apartment building. Living here after spending over twenty years in Georgia has been a fresh change. Georgia is not a great place for people with complex disabilities like mine. I get much better medical care and access to state services here in Ohio, which is why I came here. My ancestry is Appalachian anyway, so this does feel like home in a strange way.

My art is what I do the most. This is me doing a commission order a few years ago.

You're immediately wondering about my disability and why I do everything with the tools in my mouth. I was born with a condition called Arthrogryposis and that just simply means my joints have very little range of motion. Much of my body is stiff. So I taught myself to play with my toys, markers, etc., with my mouth rather than my hands before I could even read or go to school. It was natural for me. I live a happy life and I'm not upset about being born with this disability. You don't have to feel sorry for me because I don't feel sorry for me.

At this stage in my life, I'm working on art commission number 91 with about 50 more on my wait list. My work specializes in black and white pencil portraits, mostly of different historical periods. Most of the art people order from me has to do with my ability to interpret their previous lifetimes (yes, reincarnation) as well as introducing them to their spirit guides. I do regular art with no spiritual complex as well, like family portraits, friends portraits, pet portraits, architecture, fan art, original characters, some fantasy, witchcraft, folk magic, paranormal, historical events, etc. I'm heavily trained in realistic very detailed portraits, so if you're looking for anime or cute illustrations, I'm probably not your woman.

This is the last commission I finished.

This is an interpretation of that customer's spirit guide as they appeared before they died. This is "my style" of art, as they say. I like to do color art too but I finish black and white orders much faster.

Besides art, I'm a lifelong student of 19th century history in America focusing on women's roles, families, social issues, disability history, and LGBTQIA+ history. I was in school to specifically become an antebellum and Civil War historian before chronic illnesses forced me to drop out. Higher education 20+ years ago was a casserole of nonsense when it came to helping disabled students succeed. Don't get me started.

I'm also a lifelong paranormal researcher focusing mostly on hauntings tied to antebellum and Civil War America including old folklore. My mother and grandmother were Missouri folk magic practitioners. I was raised in an understanding of the unseen world. I also collect reincarnation cases from the Civil War period sparked by my own case from that time. I'll talk about that elsewhere if you want.

Follow me here if you like. I'm just getting started. I have to relearn how to use this app.

-Jessica

Shop: etsy.com/shop/ArtByJessicaJewett

If you're not interested in art, I also accept tips if you enjoy my content. I'm at $ArtByJessicaJewett on CashApp, at Jessica-Jones-1002 on Venmo, and PayPal.me/ArtByJessicaJewett on PayPal.

[allthebeautifulthings9828]

Please go check out the 40% off sale happening on my shop right now. Prices will never be lower than this, otherwise I’d be taking a loss on the work I do. By shopping indie artists like me, you’re helping us support ourselves. The sale includes art prints as well as spirit guide, past life, and regular art commissions. Good until 11:59 pm EST on February 15.

My shop: www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByJessicaJewett

[wheelchairwitch]

Please go check out the 40% off sale happening on my shop right now. Prices will never be lower than this, otherwise I’d be taking a loss on the work I do. By shopping indie artists like me, you’re helping us support ourselves. The sale includes art prints as well as spirit guide, past life, and regular art commissions. Good until 11:59 pm EST on February 15.

My shop: www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByJessicaJewett

[artbyjessicajewett]

Oh my god you're so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So amazing , looks like it takes so much strenght on the neck and back and maybe even the core too? And to pair that with the precision and coordination for the drawings to look so fire!!! Kudos to you that is so cool, true masters work there

Aw, thanks so much for the love!

My upper body definitely behaves differently than a typical person. It's almost like my muscles got installed backwards. I can't lean forward or even touch my chin to my chest because I work on my stomach so much. My upper back and neck are very strong. I evolved to adapt to my other limitations. The downside is my neck is "fat" like a football player because of the strength I've built over the years. I envy women with long slender necks. My front teeth are crooked too because I use all the tools with my mouth. So in order to have a fulfilling life, I've had to sacrifice some things like straight teeth and a "typical" body. I cope with a lot of pain too (I have fibromyalgia on top of everything) so I have to be careful and take a lot of breaks during my projects. I'm spiritually fulfilled by creating things though, so I think it's worth it.

