Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Jewell.
Becky, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Yes! I was born in 1986 in a small town in Colorado called Leadville. Leadville is the highest city in the United States, sitting at 10,200 feet, and it’s often the coldest place in the lower 48 states. As a child growing up in this isolated place, I became interested in art and computers. When I made art at school, it made my friends happy, so I kept making art and choosing art as a creative and professional pursuit. I was fortunate to attend The University of Colorado Boulder and graduate with a Bachelor’s in art, and a Master’s Degree in Literature.
After graduation, I moved to Texas and found myself in Houston, where I wrote and produced most of Tilted Sun, an independent comic available at www.tiltedsun.com. My mediums of choice are an unusual combination: I produce only oil paintings and comics. Through both mediums, my primary interest as an artist is investigating relationships, identity, the nature of reality. Comics are really just many paintings, and paintings are splash pages.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Though I’ve studied all forms of art from photography to film to printmaking, I’ve settled on two mediums: digital art and oil painting. I create art because I want to tell stories, and because I believe that art makes people’s lives better – it tells us who we are and who we can be. Nobody remembers a culture for its spreadsheets! It’s art that carries us through life. For this reason, I believe in making art that can be appreciated by anyone. This is true for my work in both painting and comics – people who look at my art and get something out of it don’t necessarily need to be in the ‘art world’ or in the ‘comics scene’.
Ultimately though I make art because I think there are many beautiful things in the world, or there are hidden beauties waiting to be found, and I want to share those with people.
I create all of my digital art on an iPad Pro, utilizing Procreate and Clip Studio Paint. Both are excellent and help me produce ideas quickly. I’m often driving in my car and I’m struck by an image or an idea, and the iPad helps me capture the idea quickly.
Oil paintings are the exact opposite as far as speed. They involve a ton of chemical knowledge and planning. To create oil paintings, I’ve had to learn a lot as I transitioned from using acrylic to using oil. I can never go back.
On my website, www.beckyjewellart.com, the main page is a portfolio which contains both the oil paintings and digital art. I deliberately choose to not separate these two mediums. For a long time, critics did not see digital art as a legitimate medium. My belief is that all of my art deserves to stand together.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
I think the challenge of creating something new is very ‘there’ for a lot of artists. We artists often think that the only way to get noticed or appreciated by critics, or even by our peers, is to create something that has never been done before – sometimes this turn into doing something shocking. We live in an attention economy, but it’s a bit more like a culture where everyone showers attention on someone and then forgets very quickly. If you asked me for the biggest news story on twitter or the New York Times last week, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you, even though I spent 30 minutes reading about it.
The hard lesson of our ultra-connected society is that ultimately, shock value doesn’t last. Our challenge is to REMEMBER well. What lasts is the ability to relentlessly be yourself and trusting yourself to know what is good. Oftentimes the world doesn’t like it when you ‘be yourself’ but this is what we have to do!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can see my paintings at www.beckyjewellart.com. You can see my comic, Tilted Sun, for free at www.tiltedsun.com
Supporters can always contribute on Patreon and get rewarded: https://www.patreon.com/beckyjewell. A gallery in Colorado carries my work: http://www.harper-rose.com/. I’m also on twitter and I’m currently running an experiment where I tweet only in images: twitter.com/beckyjewell
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beckyjewellart.com
- Email: becky.jewell@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/beckyjewell
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beckyjewell/
- Twitter: twitter.com/beckyjewell
- Other: www.tiltedsun.com
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