What can I say, but I immediately fell in love with Jesse’s artwork upon first seeing it in 2017. So much so, that I pressed to acquire three large original paintings. I was so curious as to how Jesse managed to create the marvelous marbled and textured effect to the paper (on which he both paints with watercolors, as well as draws with his preferred Prismacolor colored pencils) to turn out these collage works. So, I wrote and asked him. Turns out, according to a detailed four steps instruction that Jesse shared with me, it’s actually a highly involved and time consuming process to achieve.
His unique collage paintings each measure approximately 25” x 20”. For the most part, Jesse uses glue to adhere down the individual pieces, but in the case of the “Teddy Bear and Seer” painting, a few of the pieces were hand sewn with tiny stitches.
Artist’s Note:
“Thank you for taking the time to consider my art.
My choices for art supplies at this facility is severely
limited, which makes creating my art a challenge.
To make the process more interesting for myself,
I experimented with the mediums available. I’ve made
use of paper stressing, which I like because it breaks
up the surface of the work giving it a somewhat
marbled texture and also makes large surfaces appear
less reflective. Stressing involves wetting the paper
and crushing it until it has the desired texture. Then,
I iron it to make it the surface I want for the particular
creation. Lacking a solvent, I found that petroleum
jelly works quite well for blending colored pencils to
achieve paint-like effects. I do not have access to
rubber cement so I have used the only thing available
- Elmer’s glue as an adhesive. I feel an affinity for a
surrealist dream-like style, because it helps me escape
from the harsh realities of life in prison. - Jesse