Art With Jess

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Art With Jess

Hello, I’m Jess, I’m an abstract artist and freelance art coordinator working with groups and 1:1.

My practice focuses on expressionism through therapeutic frameworks, that help towards mental health and self-reflection.

29/09/2025

SLOW DOWN

Went on an amazing mushroom foraging experience to get my mind off creating absolutely nothing with my time away, and to overcome creative block - and to my surprise it did just that.

This is what I created from that experience alone and I realised having time away, experiences that may seem away from being creative can actually stir creativity.

Claude Monet found influence with his water garden in Giverny, Normandy. Van Gogh was influenced by life itself with his sunflowers and people working.

Being creative is HARD. And it’s hard to be creative every minute of everyday because the truth is, daily life isn’t that inspiring, but finding the beauty of the everyday requires slowing down to observe it in real time.

Moral of the post; Slow down, be grounded, be grateful for the people in your life and allow life, places, people, conversations, feelings etc to influence you.

01/09/2025

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” - Lao Tzu

Recently I haven’t been feeling myself, personally and creatively.

Since I’m slowly heading towards 30 I’m thinking a lot about what do I want to do with my life, how do I stop feeling so left behind. Do I want to be an artist anymore, do I even have an identity as an artist since I don’t actively create nor have motivation to create. High expectations from others, networking is bleak, sometimes uncomfortable, how many followers do I have, how can I monetise this, not everything has to be monetised, but how do I stay relevant but genuine?

“Existential crisis “ I say dramatically.

So the picture of my plant is quite fitting. I tried to propagate my Begonia plant from neglect, scared it would never grow back again - until it did.

It came back healthier, thriving even, and now I have 2 thriving Begonias.

Moral of the post: It’s okay to be scared for the future, hesitant even, but be excited for it- for you’re not going to get told you’re living your best years until after you’ve lived them, and they at one point started off as something to be scared of.

block

29/07/2025

🖌️Lowry Project - Guess & Draw 🖌️

Lovely last session with Talk About It Mate exploring Lowry’s 25th anniversary through explorative drawing, looking at influences, techniques, stylistics, emotional expression and lastly the QUIZ.

Although I got the guys to explore their own interpretation of a lowrys drawing in groups, with different interpretations, the last half of the session I wanted to see how much everyone remembered Lowrys life throughout the project.

Well done “red lips” ( group name) and better look next time “matchstick men” (group name) 👎 I loved this time with you guys, all the best ❤️

PART OF -
* A project delivered by Lowry in partnership with Salford CVs and made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

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29/07/2025

✨Blind Drawing ✨

What a great session on Monday with Talk About It Mate at Langworthy Cornerstone. Although blind drawing seems quite explanatory but this was with a twist. I wanted the guys to draw the person in front of them, without taking their eyes off the person, and DON’T look at the paper.

Although this was hard at first, with current mediums like fine liner, oil pastels, coloured pencils etc it teaches us a lot about perseverance and going with the flow.

A lot of the time, we have little to no control over the things in our lives, and those things can be stressful, anxiety inducing or even scary but we persevere regardless because we are resilient, strong and open minded to the possibilities with uncomfortableness.

Lovely langworthy group to end the Art For WellBeing Project - gonna miss you guys ❤️

26/07/2025

🎨 Art For Wellbeing Project 🎨

Truly saddened that the Art for Wellbeing project is coming to an end with Talk About It Mate but I’m entirely grateful for the opportunity in working with you guys!

I’m so proud of how far you all have come both personally and creatively. From “I don’t like getting my hands dirty, “I don’t like abstract” “I can’t draw” to majority of you exploring creative endeavours, finding the arts as a sense of relief, visiting galleries, reading about art and discussing art!

You guys have inspired me so much during this time, and I hope to work with you in the future! But for now, I’m not going to say goodbye, as our paths will meet again, I’m going to say “Au Revoir” instead, which translates to “until we see each other again”.

Gonna miss you guys, all the best🥹 ❤️💛

25/07/2025

🖌️ Lowry Project - Colour Theory

It’s fairly obvious that colour theory can reflect on emotion, but what does that reflect within ourselves when we are doing the artwork.

