Forestry Court Apartments Mural

Hi everyone!

In my mission to post about a backlog of projects, today I'm sharing a very Northwest-y mural. This project came about when I was asked to paint something on the walls of an apartment building's lobby. This building is located in Northwest Portland, close to Forest Park - a lush backdrop of forest covered hills over the city's west side. The name of the apartments - Forestry Court - and it's proximity to actual forest, inspired a pretty obvious choice for the mural's imagery. The lobby is fairly dim, with little natural light, so I knew that I wanted to infuse a bit of "daylight" into the mural. A whole lot of Indian Yellow helped me create an illusion of that magic "golden hour" feel. It's that time of day when the sun is getting ready to start setting, and there are long shadows on the ground, and everything turns, well, golden. We knew we wanted to cover all of the available walls in the room, which was one large and prominent wall, plus two tall and narrow walls to the sides. Though there were hallways cutting through between the walls, I wanted them all to work together to create one cohesive piece. Then, the viewer's imagination could then fill the empty spaces between. 

I always enjoy the challenge of making it look like light is shining through the leaves on a tree. That almost-neon green that is formed by a back-lit leaf is so juicy and bright to look at in the natural world. Hard to capture in a painting, but worth trying. 

Once the main walls were done, I waited for a warmer day to paint some areas in the outside entryway. I figured just some greenery would help beautify the empty spaces in the tiling, and serve as a preview to what you'll see when you enter the building. 

I remember painting this in such a "flow" state - almost a trance. Nature is something I'm pretty darn used to painting by now, so it doesn't require a whole lot of thought - at least not conscious thought. When painting this kind of subject matter, what it really requires of me, is to turn off my conscious thought process, and just let my hands do their thing. It's projects like this, when I will listen to podcasts and audiobooks, to keep my mind occupied while my hands do the work. More complicated projects require more thinking (architectural or geometric work is like this). Does this make sense? It's just one of those things I've come to learn and nurture about the way my brain works.

This project totally inspired me to paint something like this in my home. I want a forest wall! Or door, or garage door, or kitchen. My house only has one mural so far - another project on the list to share. More to come!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and video of this fun forest-y mural!

How and why am I a Graphic Designer - Story time!

Hi everyone!

Another quarter of the year has passed, blog-less. I'm really going to try and change that habit, and do more creative things that feel good. Writing about my life and current projects is one of those things. 

I want to write about my Day Job today. My J.O.B. My 9-5. If you follow me here and not in real-life, you may just know me as a muralist/art teacher type. But I am also a Graphic Designer. This is the story of how I became one.

Looking back at my life, as soon as I discovered that you could create art in digital spaces as well as traditional analog ones, I was IN TO IT. When I was a kid, I would get on our little box-y black and white mac computer so that I could play Kid Pix, and drag around those digital brushes that would paint different patterns onto a blank canvas. It was so fascinating to me. I was a teenager in high school when I began (wildly... WILDLY) experimenting with Photoshop. I made a fake magazine about the pop-metal and alternative rock bands I was into at the time - complete with multi-page articles and music reviews (written by yours truly) and ads for fake products. All in Photoshop, with roughly 1 MILLION layers (cringe). As an angsty 16 year old, it was my digital masterpiece. In college, I took a few introductory graphic design and pre-press courses where I learned layout softwares like Quark Express and InDesign. I took a digital illustration class which opened my eyes to the complex world of Adobe Illustrator (and the pen tool I dreaded so much) and Corel Painter. It was incredible to me to be able to zoom in 200% and correct such tiny details in a piece of art. It was magic.

Despite all of that early interest, Graphic design was something I came to fairly recently in my life. A few years ago, after growing tired of the less-than-lucrative hustle of freelance and short teaching contracts, I came to Graphic Design in pursuit of a "safety net" during a move to the Big City. I viewed Design as a creative, yet reliable means to support my life and side business as a muralist. It was a practical and deliberate decision, satisfying my Taurus need for some desperately-needed stability. 

