Jenna Leigh Design Co.

Charcoal Portraits Week 5: Character and Persona

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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February 23, 2026

It’s pretty risky drawing a portrait of someone you know well. The stakes seem higher, because if you do badly, or if you mistakenly emphasize some aspect of their features they’re not particularly fond of, the portrait may cause a breach between you that cannot be easily mended. Let’s hope…
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Charcoal Portraits Week 4: Quality of the Light

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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February 16, 2026

You sit down to draw a portrait. Your model is sitting in front of you, and you’ve chosen a nice angle about forty-five degrees to her left. You’ve got paper, charcoal, erasers, blending stumps, a cup of tea, etc., and the next two-three hours at your disposal. All your ducks…
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Charcoal Portraits Week 3: Accuracy of the Drawing

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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February 9, 2026

Ironically, the last blog post I made (What’s in a Face?) was all about the powerful meaning I find in drawing someone’s portrait. I say ironically, because the next several blog posts I make will be ALL about portraits! I’m in a Life Drawing/Plein Air Painting class in graduate school, and…
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What’s in a Face?

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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January 15, 2026

Recently, I finished the most marvelous book my roommate gave me called Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend. It’s a beautiful story about a generous old man who moves to a small town in Georgia, called Golden, and decides to gift a…
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Beauty in the Hiddenness

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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October 29, 2024

Disclaimer: I cannot take credit for these ideas or claim them as my own. However, I can confidently say that they have been drawn from a rich tradition of other Christian writers and thinkers, which I think gives them all the more validity. My inspiration comes primarily from C.S. Lewis,…
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You Must Behold (Part 4)

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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September 3, 2024

This story is inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis, particularly The Great Divorce, which I had just read when the idea for this story came to me. The question that sparked the idea was this: “What would it be like if we really knew what people think of us?”…
Continue reading →: You Must Behold (Part 4)
You Must Behold (Part 3)

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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August 23, 2024

This story is inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis, particularly The Great Divorce, which I had just read when the idea for this story came to me. The question that sparked the idea was this: “What would it be like if we really knew what people think of us?”…
Continue reading →: You Must Behold (Part 3)
You Must Behold (Part 2)

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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August 10, 2024

This story is inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis, particularly The Great Divorce, which I had just read when the idea for this story came to me. The question that sparked the idea was this: “What would it be like if we really knew what people think of us?”…
Continue reading →: You Must Behold (Part 2)
Stouthearted Sam

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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July 25, 2024

I’ve been reading The Lord of the Rings from start to finish for the second time, and it has been a thoroughly delightful experience. The older I get, the more I enjoy Tolkien’s language, style, and imagination. I could actually envision their journey through Middle-Earth as I took the time…
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You Must Behold

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Jenna Leigh Ashbaugh

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July 18, 2024

This story is inspired by the works of C.S. Lewis, particularly The Great Divorce, which I had just read when the idea for this story came to me. The question that sparked the idea was this: “What would it be like if we really knew what people think of us?”…
Continue reading →: You Must Behold

hello, I’m Jenna Leigh