Family Tree...Willow Style!



Hi everyone!

 

I made this last weekend! This was done to celebrate a new marriage for an older couple. The tree will have pictures from of their respective families hung over it, in honor of combining their lives. I just love that. I love how sometimes people use my murals as a symbolic gesture. Or as therapy... you decide! I definitely hear a lot of stories in this job. Which is not, I know, maybe what you expect. People tell their hairdressers their life stories, that's a given. But also apparently, their muralists. And I love it a lot.

 

This was a fun one! Can't wait to see how it looks when the pictures are hung on top!

 

Cheers to the (almost) weekend, everyone! Be good.

 

 

 

BIG BIG BIGGERRRR!!!

Hi everyone!

Happy new year! I have BIG hopes and plans for 2016. After a bit of a mural-break over the holidays, I'm excited to get back into the groove. Yesterday was a busy day of three different mural consultations, which have me totally stoked for the months ahead. The first consult of the day had me talking to the National College of Natural Medicine here in Portland, about what could be the BIGGEST MURAL IVE EVER PAINTED. And most public - it's right off of one of the really busy streets in town. The pics below show only 2 of the 3-sided site that they are looking to cover in murals. As far as the subject matter for this one, I was so excited by the initial email inquiry awhile back, that I had to post it to my facebook page. In case you missed it:

Excerpts from a mural inquiry I received today:
"reflect a deep respect for nature "
"an abundant forest"
"a mildly hypnotizing flower"
"A powerful owl would be appropriate"

I'm like, 10,000 TIMES, YES PLEASE. 

This one will require cooperation with the City of Portland, neighborhood, and a committee at the school. So it'll be awhile before paintbrush hits concrete, but I can't wait for the moment it begins. My BIGGGGG public mural dreams look like they're slowly coming true. Thanks, thanks, thanks, Wall Painting Gods. Hoping you get some breaks in 2016 from the gods-of-whatever-you-are-into. :)

Waterfall Hallway!

Hey everyone!

This weekend's mural was another one of those realistic-but-not, made-up-landscape types of projects. I friggin love those. When someone says (like my latest client): incorporate these elements, and make the rest up.... that is my absolute DREAM. So, the result is, I'm not sure if this is a mural of hawaii, or the columbia river gorge. But neither I, nor my client cares. It's just a colorful and peaceful way to welcome someone into my client's house. This is painted down a long, previously blank hallway from the front door leading ino the living room. So given that I couldn't back up more than like 4 feet, taking pictures of it was super awkward. So here are a bunch of shots of it in pieces. Hooray! Stay tuned... Summer mural-making is in full force!

The Cow! and murals-to-be

Hi everyone!

I finished and brought this little painting to it's new home last week. Nope, not a mural - only a couple feet wide and tall! Client told me she wanted: a cow, painted in an abstract-y/unrealistic color type of style, with a tiny red barn in the background. DID YOU SAY MAKE IT EXTRA COLORFUL?!?! Let's do more like this, forever! Client was happy, and the little calf that I took the liberty of adding, turned out to be meaningful to her as well. This was a reminder of childhood memories and she said "Thank you for painting my story". That's literally, my mission statement as a muralist/artist-for-hire. 

 And speaking of that, here's a few new ideas/photoshopped sketches for murals of the future! Can't wait to get painting these babies!! Seriously, I actually can't wait. PAINT ALL THE WALLLLZ! Stay tuned to see how these actually end up - because improvising! Have a great week everyone!

Coming soon to a wall near you!

That was the cheesiest post title ever... sorry not sorry. How are you guys? I'm super sad that October is over. It's been an awesome month. I got to go to New Orleans for vacation and it was a total blast! Also, it contains my favorite holiday (duh), lots of pumpkin food items, and gorgeous colors in nature everywhere you go. I love love love this month. But, alas, the holiday season is now upon us, and parents-to-be are busy busy nesting. And I am happy to help them. :)

Here's what I'm gonna do:

Which one of those do you like better, cartoony or realistic? Obviously I'm just photoshopping stuff over a picture of their wall, but you get the idea. This is is gonna be soooooo much fun! The grey trees represent metallic silver, by the way. How much fun is that?!?! Can't wait!

More trees for a different nursery. Interesting that this will be my 4th tree-themed nursery. I guess that's a thing. Super cute.

Excited about these ideas, and even more excited to get off my computer, and get some paint on my hands (and let's be honest, in my hair and on my pants, too)! Can't wait for all the upcoming projects. These, plus some other light mural touch ups and sign work in a retirement community, and some graphic design freelance, will take me at least through January. Stoked. Stay tuned, and thanks so much everyone for reading, and for your support. Stay warm!

xo Corie

Walla Walla Murals, Part Deux!