Being a Taurus also means I am stubborn, strong-willed and independent. Those traits have been both strengths and weaknesses in my life. Looking back, I think they kept me from pursuing this career as a younger adult. See, my Dad was a Graphic Designer. In college, I didn't even see that path as an option. I wanted to explore a path that was fiercely, uniquely, MINE. I chose my college major quickly, and stuck to it: Illustration with an Emphasis in Animation. I liked the idea of working at a Pixar-type studio, and making character designs and backgrounds (everything BESIDES actually animating, which I soon discovered I did not have the patience or passion for.) After graduating college, I put those plans on hold and joined the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps consumed my life for a good 3+ years. I was only actually living in Madagascar as a Peace Corps Volunteer for a total of 27 months, but a forced evacuation paused my service for 9 months of chilling on my parent's couch. I then went back to complete year 2 of my service. After coming home finally, I found myself reeling mentally and emotionally with the struggle of re-entry to life in the U.S. But I needed cash. Immediately. I went back into food service (sigh). I then worked my way into a sort-of-kind-of-regular job contracting at different K-12 schools, teaching kids art and making murals with them as an Artist-in-Residence, with commissioned mural jobs on the side. I took stock of my career goals and did some deep soul-searching. I reached out to a former professor for advice, and learned I needed to narrow my focus. Trying to keep ALL of the doors open, was preventing me from walking through any of them. I made a pro/con list, and a priority matrix (a tool I learned in Peace Corps. Need to decide something? See p. 43 of this document.) I entered so many interests and options into the matrix: Illustrator, Muralist, Tattoo artist, etc. Graphic Designer? Still not one of them. I decided that being a Muralist was what I really wanted to focus on. That hustle was HARD for me, and I soon realized I could not support myself that way full time, in that size town. So, a move! And then to facilitate that move, a job! What kind of creative job could be so "normal" that I would have it by the time I arrived in the city? Graphic Design finally appeared in a real way. 

I spent a few months refreshing and re-learning design skills and software I hadn't used since college. I watched hours of online tutorials and made myself a little web portfolio. That finally landed me an entry-level design job at a non-profit in Portland. From there I moved into the private sector, and now I've landed in the public sector. Working as an in-house designer has lead me to learn in-depth about industries I never would have otherwise: religious private school, fitness facilities, "green" and "eco" conference and event planning, aviation data sales, and now, criminal justice and community supervision and treatment. I have learned to code a bit, and so many new tools and programs. Graphic Design has lead me places I never would have imagined for myself. And I still have my other love on the side - murals. It's so satisfying to be able to pick up a brush, after days of clicking a mouse. It's the same creative drive - the same language, but a different dialect. 

Now that I'm in my 30's and doing this work, I realize that Design was always something I loved. Like that Taylor Swift song about her unrequited love story. Graphic Design was always there waiting for me, she just needed me to grow up and into myself a little more. Thanks Dad, for the genes. 

My Dad's book of Pantone swatches from the 1970's.
I have it on my desk at work as a reminder of where I came from.

xoxo, Corie

"I am a Muralist" - A Social Justice Mural with Smart Kiddos

Hi everyone!

Prepare for a word-y, picture heavy post. This one's a doozy.

If you've followed this blog for a long time, you'll know that I originally started it as a way to document and explain my art lessons with kids, so that other teachers and teaching artists could benefit from them. I have since moved on and changed careers, and my blog has changed to reflect that. I used to be a Teaching Artist. I was on a roster with the local art council, and would get hired to visit schools to work with their kids in creating murals. Sometimes the contracts would last over a month, and sometimes just for a day. In my job now, I work a 9-5 as a graphic designer for a company. It's a more steady income flow, and it was just a nice career shift for me. While I definitely love still doing my own mural work on the side, there are days when I really miss making art with the kids. 

