The year is drawing to a close. It is my good friend and editor of my books, Carolynne Gamble, who summed it up for me in such a wonderful way. She said that you cannot measure the success of a business from the simple financial perspective. You need to look at how much you have done to give back to the community…how many artists you have supported with your wisdom and how inspiring you have been to your students. 

​I sometimes equate success with money and even though we do well in that department the greatest joy I experience has nothing to do with the sales I make. Every single day someone comes through my door and lifts me up with stories about how they found us or what we mean to them. They talk about coming back after 10 years and being so thankful that we are still here. 

One couple recently told me that their parents told them to visit the gallery and they live up the hill on Atlas Peak. They had never been in and they were one of the lucky ones whose house did not burn last year while every house around them did. They were so grateful to come through our door and find a place in the area where they felt at ease and comfortable.

It is stories like this that I am honored to hear about truly every day.  So in this New Year as we all begin again I am dedicated to a new cause: the Victims of the Butte County Fire. 
​
I cannot even imagine what they are going through with no home this Holiday Season. We are all fortunate to have so much and my prayer is that everyone sitting at their Holiday table will send loving thoughts to all the families in Butte County. 

There is so much we can do and my heart is filled with tears that I use to motivate me to give what I can. It is times like this that the creative soul kicks into gear and works to make life better for others.

“As a survivor of the Napa Fire Storm last year I personally know what the families in Butte County are facing in the days, weeks, months and even years ahead. The challenge is great and demanding.  I pray for all the families that God will guide them, so that they can find meaning that brings them to a new objective in their lives, as the lives they once knew are now changed forever.  God Bless Everyone!”
A letter from Janice Swanson.

Happy Holidays to You and Yours,
Jessel Miller and the Jessel Gallery Family

When I was a very small child and too afraid to leave my Mom to go to kindergarten my Mom (who knew I loved to create) sat me on the floor in the living room and said..."You are going to color when you go to school". Just knowing I could do something creative allowed me the freedom from fear of the unknown. It was my refuge and remains that today some 69 years later.

It is my great honor to present a lineup of visionaries who have spent many months creating the wonders that fill the gallery. My Motto in my "Angels In the Vineyard Book" is "By Hand is By Heart" and it remains true every day of my life as I am blessed to be surrounded by beauty throughout the Jessel Gallery. We offer free gift wrapping and personal service while you shop for quality, hand-crafted holiday décor, home goods, jewelry paintings and so much more.

​Pictures speak so much more brilliantly than words so here are the artists participating in this year's two month long Show and Sale (click to enlarge each image).

​Also, a sneak peek into the start of a new book by Jessel Miller!

It was one year ago today that the Napa Valley was engulfed (or in my case “engolfed,” since the Safeway Open Golf Tournament was occurring  just across the street from the gallery) in the largest wildfire in the valley’s history.

There are stories that have been told by so many of my clients and friends, but most especially by seven truly resilient artists who are represented in this month’s show and sale, “From the HeART” in the Jessel Gallery. Each person has their individual experience of this deadly fire,  yet as I have learned from most artists in my life, including myself, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going “ – meaning when the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge. Sometimes, when we are in a tough situation, an inspirational quote or “proverb” can help us remain calm and focused. 

​The seven artists in this show incurred varying degrees of loss, from 1,000 paintings in a storage locker in Santa Rosa, to their studio filled with art, to a second fire at the same location and the second loss of a home.

​Some want to talk about it and some simply want to stay in the present and paint. One fact is true….Art is the healing force in their lives. 

​The gallery (though we survived) was only a mile away from the fire, and I slept through some of the worst damage on Westgate. It was my friend, Marsha, who called to tell me we were being evacuated. Only my friends know I lived above the gallery, but because of the tremendous winds, the old pine trees in front of the gallery, and my old wooden apartment, it could have been a disastrous situation. I was one of the lucky ones….
I wanted to create a show dedicated to these survivors.  It fell in place easily and magically once I realized that it needed to be about the art that has come after this momentous disaster.

My prayer is that we all know that from the ashes come new seeds of hope. These artists inspire all the survivors and all of us to allow creativity to heal our wounds and fill us with joy. Below are some quotes about art and its healing powers.     

"Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing."
Julia Cameron

"At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity."
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

"Making art is like giving a gift: evidence of your spirit and that you are here."
Patty Mitchell

"Art is a wound turned into light."
Georges Braque

When I “art,” the world around me disappears and for that moment in time, I am floating in form, color and light; it is the purest expression of peace I know. 
Jessel Miller,  October 2018

September in the Napa Valley is one of the most beautiful months of the year. The summer madness is over and the valley seems to take a deep breath and relax with the rhythm of the vines about to change.

​​For the last several years the gallery has hosted the Napa Valley Open Studios honoring professional as well as amateur Napa Valley artists.

​I always find the adventure of visiting an artist is his or her studio very exciting and fulfilling. Art is a solo experience and having an opportunity to share your work and your vision can change a person’s perspective about your creations and also support the artist who is normally working alone all the time.

​I encourage everyone to support the artists participating in this two-weekend event September 23/24 and September 29/30. The Jessel Gallery has a show of over 40 of the artists so that clients can come and view the work and decide which studio to visit. It saves time but clients are encouraged to purchase the pieces in the gallery.

​This reception had the largest attendance of any show over the past few years and it keeps growing. (I have to buy more wine glasses for next year’s opening!)

​Please come and support these lovely hardworking creators and stop by the gallery and have one of my homemade cookies and enjoy the show!

Love comes in so many ways in our lives. The relationships are works of HeART and bring out the best in humans. Buddy was one of those pure, soft, loving spirits who never caused problems or disturbed the energy in any situation. The only thing he liked to share, besides his love, was his fetish for crawling into bags. I had to watch out when he was a kitten because he even loved garbage bags and I worried about him when he crawled too deeply in the bags!

Buddy had kidney disease and lived with it for many years. It was only in the last few days of his life that he told me he was in pain by his cries. He slept in my bed next to me the night before he passed.

I have to thank Lap of Love  (Lapoflove.com, NorthBay@LapofLove.com, 707-344-4101) for their amazingly tender and kind response to my plea to come and help me let my Buddy go to Heaven. Dr. Rene made a special effort to rush over early in the morning because I knew Buddy was suffering. 
​
I also want to thank Joy West, Reg Harris and John Stemmer who came to my call that morning and cried with me as we let Buddy float away. I especially want to thank Joy for staying with me the next two nights as I mourned the death of my Baby Boy. Buddy died in my arms with me cradling his beautiful face.

​He is buried in the Jessel Gallery Garden (in a bag) with a wine barrel hoop shaped like a heart and hand painted rocks by my wonderful friends and students.
Bless All of YOU for being the Warmest Circle of LOVE surrounding my broken HEART.

​I spent a month in mourning over my Buddy and cried every day. One night I had a dream and a kitty came to me with the name Max. The next day I was checking on Craigslist and this face popped up. 

​I knew immediately that the dream was my Buddy telling me to reach out and take this kitten home. Max Meoo (second name cause he talks all the time) is the new light in my life and though I miss Buddy still he is adding the laughter and light that had gone out when Buddy passed.

The opening reception was a great success and the most enjoyable part was Olaf’s talk. ​He told his life story and enchanted everyone with the tales of his ups and downs on the road to becoming the artist he is today.

​The following evening I planned a rooftop party and Olaf finished a painting in my outdoor tented studio much to the joy of my guests.

This whole experience filled me up with all that is precious to me in my life. I love company, great food, fabulous art and warm “no blanket summer nights”. I want to THANK Christi and Mark Lesti for their generosity and open hearts in inviting Olaf and Tracey to stay at their condo, Mark for barbequing the night of the private party. The night was warm and welcoming.

My biggest hug goes to Olaf and Tracey for coming all the way from Toronto, Canada to share their creative HeArts.

Oh What a Night!
Jessel

Each week as I introduce a lesson to my class, it amazes me to watch as each person begins their design and works out their colors and concept.

Most thrilling for me are the choices made even though some of the students are brand new to art classes and some have years of experience. There is a wide-eyed energy in the room when everyone is focused on their vision and for just a moment in our lives (me included when I get time to paint in the class) there is nothing but the here and now: paint, brush, and paper. 

​One thing I learned at the start of my gallery was to have paper and colored pencils for children with parents who want to shop. The minute a youngster enters the gallery I asked them if they would like to color or draw and in 34 years every child has said yes no matter how shy they are when they first walk in the door. It is almost instinctual and easy for a child to sit and come up with an idea. 