Hey guys! 

A little late, but here's what I've been up to lately, mural-wise:

I was invited to head back up to Walla Walla, WA to add more murals to the memory care facility up there. (I went there for a week last spring for the first round of painting...those pics are here). This time, I only had 10-12 hours of painting approved according to their budget, so here's what happened in those hours:

Directional signage for one of the residential wings.

More signage for the other wing

This mural was started by the Muralist who came before me. He sadly passed away from cancer before he could finish all the murals in this facility, and I was hired on after him to finish them up. (And then, have the whole entire brand new facility in Portland to fill up with murals). This is the only piece in the building that we actually shared. He painted the signs, I added the swirlies on the sides. Kind of a nice collaboration if you ask me :)

This is area where the residents (all of whom have either Alzheimers disease or some form of Dementia) can play with and rock the baby dolls. 

I painted the sign, not the onions in the background.... those were done by the wife of the muralist who died. She tried to paint some of the things he had left unfinished. I was assigned to help make the Parkview Eatery sign look a little.... nicer. The font was not my choosing (if they even started with a font): swirlies, random serifs, and descenders that don't descend. I know that I'm seeing it with my graphic designer's eye, but come on. Haha Anyway, I cleaned up the letters a bunch and made it a bit bolder and more readable (wish I had taken a "before" picture)

There's still more work to be done up there, so looking forward to spending some more time up there when I'm able to, and budgets allow. It was nice seeing some of the same caregivers and residents I had met in the Spring. Like last time though, it did take a bit of a toll on me emotionally. It's hard to see people who must have been so vibrant and have these incredible life histories, stumbling around so confused. It's sad. But this is a tiny thing I can do for them at least! One lady kept thanking me, so that felt nice. I tend to be pretty sensitive, so I cannot fathom doing a job where I'm in this kind of situation day in and day out. Hats off to those of you out there who do. :)

My Artist Statement (for murals)

So recently, I applied to be on a muralist roster. Kind of just a list of people who do murals that the city of Portland keeps on hand, and on their website, to refer to whenever anyone goes looking for a muralist. Kind of a biggie for me to try and be on. So I thought I would share the little artist statement I wrote for that application - it's basically my whole mural-ing deal in a nutshell, since I had to keep it super short. :) Wish me luck!
_______________________________________________________

My mission is to bring: POSITIVITY, BEAUTY, INSPIRATION, LEARNING and UNDERSTANDING to environments, through painting walls.

I started painting murals as a high school student in Eugene, Oregon. My Mom hated the wallpaper in our kitchen, so we scraped it off, and I painted a tropical garden. During that first mural, I fell in love with painting BIG. Since then, I have been painting murals in private homes, businesses, with students, in memory care facilities, and with prison inmates.

After college, I joined the Peace Corps, where I lived and worked in Madagascar for 2 years. In Madagascar, I painted murals about health and environment topics in rural hospitals and schools. The murals became visual teaching aids, where most are illiterate. It became clear to me that murals can add value to the world, outside of aesthetics. Murals can teach concepts, illustrate ideas, tell stories and change minds. 

After returning from the Peace Corps, I joined the Lane Arts Council's Teaching Artist Roster in Eugene, OR. I taught mural-making to students in grades K-12, in over 10 public schools. I once facilitated a 4th grade in painting a mural on cloth, about Malaria prevention, and shipped it to Madagascar where it was installed in a rural clinic.  I have witnessed the rise in student’s self-esteem and sense of community when they work together on a mural. The same way that a school community is strengthened by a collaborative mural project, public murals allow artists and community members to honor their own neighborhoods. I enjoy both facilitating mural projects with groups, and creating them solo. 

Murals can turn forgotten spaces into beautiful ones. Whether that transformation occurs inside a private home or in a public space, murals allow people to tell their stories. What I love about being a muralist, is that I get to help be that storyteller. Murals allow walls to live up to their full potential. They allow people to speak without using words, and to be understood.

MURAL TIME LAPSE VIDEO!!

