Today we’d like to introduce you to Eden Jimenez.
Hi Eden, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Well, my name is Eden and I am a California based artist and writer. The arts have always been an integral part of my life. Music, film, and literature permeated my childhood, and art supplies were always available. Fitting in with other kids was difficult, and the arts offered me a space to let myself be and get to know who I was. Some of my favorite childhood memories are the days spent at my aunt’s house, jazz playing in the background while we made paper mâché.
I tried so many avenues of creativity trying to find the one that felt like it fit. I took flute and violin lessons, was in drama through high school, joined the choir my junior year, and on and on, but nothing ever felt right. Through all that, though, I would write. Poetry, short stories, even a screenplay based on the early 2000’s movie poster Skechers ads! During the height of the hipster era, my now-husband got me a blue typewriter, and I wrote poetry that I would then hand-type to sell. Of course, this was at the height of the hustle culture movement. Everything could be turned into a side hustle. I enjoyed that at first, but once I was trying to force words just to keep making something new, I started to hate it. After that, I tried a variety of creative outlets. I had an online blog for a while, which got me involved with the Bay Area blogging community. I modeled for a bit, but it started to affect my self-esteem pretty seriously, so I decided to leave that. I even tried running my own content creation brand and would manage the social media accounts of other businesses. But it never felt like it went any deeper than the surface for me. I didn’t feel emotionally attached to any of it. So, I went dark for a bit until the summer of 2020, when I started picking up any craft or project I had never tried before. I just wanted something to do really, but it brought back that creative side of me I hadn’t experienced in so long. It brought me back to my watercolor sets which eventually led me to acrylic paints and smaller canvases.
Like a lot of artists, my passion really ignited after I went through an awful heartbreak. The guy was terrible; she loved him anyway. He breaks her heart; she turns all her pain into art. Yada yada we all know the story. I showed all the pieces about him to a whole bunch of people we knew in my very first art show. Everyone told me how great the art was and how sorry they were. It was cathartic and unsatisfying. Following that, I went through a brief yet intense period of excessive drinking and rather poor decisions. Of course, I did; that’s how the story always goes, right? So, with New Year’s Eve quickly approaching I decided to start 2023 off with a clean(er) slate and quit drinking. And that is when I finally found my footing. Since then, I’ve created pieces that make me proud. Sobriety helped me start processing a lot of emotions I didn’t know I was holding on to, not just from the breakup but from other periods of my life too. I would write to release, and from that something I’d said would bring forth these colors and visuals that I could then translate to canvas. I’m now in a period with my work where I am exploring new techniques and mediums as a method of expressing the healing I am doing. I’ve never felt happier with my art than I do right now. My goal is to feel this way again next year.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think any road is smooth really. I think the struggle, for me, has always been my aversion to forced art. Everything you do can be monetized. And to stay relevant, you have to constantly be putting out something new, something fresh. I wanted so badly to turn one of my creative passions into a solid source of income. So, I would force myself to create so I could stay relevant. Keep sharing something new and keep bringing in new people. Eventually, I hated everything I would make. I would get overwhelmed by the demand. Then I would just give up. And I wouldn’t even consider trying again because now I hated it so much. Once I started developing the technique I use now, I realized forcing it was not an option. I wasn’t going to be able to force emotion. It had to happen naturally. Sure, I could influence, play the right playlist, remember the right things. But it still needed to already exist in me. I have to fight that urge still, especially as my work has started to reach a larger audience. But my work is so personal, so emotionally driven. To force it is to create a false feeling, and to me, that’s just creating false art. I just can’t do that. So, I don’t create as often as I would like or as often as my peers, but I am more often than not very happy with what I create.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work consists primarily of mixed media paintings that combine abstract style and written word. My most often used medium is acrylic paint on cotton canvas, but lately, I’ve been bringing in new textures and things like pastels or chalk. I like to add dimension to my pieces by adding multiple layers of varying styles and mediums. I think my favorite lately has been cracking medium. It creates this soft but rugged surface that reminds me of an old oil painting. It’s a lot of fun to work with.
My art invites others to interpret it rather directly. The words on each piece drive the viewer towards a particular emotion. What they think of when they read it, whatever memory returns to them right in that moment determines how that piece will make them feel. A piece I created with great sadness was once described to me as being deeply romantic. So, it ultimately depends on how they are going to read those words. I love asking people what they feel when they see one of my pieces. The answer is always intriguing.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I don’t remember much of my childhood, but from what I’ve been told, I was a rambunctious kid. There was a lot of constant change in my life. My parents had been divorced since I was a baby, and they moved often. Eventually, my siblings came along, and I started taking on more of a caretaker role as the oldest sister. Looking back on it, I think all of that may have aged me sooner than I was prepared for. I felt older than most people my age, and as I mentioned previously, I didn’t fit in with many other kids. A lot of people saw me as weird because my interests weren’t the same as theirs. So, I was isolated and outcasted by most people in school. I also changed schools a lot, partially because of the moving but also because of the bullying. So, most kids I’d meet in school I wouldn’t know for long because I wouldn’t be in class with them anymore. I found a lot of calm and escape in the arts. I read so many books when I was younger. I loved movies and have even become a bit of a cinephile as an adult. And I loved arts and crafts. I just loved creating. I would write short stories or record terrible covers of my favorite songs. I’d pick up art instruction books from the library and practice drawing from them. I even got into theater for a while. I took a video production class for a couple of years which taught me a lot about filmmaking and creating through the lens. I just wanted to be a part of anything creative. I was an anxious kid, and as I got older, I struggled with the early stages of my depression. Creating felt freeing, like a chance to make my own story and my own world.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecoolghoul_/