Adults have a lifetime of editing, judging and muddling their childlike approach to art. I aim to bring them back to their innocence each week. I have a famous $1.00 jar and if you complain about your work or judge your art the class turns and says…."a $1.00 for the jar." It was something I learned as a child and my parents called it the “complaint department”.  It  takes time to develop a style and learn all the lessons in class and sometimes it feels overwhelming like the Ed Sullivan Plate Juggler. Yet even I know that it is not over until it is worked really hard and had time to dry. 

Each class I teach allows me the opportunity to invent a new concept and develop my own skills. The painting by Andreas came from the Beyond Borders class last week and the two images I created were something I have never done and really loved developing.

My DREAM is to someday have what I call a HeART FARM: a place to have weekend retreats and workshops with a huge barn and rooms for people to stay and cook and paint together. 

​Let’s make this dream come true!   HAPPY PAINTING!
Jessel 

When one thinks of "power couples" or “dynamic duos,” one usually thinks of corporate couples. Well, look and think again, and you will find Gary and Jessel Miller of the beautiful Napa Valley.

Gary is a man of the earth, a "Renaissance Man," as Robert Mondavi called him years ago after tromping through Gary's Giant Pumpkin Fields. Jessel is a renowned artist, author and, for the past thirty four years, owner of the Jessel Gallery. Both of these loving and devoted people hale from rural country life.  Jessel is from Timmins, Ontario, Canada (birthplace of such notables as Shania Twain); Gary was raised on a farm outside Dayton, Ohio.

The roads they took to get to the Napa Valley is a story unto itself, another chapter in this book of life.  They met six years after Jessel opened the doors of her gallery in 1990, when Jessel decided to buy a new vehicle.  Low and behold, "she bought a van and got a man.” Gary was a recent transplant from a dealership in Concord, California, and happened to be working the floor when Jessel arrived.  It was attraction at first sight, and love soon followed. Together they worked on enhancing the already lovely Jessel Gallery; Gary left the car business to support and renovate the gallery.

As he was leaving Jessel after their first date, he plucked something from a flower in her garden and said "plant them and watch them grow.”  That was exactly what happened, but it was Gary, a fourth-generation farm boy, who transformed the exterior of the gallery.  He also rebuilt the interior each time Jessel took over another space in her one hundred year old building. The gallery grew from 300 to 6500 square feet and became known as the largest, oldest, and most loved gallery in the Napa Valley. 

​As a result of the beauty he created in her garden, Gary started designing gardens for friends and family. His natural touch and instinctive eye became well known, and over the next ten years he designed and constructed amazing environments. His direction took an abrupt turn when Margrit Mondavi requested that he grow a giant pumpkin for her to display at the front door of her exquisite home.  This chance request changed his whole life.  Like everything he and Jessel "devote themselves to," he completely immersed himself in the understanding and growing giant pumpkins, and almost twenty years later, he became the west coast representative for the “Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth,” known as the “GPC.” His first pumpkin weighed about 500 pounds, and he now grows numerous giants weighing as much as 1985 pounds!  He continued to supply Margrit with giant pumpkins until her passing in 2017. She loved and adored Gary; he felt the same way about her.

Like the beautiful pristine fields surrounding Gary’s farm,  Jessel has created a gallery that feels more like a home, with her famous homemade gluten-free oatmeal cookies, which she serves daily, and her eight rooms filled with brilliant fine art, crafts, gifts, jewelry, clothing and so much more. Jessel, like Gary, devotes her time to rearranging the rooms, hosting shows and book signings.  Every Sunday, she teaches an art class that participants say is a rare “life experience.”  For three hours, beginners (or virgins as she calls them) and professional artists spend those hours not conscious of any thoughts of the past or future...they are totally caught up in the present moment...the “Zen Zone” as Jessel calls it.  “I love when everyone is so focused on the paint, brush, and paper that I am allowed to bask in their floating state, and peace fills the room."

Jessel's classes have become so popular she it is often necessary to move out of the small classroom that holds fourteen people, and in to her largest gallery space that accommodates thirty artists. She  recently began offering  a Wednesday evening class to lighten the load.  That class fills up as well, so she has simply accepted the enormity of the challenge of helping people touch “the inner place and peace” she has enjoyed since she discovered she was an artist at the age of four.

