Jess Hernandez

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Painting Sneakers!

In the process of writing Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist and creating the Alithia’s Art Angels website, I’ve become friends with Alithia’s parents, Jess Hernandez and Ryan Ramirez. Jess mentioned wanting custom Converse, two pair for herself—high-top and low—and one pair of high-tops for Ryan. I offered to find a shoe artist but didn’t have any luck, so I decided to paint them myself.

Finding shoes was easy. The best prices were at Journeys. I found some cool rainbow-y Converse high-tops that looked similar to the endpapers in Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist (above), and bonus, they were on sale! And I Chuck Taylors for Jess, the purple for Alithia’s Art Angels.

Shoe-painting research led me to Angelus Direct, from whom I ordered all of the paint supplies, including the masking tape that I used to protect the shoes’ white trim.

I used a white fabric marker from JoAnn to draw the curly scrolls on colorful high-tops for Jess and Ryan, and then drew and cut out little templates, replicating Alithia’s drawings which adorn the endpapers. From there, I penciled Alithia’s drawings onto the shoes, and painted several coats of white before adding colors.

The trick with painting shoes—at least canvas ones—is building up the color slowly. For example, painting the white Alithia’s Art Angels logo on purple shoes shown at the top of this post required 4-6 coats of white. Patience is required!

My husband and I live in Malaysia. We’re on an extensive summer trip. I painted these shoes while visiting my Dad in Missouri, both at his house and at our hotel. It was really nice to have a project to keep me busy!

This photo (above) shows the outer side of Jess’s completed high-tops. Ryan’s are similar.

Alithia’s drawings carry over onto the inner sides of the shoes. I think they came out pretty well. They certainly look similar to the endpapers!

The Book

Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist will be released on October 10, 2023. Jess, Ryan and I will be at a launch event in Uvalde…. perhaps wearing cool custom Converse! Other book events in Texas will follow, throughout October.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to be updated about event details.

Tags: Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist, Alithia's Art Angels, amwriting, Angelus Direct, author, author event, book event, children's books, Converse, crafts, promoting your children's book, shoe painting, Violet Lemay

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Categories Alithia's Art Angels, books, crafts, Jess Hernandez

Alithia’s Art Angels Summer Art Contest!

11 Jun

Every child is an artist.
Pablo Picasso

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Alithia’s Art Angels 2nd Annual Summer Kids’ Art Contest is underway! All art created by kids K-12 is eligible for fun prizes, including art supplies. Check out last summer’s entries in the YOUR ART section of alithiasartangels.com!

The contest ends Aug 31, 2023.

Send one image, along with the name of the artist and grade just completed, to:

hello@alithiasartangels.com

Or, send via smail mail to:

PO Box 2017, Dilley TX 78017

The Backstory

Alithia’s Art Angels celebrates the life and art of Uvalde victim Alithia Haven Ramirez and the art of all children.

Alithia’s mom, Jess Hernandez, founded Alithia’s Art Angels with one goal in mind: to support, nurture, and encourage young artists, just as she did for her daughter Alithia Ramirez. The summer art contest is designed to showcase children’s artistic creations and shower them with love and appreciation.

For Little Activists

This summer we originally put out a call for End Gun Violence poster designs. The response was underwhelming, so we opened up the contest to ALL art, which includes End Gun Violence posters. If your kids started making posters, or still want to, that is terrific!

Follow Along :o)

All submissions will be posted on the Alithia’s Art Angels website and social media. Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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The “End Gun Violence” poster above was created by Alithia Ramirez’s mother, Jess Hernandez.

Tags: Alithia Ramirez, Alithia's Art Angels, Art Context, Ban Assault Weapons, children's art, Children's Art Contest, end gun violence, Jess Hernandez, Kids Art, Uvalde, Uvalde Strong

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Categories Alithia's Art Angels, end gun violence, end gun violence, Jess Hernandez

23 May

Meet Jess, a Mom from Uvalde

This past year, Jess Hernandez has become a very special person in my life. I value our friendship greatly, but I wish our paths had never crossed. We only met because Jess’s daughter Alithia Haven was murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24 last year, along with 18 of her classmates and two of her teachers.

Immediately after the shooting I created a social media campaign in response, illustrating each of the victims. Scroll back in my Instagram to see.

Alithia’s dad, Ryan Ramirez, commented on my post about Alithia. The following day, I was listening to Anderson Cooper report on the tragedy. He interviewed Ryan, who described Alithia as an artist.

I drew Alithia again, as an artist this time. The inspiration for a picture book biography about Alithia popped into my head shortly after. I Zoomed with Ryan and Jess, who agreed to allow me to write and illustrate a picture book about their beautiful little artist. They told me all about Alithia, all about her exuberant spirit, her enormous heart, and her talent and drive to become a professional artist.

Alithia Ramirez Was an Artist, published by Michael Sampson Books, will be in bookstores on Oct 10, 2024, and is already available for preorder online. All author proceeds go directly into an art scholarship in Alithia’s honor.

Many of Alithia’s drawings and paintings—all provided by Jess via email—are incorporated into my illustrations. (Click here to see a whole bunch of Alithia’s original art.) From the start of our email friendship, Jess has been open about what she has endured since the tragedy. For example, as you can probably imagine, Jess has a difficult time being around schools. She is triggered by elementary schools, but she has two small children and cannot avoid them. On top of this, she is terrified for the safety of her children when they are at school. Just think about that, about the daily stress this mother has to endure because of the trauma she suffered as a result of Alithia’s murder.

Jess has graciously agreed to allow me to share some of her own words:

Everyday has been a struggle for me. I’m always tired where I just can’t get out of bed, I cry everyday because just having flashbacks from May 24th and it just hurts me to know that my reality is every parent’s nightmare. I still can’t believe that this is my life now and that I lost Alithia because of gun violence. I always had my children close and made sure they are safe and I couldn’t save Alithia. People that say they want to be my support but they aren’t because when I bring up anything about my daughter and why she isn’t here they just ignore me, and that’s not support. This is my reality and people need to know there is no forgetting about it because it will always be with me.

Jess Hernandez

Forever Broken

I created these images of Jess and Ryan as part of a recent social media campaign against gun violence.

Jess has often stated that she is broken and will never be the same—and she is one of a huge and growing group of family members left behind in America because of gun violence. I will never understand why Americans have not come together en masse to demand a common-sense solution to the VERY OBVIOUS problem of gun violence within their borders. The US is only as safe as the state with the weakest gun laws.

End Gun Violence

Jess has been creating art to help herself move through her grief, including this powerful “End Gun Violence” poster. Soon, Alithia’s Art Angels will host an End Gun Violence poster contest for all kids 18 and under. Gift certificates for art supplies will be awarded. Follow Alithia’s Art Angels on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so you won’t miss the announcement!