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work with a classroom on a mural again. The school guidance counselor reached out to me through my website, and asked if I would be willing to donate my time to help them create a mural. My work just happens to give me 2 days per year to do service work, so that worked out perfectly for this project. This is how the school counselor described their situation:

"100% of our students receive free lunch. Our students are mostly kids of color and many are first or second generation Americans. Many of our kiddos have challenging home lives and have parents who are incarcerated, addicted or absentee. My role as the School Counselor is to teach skills and give support to these young people regarding the hurt, frustration, sadness and anger they have. We are a school of many white walls. I believe children will invest in what they see their environment to be and I don't believe white sterile walls are good for anyone, let alone children."

How could I possibly say no to that? We met up with the teacher who would be leading the project with me, and game-planned. The students would create a mural based on a poem that they were used to reading every morning before they started their school work. Here is that poem, written by Luis Valdez:

Tú eres mi otro yo.
You are my other me.

Si te hago daño a ti,
If I do harm to you,

Me hago daño a mi mismo.
I do harm to myself.

Si te amo y respeto,
If I love and respect you,

Me amo y respeto yo.
I love and respect myself.

The kids were assigned to draw and write about what the poem meant to them. The teacher then sent me all of their answers and drawings. I took stock of the images that came up repeatedly in the kids' work: Landscapes. Children holding hands. Children of different colors. Hearts. Then, I took those images and turned them into one cohesive mural design, which I traced onto the wall myself before working with the kids. 

On painting day #1, I gave a short presentation about the mural work I do. We talked about what makes a mural different from other art (it's art for everyone to enjoy, it's art for a community). We also talked about what it means to do a project together and work collaboratively (no one person gets to do the "coolest part" all by themselves. It takes ALL our brushstrokes to make up this picture, together). The biggest thing I had to tell them though, was why art is important. We talked about my murals done in the Peace Corps, in areas where the literacy rates are very low - murals become communication and teaching tools, more than the written word. Murals can explain to the public, the feelings of a community. This mural they were creating as a classroom, was going to explain their feelings and values to the school community. Murals give people voices. 

Then, we got to work. I approach murals with kids with a "one kid, one color, one job" approach. I mix a ton of colors in solo cups (house party supplies coming in handy! haha) and give one to each kid as they cycle through turns painting. Each kid gets a job. I ask them to fill in something, outline something, add some trees here, etc. They use their color, in their area, to finish their job. After 15-20 minutes, we rotate kids. Rinse and repeat until the mural feels finished. We had such a blast!

In the end, it looks absolutely beautiful. Since the first day when I made the black outlines, I had not touched it. I only directed the kiddos, much like I imagine a conductor would direct a symphony. The kids become my paintbrushes :) They did such a great job!

In the middle of the second day, the guidance counselor came up to tell me this: "one of the Latina girls you have been painting with just told me that she has felt sad with all the people saying they are not happy with immigrants being here. But she said that after painting this and seeing people with all the different skin colors in the mural, she feels like people really do love her." (I'm not crying, you're crying!) The lesson here is this: there are many ways to resist injustice. I was not in the streets that day, I was wrangling children with paintbrushes. But it's clearly made a small difference, if just to a few shorter, lovely humans. 

Here are a few of the kids' responses to their experiences. Again, heart melts. My favorite: "I am a muralist." Yeah kid, you sure are. 

Mount Rainier and Seattle in all it's (neon blacklight-y) glory

Hi everyone!

I recently had the pleasure of trying something I've never tried before, artistically. And I have to say, not only did it turn out pretty ok, I'm sorta obsessed with the process. I got to paint with light. 

I was commissioned by a family friend to paint a not-super-realistic portrayal of Mt. Rainier and the Seattle skyline, surrounded by a whole lot of nature, including a lake. Now, I'm not exactly sure if this is a real view that exists in life somewhere, but it was made clear to me that it wasn't the important part of the project. We cut and pasted different scenes and photos together to create this city/mountain mash-up. 

