ARTIST BIO
In 2013 I was gifted an easel and painting supplies and BOOM the lights went on. The world started to make sense and quickly I learned that I experience synesthesia.
In 2017 I sold my first abstract painting and by the end of the year I was painting abstract portraits in cafes and at live art events everywhere I could.
These days I’m running How to Happy: a traveling art show where I interview people who present happy while I paint their abstract portraits. Growing up I moved all around the USA and I was often asked, “how do you stay so happy?” The show tries to answer that question by having each guest show what they practice to feel good.
The Color of Sound answers another question I encounter, “how do you paint an abstract portrait?” My type of synesthesia allows me to experience emotions & sounds in color.
The real way I stay happy is that I stay curious about my fellow humans, I’m usually psyched to see your colors.
Let's Catch Up
2023 was quite a year for Jen, the artist behind @Jujubeegees. She began filming interviews for her tv show, How to Happy: a traveling art show, in Austin, TX. From June - January, Jen interviewed and painted 30 guests, painted 2 songs, and one time interviewed and painted herself.
Jen has been painting abstract portraits since 2017 and always found the experience to be extremely fruitful for herself and the subject. Back then there wasn’t an overarching theme to these portraits and the conversations were wildly varied. However, Jen found commonalities with everyone, in 500+ portraits Jen only disliked 1 one person (that’s a pretty rad track record). Many of the subjects of these portraits found the experience therapeutic at the very least, and quite often, it opened their eyes to a new and positive way to view themselves. For some, it was the first time they felt truly seen.
Fast forward to 2020, Jen went to film school and became a producer at Austin Public, the local PBS station. Alter learning so many rad skills she wanted to film something. How to Happy wasn’t born right away, rather Jen did two interviews in 2022 and spent over a year editing and re-editing them trying to figure out what she was trying to do with the content. What was the point? (Besides the time spent with lovely people while creating spiritually satisfying artwork.)
Jen reflected on the kind of media she wished she could watch more of, uplifting content that introduced and modeled positive coping skills. And voila! A painting show was born. How to Happy honors the positive impacts of artistic expression and shares positive coping skills that everyday people can readily attain and use.
You can watch this show in Austin, Texas on Channel 16 on Mondays at 2:30pm starting June 3rd.
There will be extended interviews and clips from the show on YouTube as well, with fun links speckled throughout this website.
You’ll like this show if you listen to long-form interviews (like podcasts), thought Bob Ross was neat but wish he used more vibrant colors, or have an interest in abstract art and wish to connect with its emotional impact.
If you’d like to reach out to Jen with comments, questions, or high fives, you can find her on instagram @Jujubeegees.