First of all, I know I said weekly posts, but... life happens. And lately, life has been great - full of travel and family and friends time! Spent a weekend in Seattle with my bestie, then my sister was in town and we got to spend a week together with her and our parents. It's been really nice to get to see my fav out-of-towners. But now, back to the normal routine. That is, for the next week or so... Have I mentioned that I'm going to be a work-a-holic this Summer?? If you want to hang out with me, check back in August, when I resume having a life. Haha! I'll be going full time at my "day job" as a graphic designer, then working nights and weekends painting murals in another memory care facility here in Portland. The memory care facility has a deadline - a grand opening party and residents moving in ONE MONTH from when I'll be starting painting. Pretty crazy. But sometimes having deadlines really motivates me. I'm kind of looking forward to heading over to an empty building after work and just rocking out to my music, de-stressing with my acrylics. It will be nice, I think :) And I will of course be keeping you updated with more pictures than your browser can handle. ;)

Anyway, what I'm REALLY here to show you this week, is this:




My mural time lapse video is finally finished!!! This was a mural that I gifted my boss, who's about to welcome a little one :) But shhhh don't tell anyone I'm giving them away ;) We set up a video camera for the 8-ish hours that I painted, and I brought it down to 3.5 minutes. I tell you what, I don't know why I haven't done this yet. I love watching these videos, and now I have my own! Very exciting. Looking forward to maybe doing more of these using the webcam in my mac (I've heard you can do this?!). Anyway, enjoy and see you soon!

Corie

Thoughts and Ramblings on Mural-ing

I'm going to try to stick to blogging every week. I started this when I was working as an Artist in Residence in the public schools, and this blog was a way for me to share lesson plans with others. I used to lay out detailed instructions for lessons about famous artists, and the process of making murals with children. It was great to be able to just hand teachers a link to this site, so they could remember the lessons I was doing with their students, and use them for long after I'm out of their classrooms. Now I'm not teaching anymore. So what is this space for? I think it's been a nice way to share my current projects, and also a way to force myself to reflect. So, this week I am without a project, but here are some thoughts I jotted down while I was painting murals up in Walla Walla:

Thoughts on painting murals:

• Best tool ever: 1" flat brush.

• Best part of painting: Putting in the highlights and the lightest lights at the very end.... I can hardly wait for this part, every time!! Painting edges where sky or background meets the object/foreground.

• Worst part of painting: Putting down the very first base layers: BO-RING. Also, looks like crap at first, which is slightly scary. Especially if I have to leave the mural in this state at someone's house before I come back the next time. I always feel the need to give a disclaimer: "Don't worry, I promise it will get better later! DONT LOOK AT IT NOW!"

• How to paint fast: Stop thinking. Stop judging every move you're making. Listen to podcasts on really interesting stuff, or songs with a lot of lyrics (Atmosphere is my fav for this). The words distract me from forming any inside my own head, which can lead to totally counter-productive self-talk/self-doubt, which slows me down. The key is to make creative decisions quickly, so that you are using instinct and feelings, rather than over-analytical thought. Now, this is not to say that some thought doesn't go into making murals - I do think about what I'm doing in the beginning during the planning/sketching stage, and also in moments where I stop and stand back from a wall to look at what needs to happen next. 

• Livin' your Dream: You have to DECIDE to do it, and then you have to WORK at it. Someone told me one time that you can do ANYTHING you want, but you can't do EVERYTHING you want. First, you have to DECIDE. It was really good advice for me at the time. A couple years ago, I was kind of floundering. I'd just gotten back from the Peace Corps, and was working in a grocery store bakery, trying to figure out what the hell to do with myself. It was everything I could do not to re-apply for the Peace Corps, or a volunteer position in Jamaica. I was interested in, and actively considering trying to build careers in all of the following: illustrator, tattoo artist, muralist, concept artist for animation or any kind of art for the entertainment industry, and art teacher. I was also poking around a lot on usajobs.gov, looking for government jobs in everything from Peace Corps Recruiter, to pretty much anything with the EPA, or Fish and Wildlife, etc. (After Peace Corps, they give you one year of non-competitive eligibility for government jobs - it just makes it easier for you to get hired in one). I even went to a government career fair, and the Secret Service had a table. I took a pamphlet. I was pretty lost, OK? Anyway, point of all of this, is that I was going in a thousand different directions, and thought that the moment I picked one, I was closing all the other doors, forever. I eventually made a pro/con list of all my very top career choices. And I rated them. In the end, murals kind of won over everything else. I knew I liked being around people and working for clients I could actually meet in person, and personally help in a teeny tiny way. I liked being able to brighten people's spaces, and help tell their stories on their walls. Cheesy, I know. But I liked the human aspect of making murals for people. I also really, really like to paint BIG. I like the variety of work I get to do too. I remember being in the Peace Corps, and making lists of all the things I really missed about being in America. I missed burritos with green sauce. I missed my family. I missed the feeling of being in someone's house and making them a mural. The fact that I missed that SO much, and would paint murals for people while I was in Madagascar, with the crappiest of wall situations, really told me that mural-making was just that important to me. I really believe that just making that CONSCIOUS DECISION that murals were my most favorite artistic career choice, has set in motion everything that's led up to getting me some success at doing it now. I think that part was really important. It's crazy to be able to look back at all that, and see all the pieces leading up to where I'm at now, feeling like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel really grateful for every little piece of it though, even the hard parts. 

