about

I've been creating things and making art as long as I can remember. Experimenting…honing my skills and finding my groove in each phase. 

​

I started drawing before I could explain why — the kind of kid who filled sketchbooks while everyone else was outside. That instinct led me to Pittsburgh Art Institute for a brief stint, then on to an education journey of several years resulting in an Associates Degree in Business. Meanwhile, I opened my first studio focused on pen and ink illustration as I worked my way through school, accumulating several clients in the “Country Market” of the '90s. That work eventually led me to a full-time illustrator position at Gooseberry Patch — a nationally distributed Mail Order Catalog — drawing products and spot illustrations for their catalogs and cookbooks. It was great, but I wanted more so I resigned my position, moved to Oxford, Ohio and attended Miami University where I earned a degree in Art & Architectural History.

​

Upon graduation I returned to my hometown — where I met my wife in the living room of my apartment (long story for another day). We quickly started planning our life together, and the adventures that followed were anything but ordinary. A yoga studio co-founded with Emily. A full service Deli opened and closed. A national retail rollout program managed across Saks Fifth Avenue locations. A position at Fitch Design Group — a global retail design consultancy. Eventually another design business where I built 250+ websites + developed brands + launched businesses, and spent decades helping other people bring their ideas to life.

​

Meanwhile, my art and illustration never stopped — it just went underground. Squeezed into the margins of a career, a family, and a life built largely around everyone else's vision.

​

Now at 54 I made a decision. A pivot. Not a dramatic one. Not a crisis. Just a clear-eyed recognition that the thing I was best at — the thing that came most naturally, that cost me the least energy and returned the most satisfaction — was making art. Sketchy, inky, texture-ridden, expressive, sometimes absurd, always unmistakably mine.

​

So now I’m here…

​

CJ Jasenski Studio is home to two distinct collections. Characters & Ink is my illustration world — quirky figures, expressive line work, characters with annotated lives and a slightly absurdist edge. Raw & Abstract is my fine art world — layered abstract paintings, mixed media assemblage, found materials stitched and bound into quiet, textured objects that ask you to slow down and look and feel the vibe.

Different in direction. A unified voice.

​

I work from my studio in Greenville, Ohio — a small town in the heart of the Midwest that has nothing to do with the art world and everything to do with why my work looks the way it does. Grounded. A little worn around the edges. Built from what's available. Real.

​

I''m available for illustration commissions, character design, children's book illustration, editorial work, and licensing — as well as original fine art and assemblage work for gallery and private collection.

​

If something here moves you — reach out...it would be great to connect.

​

Thanks — CJ