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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

The Coziest Mural

 Hi Everyone,

 

Sure feels weird to blog about something so fluffy, in light of the recent Orlando shooting tragedy. There's nothing new to say that would fully express my feelings about it. I keep thinking about how important queer spaces are for the exact purpose of having SAFE spaces where people can be themselves. That sense of safety was shattered, on Pride month, no less. It's just plain heartbreaking. I want to just promote this page that is collecting donations for the victim's families, before moving on. Hopefully this mural will bring a little lightness and color to your day, if your heart is hurting too.  

 

I made this mural the weekend before last, in my home town of Eugene. My parents still live there, so it was an added bonus to get to hang out with them while working on this. And sure nice to have a dad to bring me random supplies I forgot, and a mom to bring me a milkshake. Perks of being home for work, I tell you!

 

This mural is in a new yarn shop called "Cozy" that is opening in Eugene, OR. in mid-July, at 285 E. 5th St. The idea is to have all of the furnishings in the shop be in white, while the only pops of color will be the actual yarn on the shelves, and my mural in classroom area in the back of the shop. It's about 30ft. long, so not exactly subtle! We played with the idea at first, of just doing a giant granny square afghan, blown up large-scale across the whole wall. Then, I thought to have just crochet circles on a while background to keep it fresh, modern, and more in tune with the store's look.

 

I was excited about the concept sketches, but I can actually say I was a bit nervous about the actual execution of this one. I didn't know how I was going to tackle it until I was staring down the giant blank wall - no plan. The first circle (far right) was a learning circle, and took awhile. After completing that one, I found a rhythm, and just let it flow out of me. And now I know how to tackle painting crochet work, just in case I ever get asked to do that again, ha! It was fun to have a challenge, and then solve the creative puzzle. Creative puzzles are my favorite.

 

Enjoy! And be nice to each other. 

 

PAINT ALL THE THINGS!!!

 

Hi Everyone!

 

I've been a busy busy mural-painting beee! So much is happening between May and June that I'm feeling like I can barely keep up (while also incredibly grateful for the work...duh.) In Mural-landia, I've started to find that the wintertime, especially after the holidays, business is a little slow. Then Spring comes, and everyone starts to feel re-energized and excited about all things home-improvement. People start to add the color back into their lives! I've got a few business-place murals and a residential in the cue, and I'm super excited to paint all of them. Like, they're really really fun. But I'll tell you about those next time.

 

This post is gonna be way pic-heavy below, so get ready. Everything pictured here, and a few things that aren't, were finished during a recent 9 day trip to San Diego. I was there to paint murals inside a new memory care facility for patients with dementia and Alzheimer's. It's a super rewarding project to be a part of, and when I stop to reflect back on it, the warm and fuzzies start up. My grandma had dementia, and it was super hard to watch her decline. Up until the last couple years of her life, Grandma was an incredibly prolific and talented abstract artist. We were 2 peas in a pod - I thank her for the art-y brain I inherited. I also inherited her nice Golden acrylic paints, and a ton of her brushes. She wrote her name on them with sharpie, and I smile everytime I turn a brush in my hand and find her name there. When I reflect back on all the work I've done at not just that particular memory care facility, but the 2 others I've worked in, along with 2 retirement centers, I feel so happy and proud about being able to provide some joy and maybe ease some of the struggles of the residents who live in them. I know my Grandma would be so happy that I'm using this skill that she passed down to me, to help people who had what she had. Some strange full-circle-ness in the universe, that is.

 

BUT. Holy crap was it exhausting to paint this intensely under the kind of pressure and deadlines I was under for this last facility. Not to mention, trying to schedule and navigate around all the different kinds of workers that come through a construction site! I think I didn't blog about this whole thing until now, just because the whole post would have been like, "I'M. TIRED." Because I sure was. I guess, I've found that my "sweet spot", of getting my most quality mural work done, and staying in a creative zone, lasts about 5 hours. Then I need to eat (before the hangry-s kick in), and just rest my eyes. It really helps so much to do murals in big chunks rather than all in one day, working straight through. I think your brain needs time to catch up to what your hands are doing or something. It just feels like after I sleep between painting sessions, I solve the creative problems in the project overnight in my dreams. It really does work that way. BUT, deadlines are deadlines, and I didn't have that luxury this time. Still happy with what I made though, so maybe it's ok to paint exhausted and delirious. ;) Here's the stuff:

 

 

 

 

 

Memory Care Murals in San Diego

Hi everyone!

This is gonna be mostly a pictures post. This is a weeks' worth of work from my trip down to San Diego. I was there to paint murals at a new memory care facility being built there. Each of the 4 wings of the memory care building is considered a "neighborhood", and has a large mural corresponding to the name. La Jolla, Balboa Park, Coronado, and Torrey Pines, are the neighborhood names, and landmark places in the San Diego area. The idea is to help residents navigate the building, and also feel a sense of home. I love being a part of making this building a better environment for memory patients! I'll be heading back in a couple weeks to finish up, so stay tuned!

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