Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Janessa Bookout. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Janessa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I have just finished a painting that is incredibly meaningful to me. It’s a landscape/seascape view of the Malibu Pier as viewed from Surfrider Beach in Malibu. This project was initially a commissioned piece for my surf club, the Malibu Surfing Association.

The digital image of my painting, with custom graphics, will be licensed to the surf club and used for merchandise and marketing materials for our upcoming surf competition called the MSA Classic Invitational.

This international longboard surf competition is a historic event in itself as it is the longest running annual coalition event which began in 1961 at one of the world’s most iconic surf beaches.

After the tragic fires and mudslides that destroyed so much of our beautiful coastline earlier this year, our surf community was shaken to the core.
I was relieved to know our beach and the pier were not harmed in the fires but I didn’t know how soon we’d be able to return to our home away from home in Malibu.

The club is currently still waiting for our official permit approval from the city of Malibu to confirm the event is happening but we are moving forward on event planning in hopes that it will go on as usual.

I was initially ecstatic just to know that it was in the works and that surfers had officially returned to the beach.
The PCH closure made it very difficult for us to reach Malibu from the south for months, so we had only been up there a few times at that point. But my heart remained with Malibu on a daily basis, as I worked tirelessly on this painting from my studio in Huntington Beach.

I actually worked on several ideas for this project with multiple canvases in process before deciding on the final piece with my preferred composition and color scheme. I wanted it to really encapsulate the feeling of being on the sand in Malibu on a sunny day.

Being commissioned to work on this project has also been extremely flattering to me as an artist. Our club typically hires very well known and talented artists so I am honored to be considered at this level.
There is yet one more very personal level of meaning to this project for me.

As I flipped through my collection of photos of Malibu looking for an image that included both the iconic Malibu pier and the wall at Surfrider beach, I kept returning to one picture in particular. It was a photo I took of our sweet dog Lilly, who passed earlier this year at the age of fourteen.

I printed out this photo from 2021 to use as a reference for the final piece, so I quite literally had Lilly by my side, in the photo and in spirit, as I poured my heart into this piece.

Initially, I didn’t include Lilly in the image for the club, I simply left the beach in the foreground empty with several surfboards leaning on the wall and two waves curling toward the pier on the ocean, under a light blue sky with some fluffy white clouds overhead.

The empty space on the beach was intended to be filled with the text for the competition which I have now added using computer graphics over my hand painted image.

As of right now I am still waiting to confirm our title sponsor for the event before I finalize the exact verbiage for the competition image so that will be released at a later date.

Once the background was finished, my final step was to paint Lilly into the original painting in a celebration of our incredible girl.

Lilly was so much more than just a pet to us. She was our baby since 6 wks old and our best friend who was with us every day since then. She was also basically our mascot and definitely a local celebrity at the beach in Malibu, so it only feels right to commemorate her sweet spirit in a painting of her at the beach in Malibu.

The day I finished the painting was the first weekend the PCH had reopened. We took her ashes along with the painting to the beach in Malibu the next day. Dave and some of our close friends had an informal surfers paddle out for her at sunset as I watched from the beach along with many more of our friends.

My heart still aches, and probably always will, when I review the events of early 2025 but I definitely used this painting as a therapeutic process to pour my love for Malibu, and for my sweet Lilly, into a piece of art that will live on with all of us forever.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I always loved making art as a child but it was not until my high school days that I began taking art seriously as a career path.

I learned how to draw realistically from observation as a sophomore in high school. I continued with 2 more years of advanced level AP and IB classes in high school before going on to attend an ivy league art school for college.

I received my BFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where I learned about all kinds of materials and processes for mixed media 2D, 3D and digital art.

Upon graduation I soon realized I didn’t have much of a plan beyond getting my degree so I returned home to Tulsa in 2004 to regroup before relocating first to Oregon in 2007 and then California in 2008, and that is where I still reside to this day.

I have worked in many art related professions over the years from creative fabrication to fine art gallery management and today I work part-time as a technical illustrator and project manager for a small business in Orange County.

I have also managed my own business as an artist for over 20 years, always maintained my own art studio, sold art through galleries and participated in community art shows. I have also done a lot of freelance work and have built my own artist website as well as websites for many others.

