Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Carter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jenna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I have worked on is the one I am currently focused on, which is building my platform on YouTube within the visual artist niche. I create videos that visually capture my conceptual vision as an artist while I display my painting process; and simultaneously inspiring other artists to utilize their unique, personal creative gifts. I take inspiration from metaphysical and spiritual practices and texts, empowering people to realize their uniqueness as individuals and their power to be whoever they want to be, as everyone has the ability to create whatever their heart desires – in life and in art, whatever their medium.
My art is a visual representation of either women that I find beautiful, or that society finds conventionally attractive (or both), with expressions of confusion, regret, anger, dissatisfaction, and sadness. This juxtaposition serves as a visual representation for the tendency of human beings to always want more, searching endlessly for things outside of themselves that they already possess within. When beautiful women search for beauty on the outside, they are constantly trying to obtain more and more. The journey to being “beautiful” by the world’s standards is an endless game; and the irony is there is already the beauty they are searching for within themselves. There is no need to try – in fact the less one tries to be beautiful, lets go, and just chooses to be themselves, the beauty shines through more. This dissatisfaction the women I depict possess, despite their so-called “beauty,” is utilized in order to communicate that this battle to be beautiful to the outside world is never satisfactory, and is ultimately endless. The art I create opens up the conversation about how this is true beyond only beauty and women; as it is a human tendency to search for several things on the outside of us that we already possess within: such as success, abundance, power, love, and prosperity, to name a few. I utilize materials such as graphite, oil paint, ink, charcoal, and gouache to depict these portraits and figures.
The YouTube videos that I create deal with topics of success, prosperity, activating creative powers and uniqueness from within, and realization of innate power as your outside world reflects your inner knowing. It is my goal through these videos to help other artists realize their power they hold simply by being, creating, and doing. Opening the discussion around these topics while I paint allows me to slowly introduce my art’s higher meaning and purpose, developing my audience independently, while controlling my own narrative. YouTube is a beautiful tool, because it has helped me to invest in myself, and inspires me to further research these metaphysical and spiritual understandings of life, which has drastically improved my own quality of living; and furthered my understanding of why I create the art that I do.
An example of one of the topics I discuss on my channel is Prosperity. In a world that is constantly asking artists to prove their worth based on monetary gain and financial abundance, I challenge my viewers to look beyond this restriction and resonate with the successes they have already, and the prosperity that is innately theirs. Prosperity, by my new definition, is the capability of going forth with all that you want to do with the highest level of enthusiasm. This is not to say doing all that you want in the sense of ordering takeout whenever you feel like it, but rather doing what makes you, as a unique, creative spirit, truly feel like yourself; and feel bliss within this embodiment of you. To prosper means to flourish, to thrive, and to be who you are. The ultimate prosperity is what we invest in ourselves but the key is, we have got to do it. One cannot learn all there is to know about playing the piano, but never express themselves through the keys, or learn all there is to know about how to draw, but never actually apply these skills to express on paper what comes naturally.
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.
“Tell me about yourself” is always one of the most complex questions, as who I am cannot be explained with words and letters, as I am ever changing while remaining the same throughout. I am vigilant in my everyday activities to resonate within my own supreme self confidence, and supreme authority of my highest self. I facilitate this knowing of my highest self through my creative practice of painting, drawing, writing, and videography. This is not to say that I am working to be confident in “Jenna,” as this name is only a part of my material self; and blowing myself up and telling myself “I can do anything, I’m the best,” is not what I set out to do. Rather, it is distinguishing between my own believing and inner knowing. This is what gives me confidence. My discernment, my knowing, and my creativity is the closest I can get to telling about myself.
People who say “I wish I could be an artist, or I wish I knew how to play piano, I wish I could do gymnastics,” give their power up by wishing, giving the power outside of themselves. Wishing upon a star gives their individual power to the star. Once we, as human beings, realize that once we truly know ourselves, and give our own inner guide and inner knowing the power, all things become possible to us. The dark glass of ignorance raises, and it is clear that all that was holding us back is the narrative beliefs “I don’t want to be a failure, I can’t do it, I’m going to suffer, I am going to end up back where I started, so I can’t waste my time because I have to be successful, etc.” This is all from the mind. Our highest self wants more for us.
