Flowers and Money!

Hey everyone!

I just finished this mural less than 2 hours ago and I'm already posting it! I'm never that on top of blogging and yet here we are :)

This one was in a laundry room for an apartment building with "gardens" as kind of their whole building theme. I was happy to get such a bright, cheery assignment. Just simple, colorful, beautifying of an otherwise un-exciting space. Can't wait for residents to be surprised when they do their laundry! Scroll to pictures or read on for a completely separate story... ha!

In totally other news, I know a lot of you that read this thing are my friends or parent's friends in real life, and some of you may have recently supported a dream of mine. This post describes the art show benefit event I held back in March, where I displayed all the paintings in my Madagascar series, and sold prints to benefit an organization that works there, and all over the world. So print sales have been trickling in since then, and I'm happy to tell you guys that I was able to donate $875 to Population Services International today! So grateful to those of you who bought a print, came to my show, or told me to break a leg. It's been an idea that's been in my head since Peace Corps in Madagascar, and I'm so happy it happened. Thank you guys so much for your support!!! It means more to me than you know. I also wanna just say something else real quick, cuz I'm feeling blog-y:

This past weekend, I had a friend visit who was in the Peace Corps with me, and we were talking (obviously) a lot about Peace Corps. She said that when she helped interview candidates for Peace Corps back where she lives, she hears a lot of people express concern over their college majors, or area of study - "but I'm just a theater major.... can I really be of service?" First of all, you will learn a bunch of stuff during Peace Corps training that will be helpful and relevant, but also, everyone can use their skills to be helpful in the world. You could (and people in Madagascar did) help organize a play in your village to explain why it's important to protect the forest and not eat lemurs!

Anyway, point is, you can use your skills to do good things. When I was younger, I thought painting was kinda silly in comparison with more "noble" careers, and wouldn't actually help that much. Now that I'm smarter (haha), I've been able to find ways to use my art to be helpful. So don't listen to people - or yourself - who say you can't be helpful by doing your "thing", whatever that is. Ok now pictures :)

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!

Malheur Wildlife Refuge Mural... and birds!

Hey everyone!

Happy weekend!! So the post from last week, kinda goes with this one. The forest mural I posted last time was for the same client as this one; one mural inside, one outside. My client for these was a major bird-watcher person, so I was super nervous I would get some bird details wrong. They passed her test though - ornithologically correct! Man that's a big word. 

This one was super fun! Challenging to try and make this mural for her closet doors go with all the other colors she had going on in her room - different artworks too. It was a good challenge though, and got me to focus on slight color variations, and more neutrals than I would naturally go for (I know it's still pretty colorful though... I have a problem). Anyway, super fun couple of projects, I loved pushing the paint around on these. Delicious. 

Next time, suuuuuper long hallway mural and a few more consults coming up. Excited to hear new client's ideas :)

TREES mural!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share my latest mural in pictures. This one was soooo fun and relaxing to paint! People ask me a lot what my favorite thing to paint is. This is kind of it I'd say: playing with light, playing with brushstrokes, painting organic and natural things. Only thing that would have made it more fun and an ultimate answer to that question, would be if I could have added some kind of surreal, not-really-the-way-it's-supposed-to-look-in-real-life element to it. But, ya know, clients. I'll save the crazy for when I don't have one. ;) Hope everyone had a great weekend! More murals to come very soon. 

Corie

Early stages look like a forest fire! Hmmm

Getting there!

Installed on client's fence surrounding her hot tub!

My Art Show Happened!!!!!!

Hey guys! 

I just read an article about how a lot of people are stuck in this cycle of accomplishing things and needing to always be moving forward and working towards the next goal. We don't always stop to just say: "hey, I just finished/achieved a thing!" before trying to get to the next thing. I just want to take a minute to feel excited about a thing I just finished. 