In 2010, I fell in love with Dave Moore, a legendary California surfboard shaper and became partners with him on our surfboard company, DMZ Surfboards. I help with digital art for surfboards on occasion and manage all our office duties and bookkeeping, etc. I also recycle a lot of his scrap materials and old surfboards into mixed media sculptures and paintings.

After 20+ years as an artist and business owner I also published my first book in 2023 called “ARTworkaholic”. It is now available on Amazon or you can get signed copies my own website. The book shares my years of experiences with both “art” and “work” through my personal story. I wrote this in an effort to help other aspiring artists and creative business owners.

After publishing my book, many of my readers reached out to me directly through my website asking for my support, so I began offering 1-on-1 artist coaching and have just began developing an online course as well.

I explain my coaching process as a combination of traditional artist training and personalized support that offers both technical skill building and life coaching with a heavy emphasis on mindset. I’m proud to encourage creative transformation for everyone from beginner to intermediate levels of art experience.

I place a heavy emphasis on drawing skills and color mixing with acrylic paints to help develop the right brain creativity that often gets thwarted by the American education system. In a world that prioritizes left brain learning, (like reading and writing or math and science) I think everyone can benefit from working on more creative endeavors and emotional development as artists.

My artist website currently offers an online gallery of works that are available for purchase. I also have a portfolio archive of all my past work, including the many pieces that have been sold or gifted to loved ones over the years. I welcome inquiries for commissioned projects of all kinds.

I also offer all kinds of creative services on a freelance basis so everyone is welcome to set up a free consultation with me at janessabookout.com to see if we may be a good fit for any creative endeavors you may have in mind for yourself or your business.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The Orange County SBDC (Small Business Development Center), has been incredibly helpful on the business side of life. I was amazed to find out there was an entire network of professionals available at no cost to help me support my creative business endeavors. I have worked with them on everything from website SEO to financial reporting and I would highly recommend any small business owner reach out to see what they can do to help you with your specific goals.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal is to express my unique perspectives on life in a way that can upift and support others. I like to think I live by example as much as possible.

I believe we were all created by a creator in order to create. In a world where we are encouraged to constantly consume, it becomes an act of rebellion to put away our devices (and other vices) in order to make something special that didn’t exist before we made it.

Our society has transformed dramatically in the new digital age that has evolved since my childhood in the 1980’s. Today we are all addicted to our various forms of digital consumption, whether it be purchasing products at the touch of a button or watching/listening to any kind of online content at anytime of day. The act of scrolling through endless amounts of content has become a distraction that can actually make us feel more isolated from the world and even more disconnected from our true self.

I think we all need various ways to return to self and reconnect to our communities. I am a firm believer that the therapeutic aspect of art can be a key to changing ourselves, and the world, for the better. Like any activity, basic art skills can be learned, and then our true creativity can continue to be explored through consistent practice over time.

I also believe the value of hands on studio art will always outweigh the new generation of AI art and mass produced products. The process of making something by hand taps into the authenticity and soul force of each artist, and that’s something no computer could ever compete with. Even if something handmade is less perfect in some ways, it is inherently more human, and that is a value I will never let go of.

That being said, I am not an AI hater. I do use AI tools for various non-art related tasks and have played around with generating images, but to me it just doesn’t feel like “making art”. This is playing with technology, and it’s interesting, I just think it’s important to embrace the upgrades in technology without abandoning our uniquely human creative force.

So that is where I think I can help bridge the gap for people on either side. Many of my clients are asking to learn about art so I start them with basic skill building before we evolve into pure creation and ongoing research. Other clients are very capable in the studio but need help with building business structures, websites, social media etc.

Regardless of what technical skills they need help with, my clients also always get an underlying level of life coaching where we talk about goals, fears, frustration, resistance or overwhelm.

This is all part of the process, so I guess I would say my ultimate purpose here is to help support my fellow artists on their unique paths. I also invite everyone who doesn’t feel like a “real artist” for whatever reason, but always wanted to be “more creative”, to contact me for a free consultation. I can help anyone investigate the options and develop their creativity. There is no one size fits all program for artists, so I am just here to be a guide as a fellow artist, small business owner, published author and certified art coach.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://janessabookout.com
• Instagram: @janessabookoutart
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/janessabookoutart