We recently connected with Debra Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Debra, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have always drawn the movie stars I loved since grade school. As I went to Art School, after realizing all I wanted to do was draw faces, I didn’t like the rest of it. I had no concept of abstraction and all the underlying stuff, but if it had a face, I was on it! I floundered for decades, trying commercial and then getting out of art (other than a few projects for friends) and finbally just making a living.
THEN it was sort of like a sudden realization that neither the people I worked with nor my clients could talk with me about what I loved… So I eased myself into going to open studio a number of times a week, joining art leagues and entering small shows until I eventually made as much in my day job as I did with my hobby and chucked the day job! I was honestly a bit poorer doing art, as it was not as predictable, but I was much happier!
Open studio allowed me to work from life and I was good at it. BUT to make a living I was doing pet portraits. All from photos and I can pretty much make anything work if you give me a photo because they hold still!
I sat in dog parks just painting. I call it my “Pet Whisperer” mode, waiting for them to approach me, not soliciting, as that is not allowed in Dog Parks!
It was a living and I filled in with children with out fur and occasionally actual adults!
In the early days of the internet, I got involved with a blog that encouraged membership and quickly found that my Dog-a-day concept attracted many followers in the group. I must say that without a free group of pet lovers following me, I could not have gotten off the ground. I literally would get calls from people who had my card for 8 years, when their pet finally died and they needed a painting! I call myself Dead Dog Deb, as I often delivered and wept with the owners of the pet that passed.
Working and paying my taxes and such literally paid off as I am now able to collect Social Security and might call myself Semi-retired.
In 2015 a woman was running for President and I went to a show in Alexandria VA of Women Painting Women! I knew many of the artists from online, but I WANTED IN!
As a portrait painter, there is a scarcity of employment. Gone are the John Singer Sargent days of the wealthy portraits for homes. The professional recognition portrait is now a wall of photos. Even Judges go to the local photographer, but I saw the opportunity to recruit my peers and maybe even meet a few of the ”Mover and Shaker” females in the community.
I called a man who ran a city gallery and was only asking where to contact local papers, radio and other PR for free advertising for myself.
He suggested I have a show. ……Hmm…..

I did have a concept but was not sure I could fill a gallery, but with other women it was possible. I took over a year, meeting, training and prepping myself while painting and trying to keep the other artists focused. The ONE thing I was most interested in, the promotion and word getting out, I assumed the gallery would do. They really dropped the ball, in my opinion.
The GOOD news was that I managed 19 huge portraits, sold about 5 and got two GREAT patrons…but there was so much more to do.
I am somewhat sour on galleries. The consignment model they all seem to use now is to their advantage, not the artist. In the good old days, the gallery bought from artists and sold for whatever they could get. The value of your work went up and they always made a profit themselves, but it is not the way.
I am able to do only commission work. I live in an artist geared, low income residence and with my social security, I somewhat gave up on the pace of making art I once did.

