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! 

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!

If the Thunder don't get you....

Happy Sunday, people!

I realized I forgot to share this little project with you all. If you follow me on my facebook page (which if you don't, I'd really appreciate the support! click here), then you may recognize this from the 2 minutes it was actually posted on that page before I took it down. I'll get to that in a minute...

The request for this project was sent less than a week before they wanted it done, and I actually was able to make it happen for them, so that was kind of great :) This is in the brand-spanking-new bar in the Alphabet District of downtown Portland, called "Lightning Will". Check them out if you're ever in the area! A sports-bar-meets-old-school arcade-meets-biker-bar. It's pretty great. They are located at: 305 NW 21 Ave, Portland. The whole place is based off of some Grateful Dead lyrics...the ones I painted over the lighting bolt. This was a fun little project. And challenging too.... freehanding Old English typeface....not the easiest choice. 

And now, my embarrassing story: When I painted this, I actually left out the first "g" in "Lightning". Like, completely left it out. I even showed the bartender who commissioned this, and we both stared at it for awhile, and he gushed. Then, I got home, even posted this on my facebook page, all excited. And then 5 minutes later, my mother called me to tell me the horrible news. OOPS. I immediately set up a time to fix it...which I did. Cannot believe I did that, but I guess I was too focused on how the letters were looking, to think about painting them in the correct order ;) They were totally cool about it though. :)

Go check out Lightning Will and have a great week everyone!

The Cutest Funnest Mural (picture-heavy!)

So this happened this weekend... I don't even know what to say about this mural... I loved making it sooooo much! It's somewhat rare that someone would ask me to paint something that I would absolutely 100% paint inside my own (fictitious, future) house. The couple who commissioned it was so incredibly sweet too. P.s. is it totally awkward and unprofessional to hug your clients who are strangers? If so, then my bad. They were so NICE and appreciative :) Painting this brought me a lot of joy this weekend after a particularly long and tough week. Nothing like making someone else happy, to make yourself happy. And nothing cures an emotional hangover like painting. (for me, anyway.) 

I was glad to help these parents-to-be get their sweet little owl-themed room ready for their new son. I think this is totally something he can grow into for years to come (not totally baby-ish). Here's the wall before critters, and then after critters. You can't really tell, but the grey-ish trees in the background are a super-shiny metallic silver. Can someone else please commission me to paint in metallics? Or neons.... or glitters.... Gaudy is my middle name. 

xoxox Corie

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. :)

Latest painting and making plans!

I've had "Blog" on my to do list for awhile now, but haven't felt like I've had much to talk about. So I'll show you what I've been working on:

That's the latest in a series I've been working on since I guess technically, 2008. I've been drawing and painting about my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer living and working in Madagascar, since my first week in the country back in February of 2008....(holy crap I was 22!) Drawing in my journals, and painting murals on walls (the ones I could find that were sturdier than the ones made of reeds...like my own house there, haha!) kept me sane and happy. After I got evacuated, the need to paint about it was even stronger, since I was absolutely not ready to leave yet, but had to (I got to go back and finish my service tho...yay!) And now, coming up on 4 years since I came home, I still feel the need to paint about it. But now, it's mostly to help me feel connected to a place that's full of things and people I love, but is incredibly far away. I'm not sure how many more paintings I'll make for the series... or if I'll ever stop painting about Madagascar.  It will always be a second home and therefore something that feels good to paint about, but also, a wealth of ridiculously beautiful and inspiring subject matter. An artist's paradise. But I would like to start a new body of work at some point, too. Anyway, for the sake of putting things in writing that you want to have happen someday, here are my plans for the series, whenever I do finally decide it's done:

I work as a marketing person/graphic designer at a community center that holds a lot of events. I've talked briefly to our events person about the possibility of displaying this series sometime. I want to make it a party: Malagasy music videos playing, some fried banana donut things or other delicious street food that I will probably fail miserably at replicating, a little slideshow presentation/talk, a display of some of the awesome art that was done by Malagasy kids and friends that I brought home, and all my original art and a bunch of prints for sale, with most of the $$$ going to an organization or two that I trust and support that works in Madagascar. That's what I forsee: a giant art party with all my friends and family and strangers who want to support Mada. Yep, that's the plan. And I just put it out there to all of you, and the universe, so it's gonna happen. Right? Right. Now.... to finish the paintings! :)

I finished this really big thing!!!!

