I had a bit of a slow year in terms of making, with so much else going on in my life.  But what I did make felt more authentic than anything I’ve ever made before. I feel like I’m finally hitting a style that is truly all me, and I think that’s because I focused more on making what I want to make instead of trying to push out shop updates or hit certain price points.  I know that doesn’t necessarily make me a savvy business-person, but I think it’s been really good for my art. In the coming year, expect to see more hollow forms, beads, and mixed metals in my work. It’s been an interesting and trying 2019, excited and terrified to see what the year of hindsight brings.

Does anyone else ask the question “who am I?” as much as an artist does?  You kind of have to do it in the process of every work of art you create.

Does this represent me?

Am I being derivative?

Do I want anyone else to look at this?

What’s my message?

What do I stand for?

WHO AM I?!?!?!

Well, I’m this girl (pictured right) in my infamous #bathroomselfieatapunkshow.  Always a little bit messed, a little bit disorganized, and a lot a bit rebel without a cause.  Well, rebel with a lot of causes.  Rebel with a new cause each day.

My art has always been a little disjointed, just like me.  I am all over the place, the Madonna (pop star version) of paint and metal… not as good, but you know, master of re-invention.  Most things I do are totally different from most other things I’ve done.  I suppose that’s why I’ve hopped from painting to beading to clay to metal to pencil to whatever might be next.  My style varies from piece to piece, and no one ever seems to be quite sure where I’m coming from without a hand drawn road map.

My paintings are often just shapes, but they are shapes with a cause, rebellious little curves and angles that have a point.  That point is usually rooted in my convoluted, Philosophically educated, but artistically minded world view.  It’s not a surprise to me that few people know where I’m coming from.  But I’m writing this today for two reasons.  One, in the last couple of days, I found my voice in metal.  I made a design that felt like a sigh of relief.  It felt like finding who I am (pictured left).  It might look like rocks and pointy shit to you, and the one below that came next might look like some rocks and a skull… but there is intention in it.  There are no perfect lines.  There are no perfect shapes.  There are no perfect balls.  They are purposely asymmetrical and uneven, with mismatched stones and a rebel’s demeanor.  They don’t color in the lines.  They are me.

The second reason that I am writing this, is that a fellow maker on Instagram inspired me to once again, for the millionth time, remember who I am, with my “lived in face” and my love for things that are a bit “off” (Thanks Amanda of Artemis Adorned).  It is her words that describe perfectly why I finally see myself in the new pieces I’ve been making recently.  I absolutely abhor perfection.  It’s annoying, and patronizing, and impossible to attain.  I love flaws.  Everything that’s “flawed” about me, well, those are the things that are the most ME.  My tulip shaped nose, my cumbersome breasts, my messed hair complete with cowlick, my strange wit, my aggressive honesty, my fierce and unmovable integrity, my hyper-empathy, my crooked wtf face (pictured left), big ass, torch scarred arm, that new wrinkle on the right side of my neck, my 4 grey hairs, whatever it is… I am at home in my imperfection, and it is in imperfect metal, where I found my voice once again.

Here’s a little video from a previous art show that I was in where I talk more about my obsession with flaws… one of mine being that I am not a strong public speaker.  But it’s cool, you’ll catch my drift by the end.

Here’s some other shit I made below.  Thanks for stopping by.  Check out my strange metal things at JenvyFoxRocks.com or at the shop link on my home page.

Now in my Etsy shop, I have a new collection of jewelry.  The collection is hand crafted using polymer clay and genuine gemstones.  My inspiration comes from nature, culture, architecture, and music.  Below are samples from my collection.  Free U.S. Shipping with coupon code FREESHIP.

Punk Rocks

Gaia Rocks

Moon Rocks

Birds

Lately, one of my inspirations has come directly from nature.  I have been very interested in rocks.  What I love about rocks, is that the more  they are flawed, the more interesting they are.  People tend to value flawless things, like diamonds with no visible inclusions.  For me, after spending 8 years selling diamonds in a retail setting, I have grown tired of them.  Yes, they twinkle, sparkle, and shine, but in their perfection, they do not have the same character as stones with internal “flaws”.  In people, I also find the flaws more interesting.  Bodies are meant to differ, just as stones are, and I want to present the flaws in both to a world that tends to mistakenly demand perfection.  I have explored flaws in three ways of late: I have used gemstones, directly on canvas; made gemstone bracelets; and created paintings of bodies.

Gemstone Geometry – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Sides – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Wall – 6×6 – $30

Gemstone Sunrise – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Tree – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Sunset – 6×12 – $60

Gemstone Sun and Moon – 8×24 – $175

The Middle Path – 8×24 – $175

Bodies, just like gemstones, are more interesting, and in my perspective more beautiful, when they are not all the same.  The first two images are inspired by beautiful bodies that are altered and manipulated in order to rob them of their true beauty to force them into a mold that they do not belong in.  Both women are looking, without eyes, at the parts of their bodies that are being pixelated or “airbrushed”, a process that is often used in all types of media to impact the value of bodies in culture.  The third painting, is a woman, made of wood, in parts.  The intention of this piece is not morbidity, but instead a metaphor, for how it feels, how it hardens the heart and everything else, to be reduced to a pile of parts.  We are more than that.

Pixelated One – 10×20

Pixelated Two – 10×20

Made of Wood – 8×24