Meet Jessica Smith | Portrait Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Well, that was never the intention or necessarily the goal. I started painting portraits during lockdown. Everybody else was baking sourdough bread and I looked into what that entailed and decided I was not ready to partake in the sourdough lifestyle. So I decided to see if I could paint a portrait of someone. I wanted it to be someone whose face I knew really well and someone I loved very much. I painted my two best friends. Our mutual friends could tell it was them. Next, I painted Richard Brautigan, my favorite author. Then I painted Townes Van Zandt, a musician I love. I shared the portrait of Townes to a Facebook fan group I’m in…and someone bought it! So I just kept painting people who make me feel love in my heart. I think they connect with people who feel that same love for the subjects of my paintings.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In some ways, it wasn’t easy. I’m a pretty unlikely artist. I’m a single mom of 5 kids, I don’t have a lot of money or time, I’m middle aged…I had no idea I had this ability in me. If I hadn’t had time during lockdown to discover it, maybe I still wouldn’t know today. I don’t have formal training. But in other ways, it was very easy. I enjoy painting, I enjoy taking the feelings I have about a person or their own art, and expressing my gratitude for them and love I have for them in a portrait. I think there’s something about doing what you’re meant to be doing that makes the process easy. And this is what I’m meant to do.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d definitely hit up Sandy Beach at Possum Kingdom Lake for some swimming and general relaxation, take a hike around Greer Island at Fort Worth Nature Center, and check out some music and art at Friday on the Green. For food, we’d definitely eat at Boo-Ray’s (I love their filet with crawfish hollandaise on top…my kids love the little game room they have there too), Nonna Tata for some delicious Italian food, and Spice has amazing Thai food and a nice vibe. Drinks at the Cicada or Nickel City. And ice cream cones at Melt!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh man, absolutely. I want to give a shout out to Shasta Haubrich, the director at Art Tooth for inviting me to my first show (and many others!) to help me start getting my work out there. I want to give a shout out to everyone who produces Arts Goggle each year. It’s such a cool event for our community and I love how it connects local artists. (Come on down to Magnolia Ave in Fort Worth, 10/21/23, baby!) Heidi Tournoux for including me in the Women of Power show in Grand Prairie. The Cherokee Nation for welcoming me as an artisan at last year’s Cherokee National Holiday. Michael Smith for including me in his nature journaling workshops to talk about journaling through art. I want to thank Merritt Martin at the Dallas Observer for doing a little write up about my first solo show earlier this year in Dallas. I want to thank my family; my kids for giving me the space to create and encouragement to keep going and my parents for investing so much time and effort in my shows.

Instagram: Instagram.com/GoodEarthArt

Facebook: Facebook.com/GoodEarthArt

Image Credits
Image Credit for the photo with the rainbow in the background: Jessica Hume