CHEERS!! I'm done!!

This was taken on one of the most exciting days of my life, I would say. The day that marked the end of one of the coolest things to happen to me... and the beginning of hopefully more cool things. Either way, yesterday was a good day.

I've spent about 2 months painting murals inside the Parkview memory care facility in NE Portland. 4 major mural walls, plus tons of other small things everywhere...animals, random faux brick and faux other stuff, clouds, signs, flowers, animals, etc. It was such a variety of things that I got to paint! I still haven't uploaded all the final pictures, but you can like my facebook page to see the albums of stuff I've already posted (which is a lot). Yesterday was the open house for the community and potential new residents and their families (friends-in-real-life, if you're reading this, I didn't do a massive invite thingy... I wasn't really sure if I should bring a humungous posse with me to this thing... but it's been amazing to have your support!) It's been a massive amount of work. Well, maybe not really, but it felt like a lot because I did it all on top of my full time job, and was up against a deadline. Which I just barely cleared. (I was painting the last wall till 11:30 the night before the grand opening!! Talk about cutting it close!) Most of the time I was painting, I was coming to work when all the other workers were already home for the night. So it was cool to actually see and hear people responding to the walls.

If you're not new to my blog, you already know the story of why this project means a lot to me - my Grandma had dementia, she was also an artist. In a big way, I feel like this whole friggin' project is dedicated to her memory. I used her paintbrushes to paint it. She would have really like the place, and it feels GREAT to be a part of something that's gonna make people with memory diseases feel good. So that's the warm fuzzy part, and it feels real good. The other part is that I'm a professional muralist...for real. It's my DREAM, and this is my first big taste of success at it - (my first big  commercial/for-a-company, public job... that I did for strangers, not friends of my parents! And they're paying me what I'm not even sure I'm worth.) Grateful, grateful.

This weekend, I'm taking time to catch up on life - do laundry, go grocery shopping for real, get a full 8 hrs of sleep.... this blog! It feels wonderful. Now that I'm getting caught up with myself, I'm excited to catch up with my friends. Pictures to come, soon. Wooohooooo!!!

MURAL-A-THON 2014... summer edition!

I don't even think I told you guys what I'm up to this summer yet! Well, remember the Walla Walla murals? I'm doing that again...but here in Portland!!

This project is insanely cool. I'm working with a company that builds retirement communities and memory care facilities. They are known for the murals inside their buildings - they're everywhere! They help the residents relax and feel at home. So I'm getting to fill their newest memory care facility in Portland with murals! It's still under construction, so I even got to help choose the paint colors for the walls, before I mural them! It's going to be my biggest collection of murals inside a single building, ever. The people I'm working for are giving me so much creative control, it's kind of unbelievable. They even trusted me (when I didn't trust myself) to try using a paint spray gun for the first time, to paint clouds all over the ceiling of the "great room" in the main living area. And use a scissor lift, which I've also never done. I just.... I feel so incredibly grateful. I feel like I can't believe my luck. But then also, I know I've worked my ass off to get to this point. From painting my parent's kitchen wall into a tropical garden as a high schooler, to charging family friends $10 an hour to paint their walls, to getting clients I didn't know personally, to making a business name and filing taxes as such, and now working as a legit professional contractor on a huge project. It's been a lot of soul-searching ("I know I'm an artist, but what should I DOOOO?"), rejections, and doing the "starving-artist" thing. I was thinking about this today while I was painting, and I felt so overwhelmed with gratitude, I wanted to cry. Janet Jackson in the headphones, burrito in my belly, paintbrush in my hand, doing the thing that makes me so indescribably happy, and knowing that it really, truly, is my legit job and business now. I feel blessed beyond belief. I guess if you can figure out what your really wanna do most, and figure out the order of the steps you can take to get there, and take them a teeny bit at a time, you'll get there eventually.

That's me, totally covered in white paint, from my paint sprayer. Need to invest in goggled and a respirator, asap!

I'm also happy to report that I'm off the scissor lift, and painting at ground level again! Ahhhhh the sweet, sweet, ground! Stay tuned for pictures, but I'll just say right now that it's about the most Portland-y mural ever - Mt. Hood, roses, and the city skyline. :)

Goodnight Portland... **Thank you**.....