Ok, ending this week's rambling.....now! Have a great week everyone!! :)

Glass and Paint Collaboration

 Hi All,

Well, today is one giant SNOWPOCALYPSE where I live in Portland, Oregon. Here, that means anything over 1/2 an inch of snow... we aren't used to this! We have about 4 inches on the ground right now, with more to come supposedly. Actually, it JUST started snowing again as I'm typing this! My work is closed today, and I can't make it over to where I'm painting the mural because there's a couple of giant hills in between me and their house. (Which my '86 Oldsmobile does not appreciate in the snow and ice!).  So, I am officially snowed-in... #cabinfever. I have to say though, even though I have things I need to be going out and doing, it is a nice excuse to slow down for a couple days, and catch up on life. After a cold walk around the neighborhood this morning, I'll be spending the rest of the day in my sweats, making valentines and watching Netflix. :) Enjoy the break, all you other Oregonians!

In other news, my cousin Terry sent me this in the mail! If you didn't get a chance to read the initial post on this project, see it here. Terry makes awesome glass and ceramic art, and I paint. So he's been making these glass pieces that have images imprinted on them, and he asked if I would paint him some things to put on his glass! We started with a lion :) I painted the background and the lion separately. I'm not sure if you can totally tell from the pictures, but the background is actually on the bottom layer of the glass, and the lion is on top. So there's a nice depth to this... you can kinda see the shadow along the right edge of the lion. I think it looks so cool! A really neat way to incorporate both our art forms. You can check out this piece and more of Terry's art here.

Happy snow day, if you are experiencing one, wherever you are!

Forest Nursery Mural Progress - First days!

Hi All, 

As promised, a picture post!! Here's how the nursery mural is coming along. (I actually already finished this wall, but haven't taken good final shots yet.... stay tuned for those soon.) I really loved painting this one. My clients asked for a look that was somewhere in between the typical child-like kids room murals, and something more realistic. They want their son to be able to grow with the mural, and like it well into his childhood and on. It's very freeing and exciting for me when someone gives me this kind of direction. I made it a forest, with their colors, with all the elements they wanted, BUT, I get to play with shape make it more "whimsical". It's a ton of fun. Below are pictures of the first 3 days. I finished it on the 4th day, but don't have final pics yet. 

So, this morning I went over to - I thought - spray the clear sealer over it, pull off the blue tape and be done! Then, my clients were like, "Well, we like it so much, we were thinking maybe you could paint the rest of the room?!" Um, YES! So, this is going to be a bigger project than I initially thought, and I could not be more stoked about that. I think it will be absolutely magical for their kid to be in a room that has a forest on not one, but all four walls!! Not only that, but they asked if I could put a castle in there, too :) So excited!!! More to come soon!

Thanks for reading, 

Corie

Day 1:

 Day 2:

 Day 3:

 My stuff...

Mural Concept Sketches

Hi All, 

As promised, here are the sketches for my current mural project! This will be in a nursery for a baby boy. Hopefully the kid will still want it around once he gets older :) I'm suuuuper excited for this one. The subject matter is right up my alley - organic, colorful, atmospheric perspective, and overall....whimsical :) That's my favorite part - my clients wanted this forest to look like it was magical and special - someplace their son will be able to form stories about and help him to exercise his imagination. AND they want it more stylized and less hyper-realistic. This is SO ME. Can't wait to show you guys the progress... painting starts this week!

They chose the last sketch option shown here - the one with the stream added to the sunny forest. The only thing my clients wanted to add, was another animal in the bottom left. So it will have a cute fox peeking out of the grass. :) Excited!

My First Portland Mural!

Hi All, 

Well, I'm excited to say that I met with my first mural clients in Portland!! I'm sooo excited for this job. It marks a new chapter in my life :)

Should be a fun one. This is the inspiration photo. The mural will be for a lovely couple expecting a baby boy pretty soon, in their nursery :) They want a forest that's sort of in this style - not realistic, but also not overly childlike. Something their kid will (hopefully) not grow out of. Can't wait! Stay tuned for updates on this one. Yay!

Overall, I feel like I'm adjusting to Portland and my life here pretty well. I'm excited to be here!!! 

Thumbtack Profile!

Hey, Portland, I'm officially official! Looking for mural services? Hopefully I'll come up as one of the local service providers that you can get a quote from!

Talking Walls Murals

Thumbtack seems to be the new Yellow Pages. Love it. My family found catering for my cousin's Bat Mitzvah on Thumbtack.

Anyway, looks like I've got my first mural job here in Portland! Looking forward to meeting with the client this week :) I'll keep you updated.