The painting was commissioned to be the focal point of my client's new home-bar area. So cool! (like the over-achiever version of the bar cart trend) I made a canvas to fit the exact dimensions of his wall space. The client's idea was to have a painting with fairly ambiguous time-of-day lighting, so that he could also commission another buddy to build him an elaborate lighting set up to go along with the painting. From my understanding, the lighting set-up will have different colors/settings/timers so that it can shine light on the painting to make it look like it's going from daylight to sunset, to night time. By the time it's dark, the only light shining on it will be blacklight. So I was asked to make the painting look normal in the daylight, and totally light up under blacklight! 

Coolest commission ever, no? Also a challenge, since I haven't worked with glow-in-the-dark/blacklight paint since I was probably 13. The process was this: I painted the painting as I normally would paint, but also added a ton of neon pigment into my colors as I mixed them. Neon acrylic is most definitely something I already had laying around, (because duh), so that part was nothing new to me. I knew that the neon would light up under the blacklight, so I was strategic about it's placement. After the whole thing was painted and dry, I turned out all the lights in my studio, except a blacklight. Then I painted over everything a bit, with the blacklight paint (I used Golden brand's glow-paint, recommended highly to me by the Art Store Guy). It was such a weird experience to paint in complete darkness. The paint totally lit up on my paper plate palette, and as I brushed it onto the dark canvas. I felt I was painting with pure light. When I turned on the lights, the glow-paint was nearly invisible. SO. COOL. 

This was beyond fun, and my client was beyond cool. I must do more of this magic. Anyone need a painting or mural with a HIDDEN MESSAGE on it?!?!? A love note that only shows up under blacklight? A political statement? A hidden design? Let's play, guys!!!

On the easel

Done! In day light...

Hanging in it's place at the bar!

Under BLACKLIGHT!!!

Summer/Fall Reflection Time

Hi everyone!

Get ready for loooong, end-of-season reflection time!

Mural work seems to come in waves. The winter time, especially right after the holidays, can be a slow time for business. With the return of the sunshine in Spring, people start to think about home/business improvement again, and my business picks up. Outdoor murals are also much more feasible during this time, given Portland’s wet weather. It’s been a busy warm season for me, for sure. But I definitely played as hard as I worked. I got outside a lot, and made some awesome Summer memories with friends, family and my love.

We’re right in the middle of that transition between Summer and Fall. This time of year, I always start to mourn Summer a little bit. I am absolutely a sun child and like the heat and all that it brings. The Fall is always my consolation prize for Summer ending though. Fall brings us Halloweeeen, which is magical and I adore. For me, Fall is also a time to turn inwards a bit more. Literally, I stay inside more, and also, I find that the weather makes me tune into my inner self more - it’s time to get to work. I have a few projects coming up that I’m super excited about - indoor wall, small commission painting, and one or two straggler outdoor walls that I hope can get finalized before the rain comes full force. They’re all different and will make for a fun Fall lineup of jobs. I’m realizing one thing though: I have neglected to make art for myself just for my own enjoyment, for a long time. I’ve been hustling hard, and playing in the sunshine the rest of the time. This Fall, I’m going to commit to doing some work simply to feed my own creative drive. I’m looking forward to spending some of the rainier days to come, settling in to paint. For me.

Friends, I want to tell you something SO BAD, but it feels jinx-y to announce fully just yet. So I'll just be vague (sorrynotsorry). I have been doing this work for a long time, sometimes making literally no money from projects (super rarely now tho, thankfully), and sometimes making the kind of bank I could never have imagined years ago. I have been doing this work - painting walls for money - for 13 years now. Doing exactly what I love has allowed me now, to buy myself a house. This is a ridiculous sentence for me to read back. While I’m not completely out of the woods in achieving that goal, I am staring the end of the long process in the face, and hoping for the best. The home-buying journey is an incredibly fast-paced one, especially in Portland’s market. With some time to breathe now, I’m feeling some space to reflect.