THEN CAME VP HARRIS! Another woman running for President!! And decided to do the show with nobody but me.
I had done a one woman show in the Denver area of Western Women – Cowgirls, mounted shooters, Pow Wow attendees and even historical Native Americans from lost photos over 100 years old. Again, all women. A perfect merger.
Where I live has a community gallery at the disposal of the residents. I reserved it for two weeks so I could have a sudden show from October 1-10 to encourage women to look at the art about women that I have done!
Instead of the society elite, I am simply getting women of achievement! We do have a female Governor and Attorney General, but I am working on them. Presently I have a city council woman, a 2 state representatives, a small business owner and a Native American consultant! They are done. The show is in 6 weeks and I have to move fast toward marketing, as that was the problem with the first show.
I have not had this new show, but it is pretty obvious, the earlier show was a dream I hope to fulfill with this new project. Is the NEXT project the most meaningful???
Hopefully!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Debra Jones.
My website, www.jonesportraitart.com had links to my latest themes and ideas. I work in what we call 2-D media. I don’t do collage, but I draw in charcoal, pencil, colored pencil, and metal point. I paint in oil, watercolor and pastel. I went to the Rocky Mountain School of Art because after I got an Associates degree, I still did not know what I was good at. I started as an art school drop out, right into and ad agency. I am old enough that Mad Men was JUST before me. I overlapped about the last season, but I related to most of the shenanigans and found myself feeling a bit guilty even then, as a promotor of consumerism.
I left and did odd jobs and amateur theater, working at a textbook company, newspaper paste up and even touring Colorado with the Governor’s Chautauqua group as a puppeteer. It was my most bohemian stage. Following a boyfriend to Arizona, I really had few contacts and my mother, a manicurist and hairdresser (one of the opportunities for women in the 60’s) gave me the tuition to nail school to get me going until I decided what I “wanted to be when I grew up”.
20 years went by and I decided. As I already mentioned, I did a lot of open studio, painted pets, and padded up my resume. I was the winner, not usually first but the prizes that you had to ship back your piece and get the art supplies! My home has an entire wall of prize winning framed work, unsold.
I thing the first job in marketing helped me understand the value of staying in front of the public, creating and letting people see it! I started a new blog every time I tried something new. The residue is linked on my website. (I do need to clean up the older posts, as photos were linked to a defunct hosting spot.)
Now I am actually more on Facebook than anywhere but I do have an Instagram presence as well. I am sinking into a social media void, and coming out for this next show is going to be a lot of work!
It is hard to be a one-woman band, but it is not impossible.
I think, if anyone is interested, I would say think of scale.
DO NOT have a desire be the best, understand what it takes to make a living an just strive to exceed it. I never felt I had to sacrifice, but I always planned on taking care of myself. I have IRA’s and my actual business plan was 1/3s: One third of my time was getting seen. I painted in dog parks, updated my site and blogs and entered shows. Second third was making the work. Doing the job I was commissioned to do and learn what I needed (or adapted the job to my skills) and the last third was for me. Although I have not traveled much, I can take the savings out and go a few places, or do nothing, but that balance of getting and doing the work, only succeeds if the down time is the goal!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I am somewhat saddened by the state of artists today. Even art schools are teaching computer graphics and limited Marketing skills. The old fashioned skills seem less relevant, although they can be acquired. I hope the NFT craze is almost over, and AI is just plain scary.
The best I can hope is that the market recognizes the HAND of the artist. The days of matching the drapes are even worse than they were and so many in my age group are simply retirees that want to turn a hobby into extra income. I do admire many young people out there making a living and I did it for 20 years. It LOOKS a bit like art, but is it?

I am also an advocate of new artist NOT giving work away. There are many ways to gain exposure, but try harder to feed your stomach, not your ego. I learned to donate to charities, but only gift certificates of actual value. Small, but real. Also put on an expiration date. If it gets bid on and won, many of my first donations were not happy with an 8×10 painting but I happily let them buy a 16×20 and put the certificate toward it. I have always believed there are MANY people out there that want my work, it is the job to find them. Value yourself or no one else will.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I alluded to it earlier, but one day, there I was clipping Mrs. Frank’s toenails. I used to gauge the value of things by saying to myself “Is this worth 3 pedicures .. especially Mrs. Frank!” and literally I might pass things up.
It was during a pedicure. The music in the salon was 1990 disco and my mind was playing Dvorak. I thought, “Who here even knows what Dvorak is? Could I discuss the arts with anyone here?” I was staying sane through a few clients… very few… who did have a concept of culture but I was craving a way out!
I began to do more art and schedule fewer clients. When I literally brought in more money making art, I stopped taking new clients. I had four people getting house calls and two died. So I kept my license and finally, only about 5 years ago, I let it lapse.
I finally was what I wanted to grow up to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jonesportraitart.com
• Instagram: @picturesmithjones
• Youtube: @djstartheartist
• Other: Threads: @picturesmithjones

Image Credits

All paintings and portraits by Debra Jones