 I'm sure by now you've seen and heard about the devastation that Helene left in the mountains of North Carolina. While Durham, my hometown, was relatively unscathed, the destruction felt very close to home. mountains have been etched into my heart. In the short three years we've lived in Durham, we've visited Asheville, Hendersonville, Boone, Beech Mountain, Banner Elk, Black Mountain, Canton, Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. We've sent our oldest to camp just west of Asheville, north of route 40. We've ventured out for weekend trips for our son's mountain biking competitions with NCNICA, I've been out in the Black Mountain area for an artist retreat, and most recently took my first camping trip to Catawba Falls with my son. None have been tremendously long stays, but the landscape in WNC is so vastly different from the Poconos of my youth. It's breathtaking in a way that jolts you - it's dramatic, steep, and surprising. It's a place we long to go - especially living in the heat of Durham - to get cooler temperatures and landscapes vastly different from the Piedmont where we live. Now, it's changed. Chimney Rock is mostly gone. Lake Lure is filled with debris. The Lake Lure Flowering Bridge has been hugely compromised. The campground that I stayed at with my son was highly devastated. People are still cut off and isolated, without power, and basic needs. Many are without homes, and many have lost loved ones. I've been watching artists with total losses of studio space and decades of work. And, there's so much more. I've already made a small donation to the NC Artists Disaster Relief Fund, but have been watching to see how else and to whom I'd like to support. The trouble is there is so much need, and my family right now is not in a position financially to support, nor can we spend time volunteering at the moment. So without further delaying, I have two ways I can help through TraillWorks:
Why NC Artists Disaster Relief Fund? Artists have been highly impacted, both in Asheville specific and surrounding towns. NC Artists Disaster Relief is an independent charity that spun off from a support group for the NC Arts Council in 2022. According to their site, . . . "the Arts Council remains an important partner, our administrative costs are not funded with state or federal grants, and we collaborate with many organizations and individuals that help us achieve our mission." Very early on, NC Artists Disaster Relief mobilized to start a fund for Helene. I also chose Triangle Mutual Aid because of their early support with boots on the ground gathering of supplies in the Triangle area. They are an approved organization and are still actively gathering donations and have the support of many local businesses as donation points including ArtPost in Durham, and Maverick's Smokehouse in partnership with Triangle Mutual Aid is now actively seeking clothing donations for the cold weather impending on the region. However and in whatever capacity you choose to help, it's greatly appreciated! Taking a seat right now in the mountains is probably a luxury. I hope that I can help even in small ways to get more to be able to do that. See a few photos below of some of my travels to the mountains:  Jennie at the Flowering Bridge in 2022 on Lake Lure  Jennie's husband and son playing mini golf in Chimney Rock village by the Broad River. The mini golf course is gone and the Broad River Inn is covered with 2' of mud.  Jennie at Catawba Falls, August 2024 which is temporarily closed.  Unfinished watercolor sketch of Catawba Falls, painted on location.  Sunrise from Catawba Falls Campground. They are closed and highly impacted by Helene.
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 I'm thrilled to share that I've been offered a partial scholarship to fund my attendance at the National Organization for Arts in Health's 8th Annual Convention. What did you say? This is an interesting story - I've been following the movement of social prescribing and arts, healing, and loneliness since becoming more active on LinkedIn. I learned about NOAH, which was founded in 2016, but has roots going back to 1989 in Durham. Through this discovery, I've also started networking with another teaching artist, Beth Palmer, who was involved in their early years and lives in Durham. She and I have been talking about attending NOAH's conference this year and she encouraged me to apply for a scholarship. GOOD NEWS! I was accepted, partially. Which means, I will owe $120 out of the $680 that includes the two-day conference, as well as a virtual day in November. However, that expense doesn't include airfare, lodging, meals, and other transportation and events. I already have a gracious aunt offering me flight miles to get me to and from Houston. I'm estimating it will cost me an added $800 out of pocket which includes the scholarship balance, an extra out of pocket hotel night, food and transportation expenses. WANT TO SUPPORT THIS TRIP which will undoubtedly enrich my teaching, allow me to network with teaching artists, health professionals, and other stakeholders in arts and healing, and ultimately find new avenues to support healing through my business? Timing is of the essence, because I need to tell NOAH by 9/26 if I'm attending or not. So, I need to raise $800 in 24 hours essentially. You can help me, and I'll reward you with gifts! And, of course, I'll come back with lessons and ideas to share.  In an effort to build consistency in making and open up some playful exploration I've decided to dedicate a newly gifted sketchbook to 10-minute daily sketches. It’s a beautifully constructed book by SugarBoo & Co., comprised of handmade paper signatures, bound with leather and embossed with a quote by E.B. White. The quote by E.B. White reads: “I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” If you know me, this is fitting at times, and aspirational. I felt it too important not to waste the book, despite having other sketchbooks in progress, to set it aside until the others were full. I’m allowing this book to be a place of openness and play, not restricting media or subjects, to see what emerges. I'm finding some surprises and challenges with the paper, but it was the perfect blank slate from which to begin this practice.  The sketches began in pencil, and once I landed on the 10-minute framework, I quickly jumped from observational to a journaling, memory style sketch. I was enjoying this but also frustrated with how much the graphite was smudging, so it pushed me into trying different media, including wet media.   You can see some of the ghost marks of the smeared graphite above. I actually do like to smear and shade my work, but in these drawings I was finding it frustrating.  So this day I worked in watersoluble crayon and some colored pencil. It's definitely not mixed media paper, so I again felt somewhat frustrated, but equally enjoying brushing the medium on the paper. Additionally, the 10-minute time frame I used as a minimal guideline, so when I'm tired it feels achievable. In this case, I went over the limit.  So I shifted again and worked in pigmented pen, ballpoint pen and marker. I'm just allowing the subject matter to shift with what's coming up for me when I sit down to draw.  I was tired and uncertain what to draw. I grabbed some swatches from a bedroom painting project and collaged them onto the surface, also noticing the marker seeping through the front and allowing the drawing to work with that as a palimpsest.  And then I found my way back to landscape of North Carolina, along with the markers, the pens, the colored pencils and my brushes. And then the chair returned, which is the focus of the first painting above.  While my first reaction to the paper was frustration, I think due to the learning curve on a new surface, I quickly adapted and have found that I love the feeling of the dampened paper, heavily worked and showing through the backside. Those impressions are adding texture and depth to the drawings in a way I hadn't considered. I'm due for day 16 already - I started on the 2nd of January and I did allow for a missed day, so long as I picked it back up again. Curious to see more? Follow along on Threads, or in my stories on Instagram. More depth can be found by subscribing to my newsletter. Have Questions? Drop a comment and I'll respond! Love this? Please share with credit to me for my work. Hemming and HawingSeptember is a very full month if you're a parent with kids on a traditional school year calendar. This September was especially full, given two new schools for my 5th and 9th grade sons. As an artist mother, I was embarking on the decision whether to participate in the Thrive Together Network's bi-annual virtual artist residency, I was fearful it would be too much.
 I'm thrilled to announce that I'm opening up dog portrait commissions again and supporting the Animal Protection Society of Durham during the month of August. In reviewing my history of making dog portraits, I recognized that I was building momentum in creating more portraits just prior to the Pandemic. With my relocation to NC, I've completed a couple, but haven't been able to promote them. My studio is almost 100% finished (enough that it is operable) and the renovations in our home are complete. Now, as we move into the Dog Days of Summer, I'm ready to officially open them up and donate 10% of the profits of all booked portraits to APS.  Young Ringo, Oil Pastel, Cardboard, 2007 I've been making dog portraits since we rescued our first dog, Ringo, back in 2007. It started with just an oil pastel of him, roughly drawn on cardboard. I adore that drawing and have a dedicated spot in our powder room. At some point when I ran my studio/gallery in Newton, NJ, I began accepting dog portrait commissions, with one of the first subjects coming in for a photo shoot: |
Jennie Traill SchaefferDeemed the Kitchen God's Artist by NJ Savvy Living for my sainted appliances, I'm now known more for my vibrant, meditational paintings of chairs set surprisingly in landscapes. Since relocating to NC from NJ, mothering my two sons, and caring for our rescue pup, Cider, took the lead. Now, that my Durham home studio is renovated it's open again for virtual art coaching and the resumption of my personal art and commissions. The work I make is inspired by my joy of teaching, exploring nature, and traveling. On The Teaching Artist Blog, I share my approach to teaching and educate my readers about my creative process. Join my VIPs for First DibsWORKSHOPS
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