Painting is the work that makes me feel the most like myself. It is my favorite thing to do alone. It is the activity I missed most, when I was in the Peace Corps in Madagascar and away from pretty much every aspect of what makes up my life in America. It is also part of my job. It’s sometimes super weird that those 2 things combine - passion and money - but for me, most of the time, that combination is wonderful and fulfilling. Is it awkward sometimes to ask for money for what I enjoy doing? Yes. But then I remind myself that I spent a long time in school (and out), training for this. And a lot of people love their jobs, and also get paid for them. It’s such a blessing. I just want to thank all of you reading, who has ever been my client. I wish I would have kept track of every single person who has ever commissioned me for something. But I do know there are some of you out there who have, who are reading. If that is you, THANK YOU. You, plus all the others, are who have allowed me to even consider this gigantic goal. Thank you thank you thank you, and I love you all.

…New mural sketch below, cuz you don’t come for the babbles, right? ;)

A Love Letter to Portland

Hi everyone!

I just finished this big retaining wall mural for an apartment complex in Northwest Portland. I’ve worked with this client before, but was still sort of awed when they said: “what’s YOUR vision for this wall?” and then accepted the first sketch I made. It’s pretty amazing and extremely rare to have a client give me full creative freedom to make a sketch. It’s even more amazing and rare to have that sketch accepted, just as I created it. Usually, my clients come to me with an idea – anywhere from very specific imagery, colors, etc., to having a vague theme to work with. But this time, I just got to go for it. To be fair though, I did keep my audience in mind, and wasn’t about to go totally out of control weird with it either. Afterall, this wall is in a residential neighborhood, and I wanted to make sure it would appeal to at least most folks living there.

The theme is sort of a love letter to Portland. I love how we can live an urban lifestyle in the city, and in 20 minutes, be in the country or in the middle of a forest. We can be on the coast OR the mountains in a little over an hour. It’s an exceptionally awesome place to live, in that way. I organized this feeling into a loooong, short wall. On the right, we’ve got a night scene of the Portland skyline, with street lamps, owls, stars, and a bridge (duh.) As we move left, we see the city transition into natural landscape, and more daytime light and colors. I love this city, and I hope that comes across and is relatable to the people who walk by this wall, or see it every day when they are almost home. Beautiful, magical, weird, Portland.

 

 

MAGIC mural to come!

Hi everyone,

I'm sitting here in the airport during a layover on my way home to Portland. I just finished up a week-long mural painting trip in San Diego! It was a very intense and productive trip. I finished three bigger murals, painted clouds onto a blue ceiling sky, plus a few smaller vignettes. Muraling that intensely is physically exhausting (murals are big and command lots of movement in themselves... add climbing up and down scaffolding a million times to that and you get one tired Corie!) But a very good trip overall. Though there were moments of terror (I hate heights!) There were also many moments - hours even - where the exterior world melted away, my own thoughts melted away, and all I was left with was that blissful feeling of "flow." Painting is so good. #addictedtoflow

I opened up my laptop just now with the intention of blogging about the trip and posting a ton of pictures, but I found this post in my drafts, waiting to be published. So, I'll post about my San Diego trip next time. But for now, a look forward at what's to come! 

I made the following mock-ups for a client in photoshop, and I get to paint it in a couple weeks!! This one is a bit more loose, playful, and generally magical than I'm used to painting for commission work. I'm super excited to be allowed the freedom to make this on a wall that doesn't belong to me. I think that painting something like this has a bit more to say than some of my other work. It feels like it has more of an opinion, if that makes sense. Instead of just saying, "this is Portland."... It says, "my city is SO beautiful - especially at night." Also, COLOR! Can't wait. 

Happy saturday, friends!

A Not-Mural for Not-myself

Hi everyone!

There are some commissions and projects that exemplify the reason I am fulfilled by being a commercial artist – an artist that makes work according to other people’s visions instead of their own, in exchange for said other person's money.