When I really started to get these things, there was no turning back. This is when I decided to make art, and revolve my life around the creativity that flows through me. I empower myself to be who I am in my divinity, and use my art of drawing, painting, video work, and writing, to facilitate me to be more me, and therefore possess more supreme self confidence and knowing. I am vigil in each moment in reminding myself: I already have it all, I never evolved, as I always was complete, with all talents, capabilities, and potential. It was merely a revelation of who I am, that led me to do what my highest version of myself would do. It is also a priority of mine within each moment, to spread this awareness to others, as we all have these unique talents and abilities, and uplift others to have the same realizations of their own divine possibilities within their own life. T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More.
I produce paintings first, and I utilize this work to produce art centrist YouTube videos with various topics that revolve around empowering individuals that want to be artists, but believe they can’t. It is unfortunate that so many people believe that they would never “make it,” and choose against trying and doing, as they are only holding themselves back. It is my objective through my YouTube channel to demonstrate my own creativity through drawing and painting, while empowering my viewers to do the same, as their creativity is as beautiful as they believe mine to be, and vice versa.
My art is typically a portrait of a woman with a blank canvas background, who never believes she is good enough because she compares herself to every other woman out there. My art is conceptual, and serves as a reminder to myself that the narrative of comparison will perpetually leave me in a suffering state. Through realization of all the beauty that I already possess brings me eternal life and love within, and makes my creativity flow. I hope that my art will serve as a reminder to others of similar realizations: beauty is within and we already have it – no one can take it from us, no matter our age, size, or financial status. So we might as well do what our heart desires, now.
One of the problems I solve for my clients is to empower them to rise above the people, places, and things that are holding them back. We all, as human beings in this highly confusing world, deny ourselves of responsibility for not feeling good enough, as we are, in each moment. In reality, this is merely a belief we have about ourselves, that we are not good enough. When we are conscious of our unique talents, abilities, and potential, no one or no thing can hold us back, because we acknowledge who we are beyond all belief systems, and at the core of who we are.
For example in my video “you are already a successful artist (you are enough),” I walk my viewers through my process of varnishing my oil paintings for the first time, while discussing the limiting beliefs we have about success. I explain in the video, “the belief that you have not yet succeeded is a belief that you are not good enough as you are. Wishing you are more than you are is implying that you are currently less. It is a belief that you are not worthy, yet. You haven’t worked hard enough, yet. These thoughts of not being enough then transcend to emotions of lack, anxiety, pain, depression, fear. These thoughts have been created by the mind. Your true and honest self is successful, and feels the way you would feel if you believed yourself to be enough. Your highest self feels like they are enough already, without the increase in sales, followers, or whatever you are telling yourself that you need in order to consider yourself enough of an artist, worthy of the title and the feeling of being enough.”
I received a lovely comment from one of my wonderful and unique viewers that demonstrates the problems that I have solved for them in their own practice, stating: “thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and motivating us !! lately I’ve rlly been struggling with my art feeling worthy and myself as an artist, seeing others in this path feels reassuring and safe :).”
These individuals that take the time to comment on my videos inspire me to keep going, because if I teach even one person to realize their beauty within, I feel fulfilled.
I am most proud of the paintings that I have created in the past year, as I have made over 40 paintings. I put my full self into each one, and I developed a style that is true to me. This was an investment I chose to make in myself, and in my creativity. I have a clear vision of what I create, and how I promote these paintings in the world for people to see, through my videos and in-person showings. I know the messages I actively associate with these visualizations. I look forward to any opportunity I have to continue to talk about these topics that I am so deeply passionate about. I am excited to be a part of the Long Beach Open Studio Tour in October with a fellow artist and friend Michele Rene, as she is so kind to be hosting me in her studio at The Vault Warehouse, a community artist studio space. This will provide me with an in person opportunity to meet people, display my art publicly, and spread my message to more people.
I want my potential viewers of this movement to know that I am endeavoring for the welfare of them. I want them to resonate within their abundant selves. Once they know themself, be their own inner guide, all becomes possible to them. The key is that they already have the ultimate thing they are searching for, which is happiness and love, now. Within them. I simply want to serve as a reminder of this truth.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I was first starting to go to openings in Los Angeles, I was trying to be genuine and go just to enjoy the art, but really I ended up being desperate to make connections with gallery owners, the other artists, and the collectors. Every time, though, I felt like I was making inauthentic connections that felt draining, and never actually turned into genuine friendships. I would leave the night feeling depleted, like I put in so much effort and got nothing in return. I even knew the people I met disliked me sometimes but yet I was still desperate to make the connection.
