They say you are supposed to start your year doing the things you want to do for the rest of the year. So, I drew. I sang, as rusty as I was. And I played my guitar. All things I want to get better at this year. Hopefully by 2023 I won't be such an amateur at the last two. 

"Portrait of the Artist as an Amateur Musician" 2022. Watercolor and digital drawing. 

I am not sure if this is, indeed, a goldfinch. I haven't been able to accurately identify it. But it glowed with gold on the Brooklyn streets. I buried it underneath a tree. 

"Goldfinch (?) with Brooklyn street" Watercolor and digital. 2021. 

I found this little guy on a Maryland path in the woods, wrapped it in mullein leaves, and placed him in the woods.

"Field Mouse" Watercolor and digital drawing. 

"Thursday" Jessica Boehman, watercolor and digital pen. 2021.

A quick sketch to capture a particular mood. 

A thank you gift for my awesome voice coach, Jess McAvoy.

"Jess's Wings of Wax" Jessica Boehman, 2021. Watercolor and digital drawing.

The next in my artist portrait series, trumpeter Sam Hoyt.

"Sam and the Starlings" Jessica Boehman, 2021. Watercolor, ink, inkwash, and digital.

Each year, I take stock of my year in the last month before my birthday. Beyond the seemingly never-ending pandemic, the continued social isolation, teaching without seeing my colleagues and students, and pushing myself to learn exciting new, soul-nourishing skills, it's been a year of the heart, for better or for worse. I've learned a lot about how my poor heart keeps beating--and what it beats for. I'll be interested to see which side of the card is up as 44 starts in mid-November.
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"The 43rd Year (Queen of Hearts)" Jessica Boehman, watercolor and digital. 2021.

Really been enjoying practicing these portraits in a different style than my usual.  This one was a commission from my friend and colleague, Dominique, as a gift to her friend.

"Anna at a Reading" watercolor and digital.

I had the pleasure of being invited to see a live performance the other night in Park Slope by a new friend and percussionist who plays washboard, cajòn, the spoons, and guitar. I drew while at the gig, but I wasn't wearing my glasses, and my sketches were a bit...abstracted, to say the least! As a thank you, I drew this sketch of him playing a traditional washboard. After the gig, he told me that when performing in Brazil, his band would play old movies of the Mississippi Delta region in the background to match their style of music. So, I tried to mimic that effect by inserting this public domain nitrate negative image by photographer Marion Post Wolcott (d. 1990) of the King and Anderson Plantation in the Mississippi Delta.

(The moral of the story is: if you invite me to your gig, I'm gonna draw you.)

I also got to play the washboard and it was as fun as you'd expect. I had, in effect, my first jam, when a guitarist and a whistler joined in!
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"Leo in Black and White" Jessica Boehman, digital drawing, watercolor, and borrowed photograph.