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

Alright, Lori thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I love being an artist. I have a really unique situation because my husband and I are cattle ranchers. While it’s a “job”, it’s really more of a lifestyle than a living. I don’t clock in, but I also don’t ever really clock out. My artwork has to fit in around the care of our animals and while that sounds like a challenge, it’s really the perfect scenario. My artwork is inspired by the immediate world around me on a daily basis. I don’t have to go to art museums or on day trips or even online to find the inspiration and reference material for my work, I’m literally immersed in it every day. I pack a camera everywhere on the ranch while we are working and then bring those reference photos and ideas back to the studio. There are tons of western artists out there that are passionate about the cowboy lifestyle but don’t really know and understand what they’re portraying. I grew up doing this and continue to do it everyday and I think this lends an authenticity to my work that cannot be forged.

Lori, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up on a big ranch in northwestern Colorado. I remember once my dad brought home a couple of wild horses and my sisters and I went down to the corral to look at them. They were the most magnificent beings I’d ever laid eyes on. Like most little girls, I had a deep love for horses and had started riding to “help out” on the ranch when I was just three. Anyway, I went back to the house and found paper and a pencil and was determined to draw this beautiful horse. I could see it in my mind; his sleek body rearing up against a stormy sky, his long and tangled mane whipping in the wind. I sat there and did my best to capture him on paper and it looked NOTHING like I was seeing in my mind’s eye. I started again. And again. I remember sitting there in the dirt crying, so frustrated that I couldn’t make my hands do what my mind wanted. I’ve been trying to master it ever since. I was probably five or six at the time.
I’ve dabbled in some other mediums and still enjoy doing the occasional watercolor or dry point print, but I always come back to my pencils.
When my children were young, I still had a string desire to create, but time always seemed tight and so my art career kind of stalled out until they were grown. Now it’s just my husband and I at home and while we’re busy with cattle and horses, I have plenty of free time to devote to my craft. I continued to draw for a few years and I was making a few prints of my better work but my art wasn’t really supporting itself. A new year was beginning in January of 2019 and I sat down in my little drawing space (I hadn’t created a true studio space yet) and I made a list of ideas for furthering my art career. In that moment it dawned on me that it WASN’T a career. It was just a hobby. I’d had the “starving artist” mentality my entire life and I realized I would have to shut that mindset down and look at myself as a small business owner instead. Things started changing for me immediately when I changed my outlook. I started teaching drawing workshops to keep my art account in the black and that made it possible to make more prints and pay for a website. I had the money to enter juried shows and I was finally getting my name out there. I’ve been running with it every since and found that teaching not only helps my bottom line, but inspires and pushes me to constantly improve. Drawing class helps me break down the how and why of my methods and a lot of times, I have to figure out how to fix someone else’s problems or overcome challenges with their drawings, so I learn as much as my students sometimes. Teaching makes my heart happy and helped get my name out there.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Find a support group. I was intimidated by all these fantastic artists and while I was working hard at improving, I thought we were all in competition with one another. As I’ve matured however, I’ve realized that art is just so subjective. Selling a piece takes the right drawing, to the right person on the right day. There are so many variables! Another pencil artist isn’t competition, they’re a resource and a friend. We share ideas and techniques, horror stories and successes. I belong to several art associations and having community is so important. Creating art trends to be a very solitary activity, so having an outlet to talk about and share it is so valuable.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think social media has done a lot for individual artists; helping to get their name and work in the public eye. Our society has such an “instant gratification” culture that we have really gotten away from hand-crafted, hand-made and personalized goods. Our first instinct when we want or need something is to pick up our phone, click that “big river” app and it’s delivered to our door the next day. There’s no work or trouble involved, but there’s also no personality connection or meaning for us in any of that stuff that appears at our door. If society would slow down a little and think about where they are sourcing their good, life would be so much better for everyone. If they can’t buy or have it made (or grown) locally, then open an app that’s supporting the individual that is creating goods. Keep funds local and help support your community and maybe even your friends. You’d be surprised at how many people around you are creating things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lorijonesart.com
• Instagram: @lorijonesart
• Facebook: Lori Jones Art