 To back track, obviously, I do very much enjoy making my own work that is not for pay. Making my own work satisfies a deep wanting to see in real life, what I see in my head. Or, it satisfies the need to explain something, or tell a story about my life - to be understood through the pictures I make. Last year, I took 3 months off from taking on freelance work of any kind, in order to finish a series of paintings commissioned by none other than my very own heart. I painted a 10+ piece series about my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar. Making and showing those paintings allowed me to #1 express and release feelings I was holding onto, and #2, to explain the stories to other people. It was wonderful and I wish I could find the time and motivation to do more art for myself in between my day job and freelancing. But I also take a lot of pleasure in creating works for other people, and the painting below is why.

Because sometimes someone you know comes to you wanting to turn something sorta sad and dark into something empowering and uplifting and the way they want to do that is through your art – through your hands. I’m not going to go into her story, but my client/friend went through a hard thing, came out of if, and wanted to have a physical and symbolic reminder to look at every day. She wanted something to remind her that she is strong, and can be strong when different hard things happen later. She likes the ocean, warm colors, and the sunshine. She was so happy when I showed her the finished painting. Sometimes, I feel like I blow off people’s reactions to my art. While I appreciate the “that’s pretty!” I shrug it off more often than I take it in. But when she told me it was perfect and I could see how happy it was going to make her to have the painting, I felt it, for real. While I rarely stop to think about it, I know it is a gift to be able to paint things. It is more of a gift to be able to make people feel good, by painting things for them. And not just "good", but more specifically sometimes it's: closure, release, joy, calm, freedom - validation of the stories in my client's lives. Throughout my years making murals and commissions, I’ve occasionally painted things I deem “ridiculous.” When I take more time to think about it, I know that they are asking for the ridiculous thing because it will mean something to them. It’s about their happiness, not mine. But then also my happiness, by default, in creating theirs. For that, I’m going to practice being more aware, grateful, and honored.

Corie

The WALLS in my future...

Hey Everyone!

Here's a sneak-peek into what's coming up for me both this month (scheduled) and further into the future (requires crossed fingers). 

The first couple images show photoshopped ideas of a couple possible directions to go with a GIANT GIANT WALL that I am trying to make mine. Well, not MINE, but I hope to have the honor of painting it. There's a committee I am applying to, so that's where crossed fingers come in.... along with some essay-writing, image/resume-providing, and sketch-making. It would be for a college of natural medicine, hence, the medicinal plants and healing vibes and such. That one wouldn't happen until Summertime. I will of course, keep you updated ;)

Third image down, is for the wall behind a reception area for a company that, from what I can tell, makes the plastic molded parts for four-wheeler type recreation vehicles. EXTREME!

Last image is of a special place on the coast, to go on the wall of a calming, peaceful bathtub retreat. Cue blissful sigh. 

Excited for these to come to life. :) 

Cats are cuter in Egypt-themed rooms

Happy weekend, everyone!

My weekend was unintentionally extended due to some sickness that I am still trying to kick. I do have a man-voice though, which is at least entertaining. I had a mural scheduled for today, whichhas taken a lot of coordination to find a date that would work for everyone involved, so I decided to go ahead and do it, sicky or not. 

I was contacted by an animal hospital, which sponsors one room inside the cat area of the Oregon Humane Society. The rooms all have different themes, and the cats sit in them, waiting for new adoptive parents to come love on them. The room I was asked to work on, needed some of the cat perches moved, built, and a couple small stools built as well.  It already had an Egypt theme (I was not involved in painting the original mural.) After the construction people were there this morning, I came along and touched up the paint after them. I painted the stools to match the pyramid bricks, and fixed some areas here and there on the mural. Pretty quick and easy job.... a good one for doing while sniffly.

Best perk was walking around and looking at all the kitterzzz afterwards! So much cute. My favorit was a little lover named Fluffy, who you will see if you scrolly scroll down this post. It was fun watching all the couples, singles, and families with kiddos wandering around, trying to find the kitter they most connected with. As I was loading up my car after the job, I saw a lady walking to her car with her nose in the cat carrier she was holding, saying, "I think I love you!" to her new furry friend/child. Soooooo sweeeet. 

Bye for MEOW! ;)

Corie