Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenedy Paige.
Hi Jenedy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
People always ask me if I have been an artist my whole life, I guess that might be the typical answer for a professional painter, but for me, the answer is “No, art kind of found me my senior year of High School.” Growing up, I was a pianist and an academic, but we moved my senior year and I found myself in a small town in Colorado without the option of AP or Honors classes, so I took art as a default. I was fortunate to have an art teacher at this tiny High School who introduced art to me in the form of a journal.
She didn’t want us to write how we felt, she wanted us to create images about it. Having kept a journal since I was 10, coming to know art through the lens of journaling was perfect for me. It lit my soul on fire! I suddenly knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life! The only problem was, I didn’t have any talent. I wasn’t great at drawing, so I did a lot of collage work. I experimented with mediums and had a lot of fun. Somehow, discovering art in a small town allowed me this confidence that I could become a professional artist because there wasn’t a big talent pool to compare myself to.
Then, I went to college, and on the first day of freshman orientation, I was sitting in this big lecture hall, and they walked us through a PowerPoint of previous student artwork, and I had this sinking realization that I was in the wrong building. I couldn’t paint or draw like that! I wasn’t even in the same realm of the talent that some of these students possessed.
How could I possibly pursue art? I left the meeting in tears and walked home to my apartment thinking I was going to have to change my major. I was crossing the street when suddenly I had a feeling, and the words, “Jenedy, you can be an artist,” came into my mind. I lifted my eyes towards heaven and responded, “How? Have you seen my work?” then I felt God promise that He would help me do it. I had spent the past eight years trying to know Him, and so when He made me that promise, I believed Him. I stopped crying and got to work.
I had so much time to make up for it, so I started going to school at 4:00 am when the building opened for cleaning. I would start each session with prayer and remind God that this was going to have to be a collaborative effort. He made good at his word and after four years, by some miracle, I graduated at the top of my class.
I’ve now been painting professionally for 18 years. Not a lot has changed, except the quality of my work. I still get up at 4:00 am most days, I still remind God that I need His help, and we continue to make art together.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth roads are not very interesting. Of course, it’s been hard. Not only have I had to continue to increase my art education, but I’ve had to learn how to run a business. After graduation, my husband and I moved to southern California, and I got a job teaching part-time at an art school and spent the rest of the time painting. I started by selling small studies on eBay, and over time I got into a few galleries. I learned the hard way that galleries are not a sure way to succeed with your art.
I learned I couldn’t be dependent on anyone else to build a career for me, I was going to have to make it happen. Over time I obtained more clients, started making reproductions of my work to make it accessible to more people, and in 2020 I was able to purchase my studio. I now teach in person and online, run an e-commerce store, paint commissioned work, and am putting together a solo show.
It has been a struggle to build the business, but that doesn’t compare to the emotional struggles that life threw at me. When I was introduced to art, it was its ability to communicate that drew me in. It was the storytelling in the journal. But I didn’t know, in the beginning, how art’s cathartic nature would save me.
In 2010, my husband and I moved with our two little boys to Tucson so that my husband could pursue an MBA. We moved in with my parents to offset the cost of school, and they had a pool. My mom was so nervous about the toddlers, so she put up a fence and put alarms on the doors. However, in the fall of 2011, despite all the precautions, we pull my 3-year-old son, Victory Morgan, out of the pool. We spent 7 weeks in the hospital, a rollercoaster ride of the deepest emotions, but despite the hope and the prayers, my son passed away.
It was then that I learned that there are sometimes emotions so big they are nearly impossible to carry. Feelings that exist outside the visible world, yet so deep that they somehow carry tangible weight. I learned a memory can come at you with such force that it takes your breath away. I learned the gravity of love and loss and the expanse of it was so huge I felt almost paralyzed by it.
But I still went back to my studio at 4 am, back to my brushes and my God, because I didn’t know where else to go. Suddenly, when I picked up the brush and let the paint drip down the canvas, it felt like art was mourning with me. Somehow, I could take those invisible feelings and make them visible on a canvas, and then afterward I would feel a little lighter. Over time, one painting session at a time, one prayer at a time, my art and my God helped heal my heart.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I was at a national painting conference with a friend when she commented, “Jenedy, you’re so lucky, because you’re a great artist, but everyone here is a great artist. You’re not only a great artist, but you’re also a ninja too, and so you stand out.” I hadn’t thought about it that way before, but I guess that did make me different.
It’s funny to think back to 2017 when I first started painting with my art mentor, William Whitaker. I had admired his work for years, so when I was offered the opportunity to apprentice with him, it seemed like a dream come true. William, or Bill, as I called him, was an incredible painter with over 50 years of experience, and he retaught me how to paint. In our time painting together he would often say, “Jenedy, you’re not like those fakers.
You’re like a real art ninja.” I always laughed at the “ninja” part. Where did that come from? He told me it was because he thought of old black-and-white samurai movies he had watched as a kid in the 50s where the villagers had to decide who were the real ninjas and who were the fakes. “And you, Jenedy, you are a real art ninja.” I only got 9 months painting with Bill, before he passed away in the spring of 2018.
Later that fall, my little brother introduced me to indoor rock climbing. My first time in the gym I was sold. I was climbing in the gym the first time I felt another impression, maybe similar to the one I felt in college, except this time it was even crazier, “Jenedy, you should apply for American Ninja Warrior.” I didn’t look to heaven this time. I just laughed. But every time I climbed; the thought came back. I’ve learned that God is persistent. So finally, one day, I offered a prayer I never thought I would offer, “Wait, do you want me to apply to American Ninja Warrior?” “Yes.” The idea was overwhelming, but I consoled myself by saying I didn’t have to compete, he only asked me to apply.
In January of 2019, after submitting my application, I figured I should probably take a ninja class or two and I found a gym in Salt Lake. I felt like an idiot walking into a class with teenage boys as a 34-year-old mom. After practice, and hundreds of falls later, when I could barely hold the steering wheel of my car on the drive home, I told God, “This is stupid. I’m an artist. I need my hands! If you want me to do this, I’m going to need more support next time!” So much like my painting practice, my ninja practice, required a lot of faith… literal leaps and throws of faith.
I’ve now competed on four seasons of American Ninja Warrior, and every time I walk onto that stage as “The Art Ninja” I smile as I think of Bill, “Jenedy, you’re not like those fakers. You’re a real art ninja.” How did he know??
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
As an artist, I’m fortunate because I get a lot of time to listen to things while I paint. I love faith-promoting podcasts like “All In”, “Faith Matters”, and “BYU Speeches”, and art podcasts like “The Undraped Artist” and “Suggested Donation”.
I love the books “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, and “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’m also currently reading the illustrated Harry Potter series with my children (for the first time) and I’m a little late to the party, but I’m becoming a big Harry Potter fan.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@jenedpaige.com
- Website: www.jenedypaige.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenedypaige/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenedypaige/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzA0i3vKvgBrDHVc170QdVQ
- Other: www.patreon.com/jenedypaige
Image Credits
@pepperfoxphoto and @thomasknightvideo