[artbyjessicajewett]

My new Social Security starts October 3, which will give me the raise I need to actually survive. (I opted out of SSI for Disabled Adult Child benefits, which calculates your benefits differently.) In the meantime, please help. I'm pretty close to 0 in the bank and I'm desperate to avoid fees for going negative. I just need to stay afloat for a few more weeks if anyone feels willing to leave a tip or shop at my store.

Shop: etsy.com/shop/ArtByJessicaJewett

CashApp: $ArtByJessicaJewett

Venmo: Jessica-Jones-1002

PayPal: jessicajones9828@gmail.com

[artbyjessicajewett]

Your work is really impressive. I can't help but wonder though have you ever had a pen bleed while you're using it and gotten ink in your mouth?

Oh yeah! Accidents happen all the time, although I do know how much pressure to put on pencils or pens or paint brushes or whatever. I'm going to be 42 in February and I started making art when I was about 3 or 4, so that's a long time to learn nuances. I've had cheap pens crack and leak in my mouth. Ink tastes awful but not as bad as paint. When I do oil painting, I have help handling the actual paint because I don't want to ingest chemicals. I've even put plastic bags over my hair to protect it from the messiness. Now I do most of my art with mechanical pencils, colored pencils, or alcohol markers to keep the mess to a minimum. If I paint, the safest for me in case of accidental ingestion is gouache or watercolor.

[artbyjessicajewett]

Hi! Your works looks amazing. I was wondering, since you seem open to asks: do you use speech-to-text for typing, or something else?

Thanks!

An old picture with my brother but you can see my computer setup here. I use speech-to-text sometimes, like when I'm working on my books, but the trouble is there can't be any background noise. Background noise distorts what gets typed on the screen. So when I'm not alone or I can't turn off the TV, I use a pen in my mouth to type on my keyboard. I use a stylus in my mouth to use my phone as well. At my fastest, I was doing about 52 words per minute with the pen in my mouth.

[artbyjessicajewett]

ORIGINAL ART FOR SALE:

It would help me a lot if I could sell my Hecate art. I'm short on money this month. This is my interpretation of the goddess and her hounds in the 1800s. This is the real, original art, not a print. It's about 11x14 and made with Prismacolor colored pencils on mixed media paper.

Here's the link:

[artbyjessicajewett]

I'm watching Civil War documentaries (just girlie things 💅🏻) and my little scruff pup literally jumped between the TV and me and started barking at Confederate generals on the screen. I wish I had it on camera. Jefferson Davis's image got her started. GOOD GIRL! I even waited to see if she would have a reaction to General Grant or General Sherman and she didn't care one way or the other. She only barks at the Confederate leaders. If I had any doubt before that she's my dog, I don't have any doubts anymore!

Art posts will start coming again tomorrow. I'm laying down right now for my rest and I will be doing work after dinner. Sometimes I post very late at night and sometimes I just wait until the next day. You'll start seeing art commissions again tomorrow most likely.

[artbyjessicajewett]

your art is really really amazing!!! looking forward to seeing your future work also >:3c

art wise, can i ask if youd mind showing something youve done less recently youre still proud of?

Thanks so much! I did this painting about 15 years ago, I think? Something like that. I ended up giving it to a man. A word of advice for artists--don't ever give your art to people unless you are absolutely certain they will treat it with the utmost respect. I'm betting he doesn't even know where this is anymore and this was an oil painting that took me about 20 hours to complete. It was actually my first oil painting. I completely regret giving it away. But I'm extremely proud of the work I put into it and how I was able to take my oil painting lessons and make them work for me.

[artbyjessicajewett]

New profile picture.

[artbyjessicajewett]

I have finished portrait number 91 (finally). This one took a lot longer than I wanted it to because there were areas of tedious detail, like the plaid handbag, the curly blonde hair, the diamond bracelet, etc. Tedious. This woman in her present state is a spirit guide for my customer. Her final lifetime ended in 1943 in the Lackawanna train wreck. I call her Miss Hollywood because she had dreams of becoming an actress but she never got that far. This spirit was interesting because she wanted very specific things included in her portrait - things that were goals before her death like the diamond bracelet and the slightly finer clothing than what she was wearing on that day. This has to do with parallels and messages for my customer. This was a very interesting commission. I'm interested in what will come in portrait number 92. Stay tuned.

Here's where to get yours if you'd like to have a piece of art from me depicting one of your spirit guides or one of your past lives:

[artbyjessicajewett]

Happy fall, y'all! It's an older picture but I do clean up nice when I'm not worn down by my body. Sometimes it's important for me to remind myself that I'm more than just a patient trying to survive and that I did have beauty and I did go out and have fun once upon a time. Today was the first real sweater weather day here in southeast Ohio but I'm sure we'll have another burst of summer before it ends for good. I have some personal goals this autumn involving taking better care of myself outside of medications and checkups. I mean like taking time for nicer feminine things like sweet smelling lotion on my body before bed or doing my hair more (I've chosen a new shade of red making its debut next week) or putting on a little makeup. I've been doing some reading about mental health and disabilities. Some of the difficulties for women are that we get so mired down in the details of surviving our conditions that we forget to live as women (if we choose - I just happen to be very feminine). Magnesium has been added to my pill box because fibromyalgia patients are seeing a boost of energy with it. I've been taking it for 5 days and I already feel a difference. I said I wasn't going to work this weekend, but here I am on a Saturday night setting up reference photos for next week's commissions. I've got number 93 and 94 set up. I am not good at giving myself time off, it seems. But I am trying to remember that I am more than my physical condition. I am a woman who likes to feel like a woman. I need to remember to look after that part of myself too.

[artbyjessicajewett]

And portrait number 92 is complete. His clothing took a day longer than I anticipated but I got it done in time to have a clean finish so I can have a weekend off. Weekends are the only time I have to play The Sims or work on writing my books. So this lovely Japanese man is an interpretation of who my customer was in her past life. All of us will experience life at some point from different genders, religions, economic backgrounds, ethnicities, etc. It's not at all unusual for me to pick up on a different gender and ethnicity for any customer. What I know for sure is this man had a son who left his young family and left Japan for work. I'm told this was probably the later half of the 1800s. After the son was gone, his wife died of an illness and left young children for this man. He raised his grandchildren by himself. Somehow this ties into my customer's current life or I would not have picked up on it. We'll see. Onward to number 93 on Monday!

If you're new here, I'm Jessica and I'm a portrait and historical artist living in Ohio. Most of the art people order from me has to do with my ability to interpret their previous lifetimes as well as introducing them to their spirit guides. I do regular art with no spiritual complex as well. Everything I do is with the tools in my mouth due to the nature of my disability. 💜✌🏻

[artbyjessicajewett]

I'm scribbling away on art commission number 92. This one is pretty simple, so I should finish it tomorrow. We're looking at an interpretation of my customer in one of her past lives. I like this case because it gives me a chance to remind people that, as we move through our soul journeys, we will experience life as every gender, ethnicity, economic background, etc. My customer had this previous life come out first - a male body in Japan. I'm not sure about the time period yet, but the language I'm hearing is absolutely a type of Japanese. My best guess right now is the time period was at least the 19th century or earlier. My knowledge of any Asian culture is so minimal and that's making this case very hard for me. I do know that this Japanese man had a son who left the country (unknown reason) and eventually the wife of that son got sick and died, leaving this man to finish raising their children. He would have been much older than this picture shows at that time. We'll see what comes out when I finish the portrait tomorrow.

If you're new here, I'm Jessica and I'm a portrait and historical artist living in Ohio. Most of the art people order from me has to do with my ability to interpret their previous lifetimes as well as introducing them to their spirit guides. I do regular art with no spiritual complex as well. Everything I do is with the tools in my mouth due to the nature of my disability. Go get on my commission list at etsy.com/shop/ArtByJessicaJewett 💜✌🏻

[artbyjessicajewett]

Are you interested in knowing more about one of your past lives or your spirit guides? I can help you through my spirit art. Now taking orders to be completed between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I'm raising the cash to get my puppy her final set of shots and to get her spayed.

Here are some examples of my work: