i'm very excited to be included in the current issue of snapshot magazine.  you can order a copy from their website or pick one up at farewell books in austin. 

the lotus

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

april 2014

it's as if the blooms

are breathing, speaking secrets

to the wild silence.

freefall

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

march 2014

this freefall is more

of a melting; liquid night

delaying your dawn.

help out if you can.  ♥

Friends of Danna

ebb and flow

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

march 2014

stories will ebb and

flow through voices, making floods

for us to swim in.

   
  this song was written and recorded this past weekend for a compilation album for danna williams.  the album will have over 20 songs from austin bands and musicians, and the earnings will go to danna to help cover the costs of cancer-related medical bills.  danna is a beautiful woman inside and out, she is an avid supporter of austin music and art, and i'm happy to report that she is winning her battle with cancer.  i feel extremely honored to have been asked to be a part of this project.  details soon.  

thanks for listening.

in through you

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

march 2014

against the background

pocket birds, spine like a stem

vines neverending.

airborne

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

march 2014

soaring, fixated

on us; airborne and past the

point of no return.

the tower

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

february 2014

elevated on

the tower surrounded by

odd visions and vines.

drippy

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

february 2014

drippy's drips glow with

tones that match the auras of

unforgotten souls.

arizona

11 x 15 watercolor & ink

february 2014

strange forms of life rise

into arizona skies - 

driving memories.

encounter

15.5 x 15.5 watercolor & ink

february 2014

 

meet me above the

mountains and holes in the ground

hand over your heart.

the seer

11 x 15 watercolor & ink
february 2014

my fragile feathers
lift me to where i can see
fragile, but not weak.

     i'm doing a nightly project this year where i'm writing a haiku and drawing a sketch with an eye in it.  i wanted to get better at playing with words, and i wanted to get better at drawing eyes.  my only other rule is that, for the haiku, i have to be completely honest about how i'm feeling or what i'm thinking at the moment.  this is why i decided to keep it private, and i'm really enjoying it.  

i'll be posting some of my favorites on my words page.

this one is from january 8th.. 

thanks for lookin'.

xo

     when i sat down to write my etsy "about" profile, for the first time in a long time, i took a good look at the last eleven years of my life.  i tend to divide my life into two distinct parts - there were the years before i started playing bass, and there are the years after.  i can't emphasize enough how much it changed my life.  i was lost before, i had no idea what i wanted.  but when i played a song with a band for the first time, in a dirty stinky practice space in a warehouse in san diego in 2003, i KNEW.  i didn't know what i knew, i just knew that i knew.  i fucking knew, and i still know.  

     looking at those years of my life reminds me how much has happened, and how fortunate i am.  it has been a beautiful ride.  up and down and everywhere..  but the truth is, i have felt really stagnant for the last few years in austin.  even though i've been creating like crazy and moving forward in that way..  i haven't been traveling much, or feeling the fire of direct experience.  but i think this time was meant for other kinds of adventures- mental and spiritual adventures.  i've read a lot of books, made a lot of art, found solace in my solitude, and formed some beautiful friendships.

     well anyway, if you have read this far, you are my hero and everything i do is for you.  i've updated my bio page, and there is plenty more to read there.  and i didn't even say it all.  i wanted to talk about late-night karaoke in kentucky, the dance party in the basement bar in atlanta, and the magic mushroom trip in the van during a pre-dawn traffic jam on a canadian freeway, with the barbarella dvd playing on the van's screen.  the mugging in venice beach, and the skateboarding accident.  dancing in the streets or on the beach in the rain at three in the morning, just because it felt good.  emergency room visits and scar-making adventures; sketchy tattoo parlors and late night solo walks down the sunset strip.  big shows in little bars and all-nighters in the practice space on hollywood boulevard with only a bottle of wine, black sabbath, and my bass to keep me company.  what more did i need?  and the bus ride to work in marina del rey the next morning- the biotech company where we manufactured an experimental skin cancer vaccine.  i was half-asleep, i was working hard, but i was always dreaming.

     there are so many stories.  all of these stories and adventures and fun blood sweat tears and laughter and pleasure and pain swirl around together and intertwine with each other and infuse themselves in the colors when i paint.  at least that's how it feels, when i'm sitting alone at my desk with a paintbrush and a blank page.  these experiences are in the distortion of the guitar, the low end of the bass, and the whisper floating on top of the melody of the music i make.  it's all there.  

   i am so grateful for all of it, and i am so grateful for everyone who was there then, and everyone who is here now.  thank you.

love, jana

bio

etsy

truth or consequences
11 x 15 watercolor & ink
january 2014

 

storybook ending
on the western edge of truth
or consequences.

new news - i've started writing haiku descriptions to go with my paintings.
also, my etsy shop is live, but not quite finished.  very very soon though. (!)
i got a sewing machine the other day, so eventually there will be other things in my etsy shop.
i'm going to mail out those watercolor postcards in the next few days.
i've been playing some of my songs with a full band of lovely people.
we'll be playing shows sometime this year.
thanks for being there, and here.
xo