The Jessel Gallery devotes time to friends, family and the community by honoring individual artists with month long shows, annually holding the Open Studios show, and a two month Holiday Bazaar.  She hosts book signings for authors young and not so young, holds talks with community notables,  and is open seven days a week for visitors and locals to enjoy the sculpture garden or picnic on the deck. 

Together for twenty-four years, Jessel and Gary Miller shine a light on this already gorgeous valley by introducing something unique in the world of "being successful.”  They both do what they love and love what they do every single day, and they get to live in a magical place that they both call “Heaven on Earth.”  Yes, life has challenges, but they have surrounded themselves with friends to whom they are devoted, friends who return that devotion.  They also have their whole family living in the same town. “Blessed” is an understatement in their expression of how joy-filled life is for them.  Magical, Mystical, and Enlightening is how they describe their world, and they embrace the time to touch each moment with love.      

Everything around the county is in bloom and with all this beauty comes inspiration and color. I remember when I was first learning about the use of color I was challenged by my professor in college to stop being literal. “Grass in not always green” he said and it completely confused me since I thought I was seeing clearly and reproducing nature accurately. I WAS SO WRONG and he was right (as much as I hate to admit it because he was such an intolerant teacher only liking abstract art and I was a realist).

Now as I teach every Sunday, Joy, my student and friend, pointed out that I need to verbalize all the skills I do on “auto pilot.” I learned that I need to verbalize each thought and step I take as I put paint to paper:

1. Mixing color
2. The amount of water on the brush
3. Timing of water drying on paper
4. The effects the paint will have each moment as the paper dries
5. The variations from paper to paper

All these facts that I take for granted need to be talked about and the ART OF TEACHING blossoms like the Spring around me. It is truly a blessing to watch each student find their perfect palette, and develop their style. Below are two students with completely different palettes. Both are devoted focused painters. 

Marilyn Mendelson is the first artist with a strong brilliant palette who loves shapes and creates complex designs and balance in her work. Click through the gallery to enlarge her pieces. 

​Madri Bienenfeld is another powerhouse painter not afraid to stretch and grow in unique ways. Her palette is softer than Marilyn's yet the impact is just as exciting.  

I am thrilled with the progress of the students. They are my Spring Spirit and excitement on a weekly basis. By changing the classes to Sunday the door has opened to so many more students and I am joyful with all the positive response I get at our simply getting together and painting for 3 hours. I invite you to come and experience this Zen Zone. It’s like being in kindergarten all over again.
​
I plan to introduce you to my students each month. PLEASE ENJOY and join us in class!  Get on the Email Blast and hear about all the happenings and classes at the gallery. If you wish to try the class email me .
HUGS
Jessel  

​I came home from a recent vacation to the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. I took it as a sign I needed to take more holidays. I write books, including The Slow Down Book, and truly need to read my own writing!

The gallery is a 7 day a week job and rarely do I take a vacation. I was
blessed with 3 nights in a beautiful home in Bodega Bay last week and it has
truly affected my spirit. 

When I opened the Jessel Gallery in 1984 I committed to "the Business of
Art". Before that time I was a Creative Artist keeping my own time and
embracing each day as a Free Spirit. Once I opened the doors to this space,
which at that time was only 300 sq. ft. (now 6500 sq.ft.) it became clear to
me that having a gallery and being a working artist are 2 completely
different focuses and now I had to find a way to keep the art flowing as
well as keep the doors open and cover my overhead. 

​Through Floods, Earthquakes, 9-11, the Recession, Earthquakes again and
finally Fires I had to keep reinventing the gallery to handle the changes.
At one time the Jessel Gallery supported 8 full time employees. After 9-11
the ceiling fell in and the floor fell out of the business of luxury items,
which art is considered. I have always said that because my price point is
from $10.00 to $10,000.00 we were able to survive the slow and low times
throughout our history.

​Over the last few years the only time off I took were two 6 week periods in which I had my right and then left hip replaced...definitely NOT A VACATION. In fact, after the most recent hip replacement I came in and taught a private class after just 2 weeks of healing!

​Now, because of this recent trip I have decided this is going to be my "once a month commitment to my well-being" and to my HeART . Refreshing, renewing, relaxing and rejuvenating are my new Mantra and will certainly infuse my paintings with brilliant light. My lesson will hopefully inspire you to take time to touch each moment with love!

Until next time, 
Jessel