Warm and Fuzzy: Positivity Board!

Hey everyone!

Happy weekend! Mine has been really epic already and it's only 12:30 pm on Saturday. Last night I went to see Michael Franti & Spearhead with my cute man friend and it was SO. GOOD. Michael Franti concerts are all about spreading messages of hope and change and filling up people's hearts (cheese factory, I know. But it's true!) He was wearing a shirt that said "Eat, sleep, hug, kiss, dance, change the world, repeat." A man whose music is full of good vibes, and whose concerts are even more full of them. He reminds people to stay positive, open, hopeful and loving. 

This lil tiny "mural" project was a lil tiny version of that - a reminder. A co-worker's daughter requested a "diva board" for her birthday. The "diva board" is something that a character from a TV show has above her bed.  But this kiddo re-named hers, a "positivity board", which I like a lot better too. Just a quick, cute, birthday gift I was happy to help out with. You go, girl. Shine.

The birthday girl with her board!

Her mom took this photo at the exact moment she saw her present. Cutest!

Pretty Lady in a Forest

Hey everyone! 

Coming at you from sunny San Francisco! (Yes, I said sunny. It's gorgeous here - no fog in sight!)  I'm here visiting my sister with my parents. Great to get in some family time, and check out the various murals/street art in this city! Love the rainbows painted onto the crosswalks in the Castro district ;)

Here's a project I did a few weeks ago, but haven't shared here yet. This is a 5' x 2.5' mural panel that I made on wood, and installed on a client's fence enclosure for her hot tub. The other side of this fence (the side seen by her neighbors and the public) is a larger forest panel I already created for this client (see this older post) Inside her house, is this mural. Happy to have return-business, and grow her little collection of Corie-murals :)

This is an image of Guanyin - the goddess of compassion, celebrated in a variety of cultures (read her Wiki article here) While I admittedly don't know much beyond the little I was able to research about her, I know she means a lot to my client. I was happy to paint my own interpretation of her (probably got a good use of my artistic license here). Glad to provide a visual for helping my client to feel more at peace in her home/outdoor sanctuary area. This one just makes me want to exhaaaaaallllllllle. Ahhhhhhhhh :)

Have a great week you guys! 

A Mural at Home

Hey everyone!

 

Sometimes, you get real busy and caught up in the freelance-hustlin', small-business-growin', money-makin', life, and you just have to stop and throw your parents a frickin' bone.

 

My parents have my very first mural I ever EVER painted EVER on the wall of their kitchen. I painted this when I was in high school:

 

I'm embarrassed to show you that, but for the sake of a good blog post, there you have it. Back in the day, my mom had just finished tearing off all our old ugly wallpaper in our kitchen, and she was going to paint it. I remember wanting to try painting a mural SO bad - I was obsessed. My supportive and brave parents let me paint that mural instead of making the kitchen wall a nice, solid color. I also was able to pass it off as a mother's day present, so that was definitely another win for me.

 

That mural sparked everything for me. I am living my dream of being a muralist now, and I owe everything to that mother's day present, and the parents who let me paint it. My parents would have gatherings and their friends would see the mural in the kitchen, and hire me to paint walls in their houses for $10 an hour. Pretty sweet gig as a high schooler actually (my prices have raised a bit since then). I kept getting jobs sporadically throughout college and afterwards, and slowly built my business, baby step by baby step. #soflippingrateful

 

Anyway, I've had to look at that mural a LOT over the years. Eventually, after 4 years of gaining skills in art school, I could not ethically let my parents keep it looking like that. I re-painted it to look like this a few years ago:

 

About a month ago, my parents re-did their countertops, and the countertop people had to plaster over almost all of the orchids on the right. Last weekend, I went to fix the spot, and found a whole lot of other spots I wanted to fix. "Perfectionist" is definitely not a word I would use to describe myself in regular life, or in the way I create art. But this wall is different and special - It's my first. And it's my parent's. They should have something I feel proud of. Here's where I ended up.... finished....for now...