I had a conversation with a gallery owner one night that was rather awkward, but it helped me to take a step back and realize that maybe spending all of my time and energy in these environments wasn’t for me. This conversation was the catalyst to a pivot I had to make in order to better myself and my career. I had asked this gallery owner why he never emailed me back regarding my submission he had seemed so interested in the first time we spoke. He proceeded to give me the typical rejection, “don’t quit making art, you’ve got talent, however we are too booked up and my team didn’t think it would be a good fit.” At this point, I had been trying to figure out how to get into a big gallery like this one for a year, and I was exhausted. I just flat out asked him, “I am genuinely confused. I don’t get what is better about the artists on the wall, can you please explain this to me?” I risked sounding delusional and arrogant but I was simply in need of some answers. I sensed I was missing something. Why were galleries so exclusive, confusing, and generally aloof to the artists that show up?
The man still couldn’t really give me a straight answer, it was something about how those artists were foreign, they dedicate their lives to their craft more than I do, they worked harder than me to get where they are, etc. He had no idea who I was, so there was no way he could know that they were any more dedicated, made more art, or been more driven than me. It could have been true, but the blatant assumption that was made caused me to decide that night that I was finished with begging these people for a place in their gallery. I knew this is not a place I want to be. I want to make genuine relationships with people that genuinely care about my vision, my art, and are not so consumed with the business side of things that these things get entirely overlooked. I do not want my career to be superficial and clout-based. I deserve more than that.
When you expect nothing, you gain everything. At what point did my going to art shows become only about the outcome of making connections? I started with the intention to see the art, and I was excited and interested in the art I was going to see, and it became all about the connections I could make to get me further in my career.
My expectations for attending galleries were holding me back. The problem was not that I cared to make connections, but it was the outcome I was expecting out of these connections that I was forcing myself to make. I can care, but never expect an outcome and attach myself to that expectation. I was living within the confines of the belief that everything I did had to give back to me. Rather than being happy within myself and experiencing the art and the people, I was expecting the art and the people to give me happiness. Once I make enough connections and have enough shows in high enough places, I will be successful, and then I will be happy. I was giving away my power to be successful and happy on my own, and falling victim to my circumstances of this person or that person not liking me, not liking my art, etc. I was attached to the creation of my art career, and this made me into a vampire, preying on any amount of opportunity that I could get. Attachment to things, fame, appreciation, and money creates suffering. I was choosing to suffer out of disappointment that I wasn’t getting the exact outcome that I wanted out of these events. I could instead be enjoying myself and enjoying my life without expectations, seeing each and every moment and person as a gift.
I actively detach from the idea that if I do something, I will feel happy. That is simply backwards. It takes feeling the love and the joy within myself in order to receive it from another. That’s not to say that if I stop caring about the things I am passionate about I will get them. No. It’s when I do the things I enjoy, creating things for the sake of creating them, any feedback or energy I receive back to me will be a gift; because I didn’t expect it. I am an embodiment of life itself, joyful to be in the present moment, receiving energy as a gift; and not an embodiment of expectations waiting for results, and disappointment when things don’t go exactly my way. Giving it my 100% effort in each moment to live my life, and each and every moment becomes a gift. The very best thing I can do for myself is to expect nothing, and this was the most important career pivot I have made that has shaped my art, my life, and my relationships since having changed my mindset. I encourage other artists to do the same.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the self realization and introspection it forces me to have in my life. It is my therapy in some ways. It slows my hyperactive brain, and allows me to just be. I know it was what I was meant to do, because everything I have gone through in life has led me here. It provides me with a resting place, and a refuge from all of the confusion I have had growing up and becoming an adult. It is the facilitator of my highest purpose, and is the means to which I feel comfortable expressing myself and my vision. I respect my own creativity too much to settle or to push it aside. It will always be a part of my life, no matter the outcome of where it takes me, and I shape my world around it. Having love for something that I can do every day is a gift that I do not take for granted. I am consistently morally tested in ways that I wouldn’t be without it. I have had self realizations through my pursuit of making more art and finding those that have similar interests. I devote myself to my craft in a way that shows me all that I am capable of when I put my mind to something. Art gives me confidence, and it makes me strong, and reminds me of all the qualities I uniquely posses as an individual.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenjencartridge/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenjencartridge
