Pirate's Life Yo Ho

Hi Everyone!

My last post was pretty word-y, so this one is just gonna be pic-heavy and pirate-heavy. This was commissioned by a mom of three. Her oldest, a teenage dude, was pretty stoked to get his bedroom wall turned into a pirate ship interior. Complete with gold-leaf painted treasure, creepy pirate-monkey, and a pirate pin-up babe hanging on the "wall." Those were my favorite parts of this to paint. Well, the pirate ship moonscape was pretty fun too. It really was just a very playful project to work on. It was challenging too. Under all those cute details, is a pretty gnarly perspective project. My old college Perspective professor used to have this stamp that said "DO OVER" that he would sometimes stamp with red ink, onto homework drawings that had taken us hours upon hours to complete. All that practice did pay off though, because I definitely used what I learned in that class to create this ship interior.

Next project on the horizon: a princess-themed room for the two daughters in this fam. :)

Goodnight mateys!

Tree of Life

Hi Everyone!

I've been thinking deeply about my career. Again.

Ever since I was 18 years old and choosing a college, and effectively, a path that would lead to a career in art, I have turned this question over and over in my mind: "How can art help people?" I know intellectually that art can change the course of history. But I still sometimes struggle with the fact that my skill set as an adult professional, is to paint pretty pictures. It's sometimes hard to see the impact.

My last mural project (this one) helped a couple celebrate and mark a major life event - their move to Portland. The mural wrote their story in a horizontal timeline of pictures, without words.

My recently finished project (below), helped mark a friend's rite of passage as he converts to Judaism. He asked me to combine a few elements: a Tree of Life (important symbol in Judaism), images from the story of Jonah in the Torah, and the hebrew for his chosen name. The "how" to combine all of that, was left up to me. "Surprise me" he said. When he received the painting, he said: "I am blown away. Can't even express how much it means to me. It now has a very special place in the entryway to my home. Thank you thank you thank you!"

My current work in progress, is a pirate's lair on the wall of a teenage boy's bedroom. The mom who hired me emailed me the night after my first day of painting (believe me, the mural was less than impressive looking that day) to say: "Just wanted to say thank you, again, for the great start! Really amazing to see an idea/dream being realized."

These most recent three projects and my client's responses to them, have caused me to ponder my question again: "How can art help people?" I think the clearest answer within the scope of my own mural-ing, is that I am here to be a translator for people. I can see this concept so clearly as an image in my head. My clients are pouring a jar of their dreams, stories, pasts, and wishes into my head. They filter, as words, through my own brain and heart, and come out my hands in the form of pictures. The end result is their vision coming alive as actual physical images that are marked permanently (sorta) in their homes, workplaces, neighborhoods. For the purpose of bringing their families a tiny bit of joy. That's it. That's my purpose in my mural career. To be a translator and a helper for someone to get something they can physically see, from something they couldn't before.

When I'm having feelings of self-doubt, and like my work is not "important", that is the image I will conjure up in my mind from now on, to quiet those thoughts. It's a small thing. But it's good.

A Beautiful Move

Two posts in one week! What's gotten into me?! Paint paint paint. 

This mural is on a wall of a carport at a private home here in Portland. During our initial consultation, I took some notes on this couple's vision: Portland. Roses. Texas and Wisconsin wildflowers. Sasquatch. Rivers. Trees. Rocks. That's basically what I had to go on, combined with the fact that the two halves of my client couple were from Texas and Wisconsin, had just moved to Portland, and like it here. This is the best case scenario for a consultation: tell me a few of your favorite things, and tell me a little of your story. Then let me go cray. 

This fam totally gave me the warm and fuzzies, with their two adorable kids under 5, sweet standard poodle, and general hospitality. The cutest was when one kiddo came and showed me her art projects after school, and sat and drew with me while I painted. Makes me miss teaching kids art like WOAH. 

Since the wall we were working with was very long and not very tall, I thought it would work great as sort of a timeline/whimsical landscape. I started on the far left side with the state flowers from Texas and Wisconsin, and ended at the far right with a skyline of Portland and some roses (we're known as the City of Roses here). I added a little Mt. Hood action too (our grand mountain that is just as much a part of our skyline here as our skyscrapers....well, I use the word skyscrapers loosely). All in all, it represents a move to Portland. And not to get too woo, but it feels like a good way of honoring a life change. Here are the pictures from right to left. Full mural at the bottom of this post. 

Yay cute kids. Yay paint. Yay coral and aqua together. Yay purple mountain majesty. Yay Oregon. Yay trees. Yay this frickin job I get to do. :)

Columbia River Gorge Painting

Hey everyone! Happy Saturday!

I've been on a total painting bender the last little while here, and man does it feel good. Most of the time it feels good, at least. I just saw a friend post about her creative painting process, and it got me thinking about how I could explain my own. When my immediate family or boyfriend knows I'm out painting a mural, they will text me to ask how it's going. Depending on how far into it I am, I am either like, "GREAT! :) I LOVE PAINTING SO MUCH heart-eyes-emoticons-for-days" or... "meh. ok" (which really means: "I hate this mess I've made on someone's wall right now SO HARD.") I've done this job for long enough now though, that I've figured out my own mural-painting-feelings roller coaster. I know that the entire first day of painting, I will despise what I've made by the end of that day. I know that 5 hours of straight painting without breaks is about my limit if I want to maximize my optimal creative brainpower. Because after 5 hours, what I've been staring at starts to mush together, and I can no longer come up with visual solutions to all the problems I'm seeing. I have to leave the problems, exposed to my clients and the rest of the world (if it's an exterior mural), overnight or potentially for days. Which is the worst part. I tell clients after my first day of painting, PLEASE DO NOT JUDGE THIS YET..... or better yet, don't even LOOK at it! But the second and third (often final) days, are the recovery. The answers to yesterdays' problems seem to come to me with a good night's sleep. The final layers come so much easier. I can play with temperature glazes and exaggerated values. And the very last flicks of the lightest highlights, which is the part that always gives me a stupid-happy rush of endorphins. It just feels GOOD. 

These stages repeat themselves almost every single time. With the awareness of that, comes trust in myself and my process. I know I will hate it the first day. But I have experienced that discouragement enough times, that I know it will pass. Painting is sometimes hard and frustrating but it also makes me indescribably happy. I feel like every kind of artist on this planet can probably relate to that last sentence. Happy creating, you guys! :)

Oh...this is what I made last week: 6' x 2.5' CANVAS, not wall. Switching it up! ;) It's the Columbia River Gorge... a view from Hood River, looking back towards Portland. Ahh so luck to live here.

Happy clients, happy artist!.... but it's not a mural, bro. ;) So sweet. :)

Annnnnnnd.... here's a teeny tiny peek at what's to come. I finished this mural this morning, and will post final pictures next week. I'll tell you all about that one next. Couldn't resist taking a selfie with the roses part of this one.... because HOT PINK! ;)