Like any form of artwork colour always has a meaning, it can show how lonely and isolated someone is like the works of Lowry, Picasso or how happy, excited one can be but what about us?

Lovey scorching afternoon with Talk About It Mate exploring the meaning behind our own portraits. I got the guys firstly to only use Lowrys 5 signature colours, to then after do their own colourful interpretation.

People’s reflections were very honest, insightful and lastly, motivating as some find it difficult doing portraits from a procedural aspect to a reflective one but regardless it’s never about the outcome but about the process!

PART OF -
* A project delivered by Lowry in partnership with Salford CVs and made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

24/07/2025

✨Story Time ✨

Lovely Tuesday session with Talk About It Mate delving into our personal journeys. I got the guys to create a front cover of their life and to self reflect, and they’re truly inspiring.

Some reflected on personal growth, their personalities, humour, memories and friendship. Such playful reflections but powerful images!

22/07/2025

🖌️ Lowry Project - Authenticity 🖌️

Such a wonderful Monday evening with Talk About It Mate looking at authenticity through lowrys work, and how we be authentic ourselves, looking at other artists that were inspired by Lowry, characteristics of Lowrys work and how we can be authentic within our own work.

The top painting is a Lowry esch landscape with the use of Lowrys 5 signature colours. The bottom is the guys interpretation with full rein in colours and embellishments.

This was such a good exercise in looking at how authenticity, influence and comparison encourage most artworks today. Copying as such, has its benefits as the guys have shown on Monday!

Moral of the post: “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” - Brené Brown

PART OF -
* A project delivered by Lowry in partnership with Salford CVs and made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

16/07/2025

🎵Visual Music 🎵

Visual Music refers to the art form that explores the relationship between music and visual imagery, focusing on shapes, colours, line, mark making to create a unified sensory experience or piece.

Talk About It Mate done a great job of this, exploring creative processes, fostering creativity, connecting emotions and experimenting with visual representation!

🎵MUSIC🎵
1. Rite Of Spring - Igor Stravinsky
2. Nico Muhly- looking closely
3. Nico Muhly - Pools + Roads and pools
4. Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

This exercise reminded me how mindful classical music is, how skillful it is and how dynamic everyone’s perception of it is too.

15/07/2025

✨Grid Method ✨

The Grid Method is a drawing technique that helps with accuracy within a given image. The image is copied square by square ensuring accurate proportions.

On Monday, I decided to give Talk About It Mate a twist with this classic technique and they done amazingly.

It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the arts, starting it, the techniques, the mediums but the whole point is to be creative, to experiment and to explore. You can alter the techniques, combine mediums, or even practice unconventional ways of making art.

Moral of the post: Embrace imperfection and serendipity and your creativity with take off!

12/07/2025

🖌️Lowry project - SCRAP🖌️

Did you know that L.S Lowry used to sketch on rubbish? Scraps of paper, used envelopes, napkins, inside of a cigarette packet the list goes on - this was the topic with Talk About It Mate yesterday.

Very insightful evening discussing the use of medium and its influence on creative motivation. The guys felt that the scraps of paper allowed them to be more free creatively than the white paper.

A white canvas, white board, white paper is all so intimidating for individuals, but Lowry, among others find ways to escape the perfectionism with scrap paper, envelopes, colouring the canvas in a different colour etc.

If you too are struggling creatively might I suggest to colour your canvas a washy brown, draw on coloured paper/pencils, scraps of paper, cardboard etc, you might surprise yourself with how creative you get!

PART OF -
* A project delivered by Lowry in partnership with Salford CVs and made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

11/07/2025

🖌️Lowry Project - Colour Palette 🖌️

Loved this session exploring the process of Lowrys work with Talk About It Mate at Eccles through the discussion of colour, the origins of colour, colour mixing and the process before the final piece!

Can an artists palette give you insight into how they’re feeling? Their mental state and their surroundings? We used exactly Lowrys colours and made our own palettes, what do you think the palette says about us?

Vermillion
Ivory Black
Prussian blue
Yellow Ochre
Flake White - these are the colours L.S Lowry used, and so did we.

PART OF -
* A project delivered by Lowry in partnership with Salford CVs and made possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

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https://www.instagram.com/abstractartjessica/

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