Have you met Ms. Jones?
get ready for some terribly fascinating information I’ve written about myself that is in no way awkward or long-winded.
HELLO, WORLD! Fancy meeting you here. I’m happy you’ve joined me in this creative land of mine—it’s a fun place to be. We talk about nature, paint birds (and other awesome critters), take a lot of pictures, goof around and enjoy the creative process. You *might* hear some cussing, maybe you’ll learn somethin’, you’ll fall extra in love with this planet of ours, and you’ll definitely have a good time. Before we get to all that fun, let me tell ya who the hell I am! I’m Jessica Jones, the face, hands and brains behind Jonesin’ 4 Nature.
If you’re new here: WELCOME! I’m so glad we’ve found each other :) I’m a self-taught, Alberta-based artist who’s been on the art scene since 2015. If you’re thinking: I recognize this chick/that painting/those bangin’ bangs, you’re not losing it haha my former business name was Art by Miss JBa (space turtles, anyone?) and I recently reinvented good ol’ JBa and created Jonesin’ 4 Nature.
Why the identity crisis? The whole idea to rebrand narrowed down to two things: birds and COVID. Who’s ready for STORY TIME?! Grab your drink ‘n have a seat, kiddos. Grandma Jess has a tale to tell.
2020 threw a lot of curveballs at the world, and a pause in the art scene was one of them. With all markets and shows cancelled for 2020, my year opened up and I found myself with a ton of time on my hands. I’d say I used it well—I watched Tiger King, made that whipped coffee thing, got nauseous from the coffee thing, went camping, got married, had a ton of pj-bottom Zoom meetings and a lot of vacations in the living room. I also used that time to recalibrate and redefine the vision and direction for my artwork. All equally important, I’d say.
I’d been dabbling in birdwatching before the pandemic and decided to really lean in to the crazy bird lady vibe with all my free time. The birding unfolded into some pretty epic hobby photography and continued into research, webinars and online courses. BIRDS BIRDS BIRDS. I started using my own photos as reference images for sketches and mini-paintings, and before long, felt a serious jolt of inspiration for a new series of paintings and to share my newfound knowledge with the world. My heart was also a’twitter with the idea of using this new inspo to help support wildlife and environmental organizations.
Now, if you’ve seen my previous work (above), you know I already have a love of nature and am fascinated by our place in this world and in the universe. But this last year, having spent so much time in nature and observing I became seriously obsessed with the life of birds. The more I learned about their lives—migration, communication, community, evolution, habitats and threats—the more I wanted to keep learning, the more I wanted to help, the more I wanted to DO, and the more I realized I wanted to find a way to make a difference for the planet.
MY MISSION: use art to inspire people to spend more time outside, strengthening their connection and understanding of nature.
I decided that this new fire had to materialize in a tangible way, I had to bring all of the new ideas and passion together. And that’s when the idea of Jonesin’ 4 Nature: Art and Photography by Jessica Jones was born. The conception was real fun, the labour and delivery has been a bit of a dicey process haha but DAMN! We’re here now and it’s a glorious day.
My Vision: a population dedicated to making Earth-conscious choices everyday.
Have you checked out my Photography 4 a Cause fundraising initiative yet? It will get underway soon, so stay tuned!
When you love something, you want to see it prosper, right? You want to do everything you can to help it succeed. Let’s do that for our planet, shall we? — xoxo Jessica