Jessel Gallery | Jessel Miller's Blog - Jessel Gallery

Beaming Butterfly Spirit

3/31/2020

Jessel Miller, Beaming Butterfly Spirit

This Morning the Beaming Butterfly Spirit flew into the gallery and down my brush. The minute I started painting her she spoke softly and said...

It is Our Time to Shine.
To spread our wings Divine.
Flowing Garden in the air,
Powerful strength we truly care.
Abate the fear inside you feel.
Know that only Love is Real.
Endure and Rise~Strong & Free
COME SWEET CHILDREN FLY WITH ME!

Butterfly Symbolism and Meaning of Butterflies are deep and powerful representations of life. Many cultures associate the butterfly with our souls. Some see the butterfly as a symbol of resurrection. Around the world, people view the butterfly as representing endurance, change, hope, and life.

Jessel Miller Acrylic Preliminary Sketch You can see the changes. The first face did not speak to me and the bird in the upper right flew away. The box became Butterfly pocket holding all the magical energy.

Jessel Miller Acrylic Close Up Beaming Butterfly Spirit

This was the original small sketch that started the inspiration for this piece. It is called Comforting Kimono and is in the new book Soulful Voices.

Join the Caravan of Love

3/30/2020

This song is exactly what I feel is reflected in this piece. I painted this over 3 times (see below) until if finally settled down and now I know why. You know this song so sing along with me...

Every woman, every man
Join the caravan of love (Stand up, stand up, stand up)
Caravan of Love
O
Ooh...ooh...ooh..
Are you ready for the time of your life
It's time to stand up and fight
(It's alright) It's alright (It's alright, it's alright)
Hand in hand we'll take a caravan
To the motherland
One by one we're gonna stand with the pride
One that can't be denied
(Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up)
From the highest mountain and valley low
We'll join together with hearts of gold
Now the children of the world can see
There's a better way for us to be
The place where mankind was born
Is so neglected and torn, torn apart
Every woman, every man
Join the caravan of love (Stand up, stand up, stand up)
Everybody take a stand
Join the caravan of love
I'm your brother
I'm your brother, don't you know
I'm your brother
I'm your brother, don't you…
I'm your brother
I'm your brother, don't you know
I'm your brother
I'm your brother, don't you know
We'll be living in a world of peace
In a day when everyone is free
We'll bring the young and the old
Won't you let your love flow from your heart
Every woman, every man
Join the caravan of love (Stand up, stand up, stand up)
Everybody take a stand
Join the caravan of love
I'm your sister
I'm your sister, don't you know
I'm your sister
I'm your sister, don't you know
Now the children of the world can see
There's a better for us to be
The place where mankind was born
Is so neglected and torn, torn apart
Every woman, every man
Join the caravan of love (Stand up, stand up, stand up)
Everybody take a stand
Join the caravan of love
Are you ready for the time of your life
(Are you ready, are you ready)
Are you ready for the time of your life
(Are you ready, are you ready)
Come go with me
(Are you ready, are you ready)
Come go with me
(Are you ready, are you ready)
Every woman, every man
Join the caravan of love (Are you ready, are you ready)
Everybody take a stand
Join the caravan of love (Are you ready, are you ready)
Every woman, every man

Below is the first incarnation of this image. I decided to remove the face.. My husband saw the elephant and pointed it out to me! This is the wonderful thing about these pieces. If you see something in the piece let me know about it.

Preliminary Sketch

The elephant revealed itself and I felt like there was a face missing.

Elephants have a positive symbolic meaning all over the world and are considered a symbol of good luck, power, success wisdom and experience. Because elephants are highly social animals, they are also considered to be a symbol of loyalty, companionship and unity.

Below is a spring bouquet I am sending you with all my love and prayers for the budding of a new dawn.

Please Love One Another

3/27/2020

Please Love One Another, Jessel Miller

This painting started differently than any of the other pieces. I began with a palette knife. I kept wanting to do circles and so the initial idea was round and confusing.

The very first thing I noticed was the face of a sweet young boy and it reminded me of another painting I had done called Oh Australia (see last image). He was back and holding something again.

For a day I literally went round and round trying to find the answer to what I call the "Puzzle in my Paintings" or the message in the murky mess and madness.

At first I painted the planet earth and America but it just did not resonate with me.

