Some people take to a craft like we take to breathing. Jasmine is one of those people. She started painting with water colors at around three or four years old and was bit by the entrepreneurial bug. She started with door to door selling when she was just a kid and started her website Strangeling.com in 1997 when she was just seventeen years old. In the early days Jasmine worked at places like Dairy Queen and waitressing to make ends meet. Though it was quickly obvious that painting was her calling which led to her husband quitting his own job to become her assistant. Today she employs 9 people that are mostly family members.
When naming her website she decided against a self title since the length of her name can be hard to remember. She decided to use Strangeling since her husband had nicknamed her "Strageling" when she was in high school. She finds it kind funny when her creations are referred to as Stangelings since she Initially started them off as being loosely self-portraits done in a heavily stylized way. Jasmine says " I like the idea of taking proportions that are traditionally associated with cartoon characters but painting them in a realistic way, with a lot of attention to lighting, three-dimensionality, and painting techniques inspired by the old masters."
With fame comes fans, there are currently over 837,000 fans on the Jasmine Becket-Griffith like page on facebook. Like most popular artists she has and attends events often. You can find her at "Disneyland's WonderGround Gallery" on October 11th. She will be displaying her new paintings of the evil queen from "Snow White" and the tight rope girl from " The Haunted Mansion's Stretch room". Then on the 18th of October she will be attending her release party for her new oracle deck "Myths and Mermaids" at Downtown Disney's Pop Gallery.
There are also some events being planned for Downtown Disney's other Art Gallery "Marketplace Co-Op". There has not yet been a date scheduled for these but I would be more then happy to announce them here on the blog as soon as they are. Among Jasmine's favorite event to date was her first international event she attended the "Avalon Faery Fayre" in Glastonbury, England. Since she is from Kansas City, the "Kansas City Renaissance Festival" rates high for her. On this occasion her family comes out and helps her out. Over all she says she loves the Disney events because everyone is always in such a good mood and she considers herself a Disney nerd.
Jasmine resides in Celebration Florida. This is a small heart warming town near Disney. She told me a huge part of the reason they moved to Celebration was to be close to Disney. She had always dreamed of working with Disney and was first approached to do concept art for Disney in 2006 through her connection with Hamilton Collection / Bradford Exchange. Just a out of the blue phone call from Disney led to some Tinkerbell and other classic character figurines. Her Gallery association was established a few years later when after one of the Gallery directors who had been to one of the local art shows recognized her at a side walk cafe in Celebration and sat down with her to discuss displaying her work at the popular Gallery. The Director and Manager of the Gallery met her at her house and sat down to a almost six hour conversation. Pop Gallery was her "flag ship Gallery ever since. Her association with Disney continues to grow as more time passes up to merchandise with her "Evil Queen" design being sold through out the parks.
Since this is a Disney blog, we had to get a little idea of Jasmine's Disney side and this was what we found out. Her favorite Disney Character is none other then Mr. Toad! Her favorite attractions are the haunted Mansions throughout the different Disney parks especially the phantom Manor in Paris. She also said she adores Mr. Toads wild ride and is partial to the Tiki room. Jasmine say's she watches Disney movies differently than most when she is working. " I pay a lot more attention to the visual effects, background scenes, specifics of costume design, etc. I do a lot of pausing, rewinding, freeze-frames, etc. - it turns it into more of an aesthetic adventure rather than simple movie watching. I love seeing the sheer amount of detail that the artists & animators have put into the films." She also shared that she has been on the cruises several times, along with Disney Sea in Tokyo and Disneyland Paris. She shared, " I recently purchased a small studio flat in London, and DLP is only about a two hour train trip from my house there - it's perfect!".
Very grateful that she has been able to do what she loves for a living and bring her work to peoples homes all over the world, she wishes to continue to improve her skills and have more time to dedicate to the craft. With many goals along the way the excitement of things likes receiving a email to work with Disney has not lost it's thrill . ( Probably much like how I was when I received the reply from her that she would give me a interview, bouncing around the room like a child on a sugar high.) Jasmine was kind enough to share a little advice "I would tell aspiring artists to make sure that they genuinely enjoy the physical creation aspect of painting, because that will be how the rest of their life is spent. I think it is important to enjoy what you are doing, and to focus on the actual "art" before trying to worry about business or licensing or whatever. If you make art you like, you enjoy doing it, and you feel good about what you have created - the other business/money stuff will follow."
One of the best parts of being able to talk to the Artists behind our collectibles are the stories they have to share. Like Mr. Shore who I wrote about last month Jasmine shared a few very cute and funny stories with me. One of which was when it first hit her that she had made the big time seeing her products available at stores. In the beginning she remembers being in the check out line at Targets getting groceries and the person in front of her was purchasing some car accessories with her designs on them. She said, " I felt like saying "Hey- hey! I painted that! but I was too shy, lol." She also shared that she is recognized fairly often. Even once she was recognized at the pharmacy while picking up prescriptions. The pharmacist inquired about a recent autograph session.
At only Thirty- Four years old , 17 years of creating beautiful works of art that have become known to most as "Strangelings" Jasmine has made a name for her self and inspired many to go after their dreams. After all she once was a little girl peddling her art to her neighbors. From the short time I got to know her I have got to know the funny, kind, and amazingly talented person behind the beautiful art. I hope if you have never heard of Jasmine Becket-Griffith before this blog that you check her out on her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/strangeling. Be ready to have your mind blown.
Be sure to check out all of what Jasmine Becket-Griffith has to offer!