I displayed a series of 13 paintings that I've been making since 2010, when I returned from the Peace Corps in Madagascar. The paintings tell the story of my life there. I showed those paintings, along with drawings that Malagasy friends made me while I was there, for 2 weeks here in Portland. On March 24th, I invited my friends, family, and others in the community to come see the show, and also watch me narrate a slideshow of pictures from my time in Madagascar. March is Peace Corps' birthday - in March of 1961, President Kennedy made Peace Corps official, and started sending people overseas. So, Peace Corps as an organization, likes to help Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV's) have events like mine in March. The goal is to "bring it home" - to tell stories and share other parts of the world with Americans, that they might not know much about.  Peace Corps' main goal as an organization is literally, "World peace and friendship" (so 1960's.... either that or so Miss America). So a big part of that goal, is just sharing what you learn from living in a different culture, with people at home who may not know anything about that culture. So that's kind of why I did the presentation, and I think it went really well! Almost 80 people came! Lots of RPCV's attended - only about half of which I actually knew. I had all of them stand up and say the country they went to, and the years they were there. Pretty emotional to see all those RPCV's in the audience stand up - their support means a lot to me. 

It felt so cool also, to be able to show a series of paintings that are so deeply personal to me. I am a commercial artist; most of the time I am making art, I am making it for someone else, the way they ask me to make it. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy that - getting to help people solve their visual problems, or brighten their spaces with art, is very fulfilling. But when I have something I want to say to the world about something I have personally experienced, it also feels incredibly fulfilling to see those feelings come alive on canvas. People's responses have been great, too, which is always nice. I'm not yet ready to sell any of the originals (who knows, maybe I will try to show the series again at some point). So I made a ton of prints of my work, and have been selling them both at the event, and online here:

www.etsy.com/shop/coriehinton

So far, I've made almost $800 in profits from selling these prints, and I am getting ready to donate it all to an organization that I believe in very much. Population Services International is the single most impressive charity-type organization I saw while in Madagascar (and that's saying something, because there are a lot!). PSI actually walks the walk of being a sustainable development agency. I never met a PSI employee in Madagascar who was not themselves, Malagasy. They work to improve health conditions for people around the country (and also all over the world - their headquarters are in Washington DC). I once went out with a group of PSI-employed sex workers, equipped with PSI fanny packs full of contraception info and supplies, to a park where younger, more inexperienced sex workers often found clients. Peer-to-peer education. PSI also hires Malagasy pop stars to make hit songs and music videos about health topics such as maternal health. Then, PSI educators will go out to rural villages with generators so they can play those music videos for people, as part of their presentations. Anyway, I could go on and on about PSI and their work... they're just really great. So if you like my art and wanna support a great organization, you can buy a print from me from the link above, and I will donate all the money I've made so far in one big chunk at the end of April. Or, you can go to www.psi.org and donate to them directly :) 

Anyway, just taking this moment to stop, exhale, and feel proud of what I just worked hard at making happen. It's been a great few years of painting and was a great event. I'm so happy I was able to do it and so thankful to everyone who came and helped me make it special. I won't ever feel really "done" talking about Peace Corps (sorry, friends!) and probably will continue to paint about Madagascar throughout my life. BUT, this whole thing has given me a bit of closure, too. Yay. 

Onward!

Annoyed at Mom-a-razzi

Murals on the Horizon

Hey people!

Long time no blog. I gave myself a whole month, to not do any kind of commissioned work. I painted for myself, and took a little break. More on that in a later post. BUT, I'm just about to get back at it! Here's a little preview of some murals that are soon-to-be-painted. All residential murals this time, so they're all somewhat smaller. But, all these scenes have personal meanings to the clients who are commissioning them. I love being able to bring this kind of thing into people's homes: brightening their spaces, reminding them of happy memories, or reminding them of a place that makes them feel at peace. I just handed off all these "sketches" (photoshop collages) to my clients. Can't wait to get painting these! Excited!!

Corie

Attention Portland Readers!

Now that I have your attention....ha! I'm having an art show!

I am taking a break from mural-ing and freelance designing, to work on my own personal paintings. It's been too long since I really gave my focus to work that is entirely for myself and not commissioned. It feels great!! I've finished new paintings and touched up old ones....and getting ready to start some new ones again! And it's all because of the event flier below: an event I have been wanting to put on for a long time now. It's finally happening: an art show/slideshow about my experience in the Peace Corps in Madagascar. So if you're in Portland, I'm inviting you to come check it out! Hope to see you there! Stay tuned for updates of a slightly more personal kind this month. ;)