Finally out of frustration I painted the whole circle out and started all over leaving only the face that I loved and the angels all around the earth

I splattered paint and suddenly the truth was revealed. This child was holding a Koala Bear and it was the same precious boy come to visit me again. This time he was not pleading for Australia (I painted the first piece during the massive fires in that country) He was pleading for the world and the words that popped out were...

PLEASE LOVE ONE ANOTHER

They are whispered in the painting and hopefully all around the world.
I know I have found the truth in these pieces when I start weeping over my desk and this one brought me to tears the minute he spoke up.

Everyday we hear more and more difficult news from around the world and we feel helpless in this Twilight Zone Time.

Yet spring flowers are everywhere and there is plenty of food and the air is clean and the sky is so blue. I know this Little Prince like character speaks for the Angels all around and on his body.

WE WILL RISE AGAIN

LOVING YOU
Jessel

PS. On the bottom of the painting the angels formed letters(which I did not do on purpose) and I finally figured it out...NUIT which is the Egypt Goddess of the Night. We are in the Dark right now but light is just around the corner so HOLD ON.

Preliminary Sketch, Please Love One Another, Jessel Miller

Detail, Please Love One Another, Jessel Miller

Oh Australia, Jessel Miller

Loving Thoughts

3/27/2020

From Soulful Voices, Jessel Miller

Jessel's Inspiration

This is a sketch I did in honor of a very special moment in my new book, Soulful Voices. It is a bursting forth of a seed into a flower.

This flower grows strong and tall from the bottom of the sea and when it finally blooms and begins to wane it forms seeds of love spread all over the world.

It is amazing to walk out in nature and know animals and birds, trees and flowers do not feel the panic or pain or sadness we are all experiencing.

With this thought in mind there are so many of you going to your gardens, large and small, and spending days nurturing the earth and planting seeds of love. There are others who paint or write. I have a request.

I would love YOU to share your thoughts, prayers,wishes, photos of your garden or art. (they will be posted on a page I have created on my website. See link below)

Everyone has been so kind in response to my posts and I would like anyone who feels like sharing their HeART to do so and I will post it with or without your name.

KNOW YOU ARE LOVED
Jessel

Share Your Heart, Jessel Miller

Child of Love, Jessel Miller

Courage

3/27/2020

Samurai Spirits, Jessel Miller

Jessel's Inspiration

It seems timely that when I came into the gallery this morning I pulled, what I call a starting palette knife sketch, (see below) and saw a face in the upper left of the page. It immediately guided me to the concept of Courage and Samurai Women & Men.

I saw 2 faces and painted this image with the idea that we all have both male and female traits within us.

I had the honor of meeting Maya Angelou when I was working on a series of Famous Personalities for a show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1980.

She was a tall, young, powerful spirit who smoked and I had asthma so you can image what it put me through to spend time in her apartment in Oakland and take photographs in the midst of the smoke. I think she was nervous about me and I was definitely feeling the same emotions, yet we had a moment in history and I rose to the challenge and so did she.
Fast forward to today and while I was painting this image, I thought of Maya and how she rose to the challenge throughout her life and left all of us the better for knowing her and reading her words.

Now is the time to gather our Courage and face this current global situation with the strength of a Samurai.

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat so that we can know who we are. So that we can see, ‘Oh, that happened, and I rose. I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose. I didn’t run away; I rose right where I’d been knocked down."

Maya Angelou, poet, writer, civil rights activist

Original Sketch, Samurai Spirits, Jessel Miller

Jessel's Voices

3/27/2020

Florence NIghtingale, Beloved First Responder to All, Jessel Miller

Every Night I ask the Universe
" What is the message I need to paint?"

This was an odd one because the words
"Moon Man & Nightingale"

came through loud & clear.

The nightingale has a long history with symbolic associations ranging from "creativity, the muse, nature's purity, and, in Western spiritual tradition, virtue and goodness. The nightingale became a voice of nature.

I looked online for images of this bird and suddenly it hit me. This was not just about a bird ...it was about Florence Nightingale.

I was raised by a father, who in our small community in Timmins, Ontario, was a beloved family Physician and an Artist in his spare time. My direction originally was medicine, yet from the age of 4, I knew Art was my Saving Grace.
Florence Nightingale devoted her life to her passion-helping the sick.

This Image is dedicated to all those Powerful Brave Souls who spend each day caring for others and putting their own lives at risk for all of us.

