A Shift in Focus

Hello Blogger land.

I haven't had anything to share over here in a looooong time, which mostly has to do with my focus on my Horror Blog. That, and I've been writing my novel (finally!!) and I just haven't been doing anything in the art and design world for a good erm... two years pretty much.

Artist Burnout

Well before my last feature film project I was feeling totally burned out. Exhausted, unhappy, and unhealthy. I loved (and still love) every single person I was working with, but the work itself wasn't satisfying me anymore.

And that was incredibly hard for me to admit. It still is.

I was feeling burned out and I had also been looking at where my life was headed and wasn't entirely happy with the path I was taking. Working 8-10 months out of the year away from friends, family, and any hope of a healthy routine was not something I wanted in the long run.

But it left me with a big ol' question mark, if I'm not doing FILM or THEATER what on earth am I going to do with myself.

So I took a step back. 

Since I've taken a step back from features, I've produced my own web-series, learned how to edit, taken musical theater classes (and freakin' loved them!!), started blogging (like a boss), been doing commissioned artwork, and WRITING.

Writing has been a big deal for me because it was always that one skill I felt I was OK at, but loved doing even though it wasn't as polished as my other skills. This past year in particular I've been giving my literary side a lot more loving.

I've discovered some new things about myself

1. I like working independently on collaborative projects.
2. I need a LOT of variety in my weekly routine to feel satisfied
3. I need a fair amount of face to face time with friends and family
4. I like acting
5. I love singing
6. I love writing, but I'm still terrified of it. lol don't think too much on that one...
7. and drawing is like breathing to me. I can't stop myself from doing that even if I wanted to.

Blogging

I've been learning a ton about blogging, social media and  small businesses. All of these topics I think I'll start sharing here, because I think blogging, in particular, is a very powerful tool for artists of any type to get your name out there.

In light of everything happening in the world right now I've also come to the conclusion that

Art is important

Art, is the one thing I have to offer the world that I think truly adds to it in a positive way.

I want to teach. I want to help. I want to create something that will positively impact the little chunk of tumultuous world I live in and try to help us all heal just a little from the pain we are absorbing as War inches closer and closer to us.

Because art may be one of the few things that can help us cope with what's going on. And I for one need it.

So now that I have a better grasp on what the blog is going to be talking about, beyond film-making, I'll posting one post every Friday from now on. It may be a lot of brainstorming to start, but once things get rolling you'll start to see more about the following things:

• The art community in CT/ New England
• Musician and Artist spotlights
• designing classes and courses for the arts
• personal art projects in progress, sculptures and the like
• how to promote your work through social media
• tools for advertising events
• how to get work as an illustrator
• how to step up a portfolio blog
• how to use social media like a pro - and not annoy the heck out of everyone

among many other thoughts.

Going Forward

As I spend some more time on my thoughts here, I'll start sprucing up the site, reorganizing and bringing this site up to par with what I've been doing over on HorrorMade.com. I may even switch this over to wordpress so I can have some more control over the design etc. But that's an issue for a later time.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey, and I hope I can bring you some valuable insights into how to approach the world of art, and perhaps together, we'll figure out how to make a proper living off of it.

~XOXO

Jeanette

Women in Horror Month

Hello readers!

February is Women in Horror Month and I'm doing a bunch of things that you may find interesting.

Yesterday I posted an interview with director Emily Hagins on www.horrormade.blogspot.com . Emily and I, as you may know, worked together waaay back on "5 Senses of Fear." Here's a link to my post about that project: Horror Movie Renderings. Lol, at the time I had to be super vague because features don't tend to share a lot while they're in production. But I can share all sorts of things with you about it now.

It was so much fun to work on this project. Every week I got to work with a new director on a new story with one of my favorite film crews in the world - Synthetic Cinema International. For Emily's segment we took over some abandoned buildings in an old campground in Moodus CT. It was such a great location, and I certainly did my share of urban spelunking while I was there-- in the name of finding set dressing of course. ;-) We made road spikes out of plastic chunks and strips of wood, had quite the adventure with cataract contact lens that made the child actor pretty much actually blind while wearing them, and we had some uncomfortably cold days of exterior shooting. Thanks New England weather! But it was fun, especially when I got to smash in a few windows on the van for the car crash. Wrecking cars really never gets old to me. My interview with her is the first in a four part series where I ask some of my favorite horror-movie making co-workers about their experiences in the industry.I'll make sure to post the links to those here so you can check them out as the month progresses.

 I also posted the first youtube video for the month's festivities. This week is my review of 'Struck' by Clarissa Johal. Here it is for you to check out:

 And really, feel free to make fun of me. I'm still figuring out how to not be a total spaz on camera. Who knew I'd be doing so much acting?