Thanks for visiting. This site is currently getting redesigned and things are a little messy. If you are looking for something and can’t find it, please email Jason at jason@knowingtrees.com . He’ll do his best to be helpful!
Jess Baldissero is not only a good friend, she is one of my favorite songwriters. I was honored that she sat with me earlier in the week to discuss the discoveries and accidents of the creative process. We shared some laughs, talked about good times and hard times and we each played a few songs.
Three tracks from The Hermit, my debut solo album are streaming during the pre-order period. The full album will be released June 28, 2024 on Bandcamp.
Elizabeth Breen | Miki Greenberg | Jason McInnes | Lindsay Weinberg
As Miki would say, “The classic lineup of piano, banjo and two oboes.”
Our first show was October of 2008 at the Tonic Room.
Our album release show was in February 2012 and our last show was sometime that spring.
And, then . . . I don’t think a decision was made to retire the band. I remember it just kind of happening.
We had taken a long time to make the record. By the time the album came out all four of us were sending our creative energy towards other projects and family life.
It’s a Girl was much more like being in a theater production than any other band I was part of before, or since. Theatrical shows close and so did this band, I suppose.
Setting clear goals, in terms of both skillset and finished work, continues to take an increasingly important place in my creative world. It’s funny, now, to think that setting of goals was not something I thought about very much.
Just as I, as a musician, practice scales, etudes and other small bits of music, I’ve developed a sketchbook practice which supports me in building the visual art skills that I lack at the moment.
At the end of 2021 I began working on a large pen and ink piece. I stepped up to the paper and realized, almost immediately, that I did not have control of the necessary skills to complete the piece as I wanted. I could understand the process intellectually, but it wasn’t going to come out of my pen without more practice.
I used some scrap paper and put this sketchbook together to explore the greyscale. I used three of my favorite mark making tools; pencils, roller ball pens, and fine line pens. In addition, I shifted between hatching and blending techniques with the idea that I would be able to explore not only my abilities, but also the qualities of each instrument.
Thank you for taking a look.
And, please reach out if my experiences could be of service to your art and/or music making practice. I’m happy to answer any questions that you leave in the comments or send me an email.
If you want to play, you’ve got to start somewhere. And there is no better place for you to get started.
Thursday, Aug. 18 – 7:00 to 9:00
Live in Chicago!
Borelli’s (pizza and drinks) 2124 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
> Single Player or Bring a Friend/Bandmate tickets available. <
What You’ll Receive
Guidance to begin soloing THAT DAY, and for your continued study for years to come.
Play along MP3s, so you can continue to grow your new skills outside of the workshop.
PDFs of all the material covered
Complimentary access to Jason’s Creating and Understanding the Guitar Notemap online lesson.
Schedule – This 2 hour workshop will be broken up into two sections with a 10 minute break
80 minutes – the heart of the lesson
10 minute break
30 minutes – Jamming along. We’ll play through a ton of familiar tunes and have a lot of space to explore everything we just learned about.
Cost
Single Player – $35
Bring a Friend/Bandmate! – $60 for the two seats
Registration and Payment
Please fill out this registration form and then make a payment using one of these payment systems. If these do not work for you, please mention that in the notes and we’ll figure out how a payment can happen. (FYI- my first name is William. I think Zelle and Paypal comes up as William McInnes. That’s me!)
You're Registered! Your First Guitar Solo, Aug 18, 2022
If you haven’t already, please make a payment using one of these payment systems.
Venmo – @jasonplaystunes
Zelle – jasonplaystunes@gmail.com
PayPal – jasonplaystuens@gmail.com
ApplePay – 773-369-8268
(FYI- my first name is William. I think Zelle comes up as William McInnes. That’s me!)
Here is the link for the Creating and Understanding the Guitar Note Map lesson.
Today, I am honored and humbled to offer for sale pieces from my Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments series. Between now and early July 10, 2022 you can purchase a piece ofone-of-a-kind artwork made specifically for you or a loved one.
The Listening Wide-Eyed series is an outgrowth of my visual art, musical and mindfulness practices. Each one-of-a-kind piece from Listening Wide-Eyed is created through a limited-sight process, where I make a drawing on a sheet of bristol board without taking my eyes off the subject. I don’t look at the board until I am done drawing. Within the messiness, the structural knowledge and spiritual essence of each instruments expands.
Piano
Each drawing is a made-to-order, one-of-a-kind piece of visual art. They are created with wax pencil and bristol board. Each purchaser is invited to customize their piece, in regards to which instrument, the use of color and matting. There are also options specific to gifting one of these drawings to a loved one.
This process started as a way to strengthen my visual record abilities. As my practice bloomed, this limited goal fell away and the drawing practice engendered more connections between the parts and the whole of both the instruments and myself. How do we move? Where are we sturdy? Where are we delicate? How do those and other qualities affect our presentation to and relationships with others? Considering these questions allowed me to hold and play each instrument in a more open, inviting way.
BanjoVioling
We see and hear ourselves, and others, every day. I hope having these drawings in our living space, practice room, or at a family dining table prompt us to notice moments when we are making assumptions about what we know about both ourselves and others. I hope that they can act as a guide to remain open, curious and to foster connections in musical spaces and all other relationships.
I have been invited to show several pieces at the upcoming exhibition, Water Worlds, An Exhibition Exploring the Essence of Water (details follow). It’s the first time that I will have multiple pieces at a show, which is very exciting.
I was asked to provide an artist statement to accompany the work. It’s been a long time since I’ve written an artist statement and I’ve never written one based on my visual art.
I’m very happy with my final statement. Here it is. Thank you for reading.
Jason McInnes
Artist Statement
Spring 2022
Gather sustaining provisions.
Reinforce the tunnel walls.
Chip away the stone, blow by blow.
I work like a miner pursuing a vein of gold; the precarious notion that, through the mastery of materials, I become the master of my own existence.
I was built, broken and rebuilt in the midwest of the United States, although I now reside in New Mexico. I am a music-centric teaching artist by vocation. I build systems of learning in my visual and music-based artmaking, which I use to fortify my resolve to “be here now”.
I am drawn to uncomplicated mark making materials. I gravitate toward simple tools like pencils, charcoal and erasers because they are readily available. I dig for universal truths in the tip of a common ballpoint pen. I work alongside the sun; freeing it to develop its greyscale along with me. I choose media that can easily fit in a backpack, be pulled from a pocket on a walk through the desert foothills, or can be worked with in limited studio space.
A mixture of celestial light and human-made light, like street lamps and illuminated signage, dependably grab attention. So does the crisp edge of a line of mesquite trees cutting into a blue sky. My work reflects these relationships as a way to offer reverence to the cosmos as well as serving as a path to keep nourished and grounded.
Water Worlds, An Exhibition Exploring the Essence of Water, Opening Night Reception
Exhibition – Friday, June 10 through Sunday, June 26
Opening Night Reception – Friday, June 10 – 4:00 – 6:30
This exhibition is made possible with the cooperation of KB Studios, Chicago IL and is curated by artist and educator Kaye Buchman. This show demonstrates various artists’ interest in honoring and preserving our most precious resource – water. A portion of proceeds from the sale of work will go to the Alliance for the Great Lakes. The show will open on June 10 and run through June 30.Featured Artists are:Jason McInnes Mary Ridley Mary Gomberg Susan Gamerman Katharine Hathaway Kathleen Maltese Phyllis Rabineau Sue Teller Janet Wishinsky Joan Baer Virginia Carstarphen Kay Buchman