A Personal Story...
My middle name is Mary. It was only in my 40's after my father passed that I found out I was named after my father's favorite patient.

My father never showed emotions, yet when Mary died and my father could not save her, my Dad's nurse, Isobel Finnerty (who later in life became the right hand Senator in the Canadian Government to Trudeau) told me that she walked into Dad's office and found him weeping at his desk. Just the thought of my brave, larger than life father weeping still brings me to tears.

SO TO YOU ..Doctors, Nurses, Scientists, First Responders:
THANK YOU AND BLESS YOU AND MAY THE SPIRITS WHO GUIDE MY PAINT BRUSH EVERY DAY KEEP YOU SAFE.

I begin each painting by putting strokes of paint on canvas or paper and then wait for the direction I hear from the voices in my head.

Original sketch, Jessel Miller

Detail, Florence Nightingale, Jessel Miller

The Healer

3/27/2020

The Healer, Jessel Miller

This Spirit came to me with a yawning child. At first she had a clear face and then after 10 incarnations she whispered cover my
my eyes yet let me see. This is a close up of a large piece (see below) I believe we can use our inner voice of positive powers and prudence publicly to prevent the forces surrounding all of us right now. The Healer came in a completely different body when I first painted her and I let her take time to reveal herself over a month's time. This is the process we are all dealing with and I believe if we are vigilant and also protect our minds from too much negative news we will weather this storm together. I am Listening to the Doctors and Scientists and spending this time finding creative ways to express my thoughts. I ask you to join me and together we will rise to the challenge.

See the process below of this image.
Bottom 2 images. Indigo Children & Angel Guide

The Healer, Jessel Miller

The Healer in process

The Healer in process

Indigo Children< Jessel Miller

Angel Guide Jessel Miller

The Way to Do is Be

3/27/2020

Eternal Flight, Jessel Miller

"There is no need to run outside for better seeing. Rather abide at the center of your being. For the more you leave it the less you learn.
Search your heart and see..."
The way to do is to be"
Lao Tzu
Today as we spend time alone contemplating the state of the world I send a prayer of calm, peace and tranquility to all of you and ask that we stay positive and strong and continue to be good friends and neighbors.

The Spirit of Love Then and Now, Jessel Miller

The Spirit of Love Then and Now, Jessel Miller

The Truth Within

3/27/2020

The Truth Within, Jessel Miller

"In the Depth of Winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible Summer."
Albert Camus

Now, as we take this time to "shelter in place", my prayer is that we dive into our most creative world and spend time appreciating our invincible Summer

Ellen Degeneres & Portia de Rossi Be Kind to One Another, Jessel Miller

Michelle Obama, Jessel Miller
"You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages"

Love One Another

3/27/2020

Portrait of Greta Thunberg, Jessel Miller

Portrait of John McCain, Jessel Miller

In these difficult times I am working on my new book. Every day images are appearing and I simply get out of the way and let them come through.
Soulful Voices
I would like to share the introduction to the book since I feel it is timely and will hopefully calm our Universal Spirit.

I wrote this introduction January 26, 2020. We are all one world and the message is clear to me.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Soulful Journey
This is a visual journey based in the heart of every newborn arriving daily on our tiny planet. The voices resonate from the core of the earth's center and echo 'round the world to all living kind.

A plea and prayer that we, who now take shelter on and beneath the sea and soil, take action and devote our time to replenishing the gifts nature produces in its most perfect, divine and beautiful way.

I have created what I call "spiritual images" since I was a young girl.

When my family abruptly moved from deep in the woods of Northern Ontario to Miami, Florida in 1965 I had no outlet for my very creative soul. In Canada music, art and movement were my greatest daily joy.

Landing in Florida my heart and art turned inward and I began drawing for hours in my room. Faces began to appear on my pages and words and music flew out of my hand. It was the worst of times because of the drastic change in climate, culture and lack of friendships, yet it was also the beginning of my focus towards a creative life which to this day is what I do every single day.

From the ashes one single bud blossomed and seeds have been spread around the world and continue to be my life's work.

Soulful Voices" is the culmination of 70 years of flowering formations and great wisdom gleamed and gathered in my life adventure.

The past 35 years the Jessel Gallery has grown into a wondrous community based concept supporting all the artists represented, as well as all the artists in Napa County and beyond.

It is my home and my HeART and through teaching, exhibitions and personal painting I feel blessed, honored and enriched daily!