Embroidery and the Whale

I have finally put the final embroidered details on my Humpback Whale piece in my Beasts series. It take tenacity and patience to work through all these embroidered details but that's what I signed up for when I moved in this direction. 

detail of the whale's barnacle-covered snout. 

Please click through the gallery below to see more details: 

"Antongil Bay" - Humpback Whale .  36" x 72" x 2" (overall dimension for diptych) 

Wall paper

Process on the tissue paper cut out background to the Green Peafowl piece (working title)...meant to mimic the elaborate wall paper found in "civilized" and "cultured" homes and buildings. In these rooms of civilization we teach values and mold policies that effect our planet and the co-journeyers we claim to love. 

in process - right panel of the "green Peafowl" diptych 

in process detail

in process detail

Messy Menagerie

It's a messy menagerie in the studio today...

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                                         ...just glad they don't poop or need to be fed 

Slow Down

My theme this week: 

print and card for sale in my Etsy shop

I once had a medium tell me that my late father and brother were both pleading with me to slow down, I shouldn't feel I need to do it all, etc.... It's been a hard thing to really embrace but I am trying. 

This week's focus: 

"The Meek" diptych - in progress, pre-embriodered beetles, moths and butterflies...

24" x 24" and 12" x 24" Acrylic, oil stick, gouache, ink, colored pencil on wood panel

detail of "The Meek" in progress 

• Beginning the embroidered "bugs" for this large piece 
• Researching species and palette for the next piece in the series, the Green Pea Hen (like a peacock, only green and endangered) as well as tree and plant life species...stay tuned! 

general color layout for the Green Pea Hen diptych 

Inch by Inch

I feel comfortable revealing my Global Talent Search submission as the finalists are announced tomorrow. 

"Tiny Terrarium"  GTS submission 2014

I am glad I have been completely distracted by a short term project these past ten days or so. It really kept my mind off of the outcome of this contest. I feel I am in a good place - even as my demons keep asking, "Who do you think you're kidding?" ... if I am lucky enough to be one of the 50 out of 999 artists who are given a second assignment and are advanced to the next round I feel I am ready. If I am not awarded a place in the next round I feel I have a direction and intention and certainly projects that are waiting in the wings. I will be inspired and ready to work no matter what. So, tonight I will try to sleep and hope that these two quotes guide my dreams: 

“Trust that when the answer is no there is a far better yes down the road”

— anonymous

“inch by inch success is a cinch! ”

— Lilla Rogers (http://lillarogers.com)

Barnacles and Tony Soprano

During these past two weeks I have had to be very strict with my schedule (read: no dawdling on Pinterest). I have worked from about 7am - 4pm on Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search project , breaking to make my family dinner and look at actual humans in the eye , then back at it from about 6pm - 11pm. Many nights I work on my embroidery for the Beasts series. My husband and I have been watching The Sopranos (we are late to the party) and I have to say I am sucked in!  I embroider barnacles and mandalas to be placed on the Humpback Whale and listen to Tony Soprano get emotional with his therapist. 

A sneak peak at some of the original painted portion of my submission. I will reveal the final after 8/26

Click on images to see a small gallery of image details from the Humpback Whale piece

What I learned in bootcamp

Lilla Rogers (and co) powerhouse online classes are hands down the single best investment an emerging commercial artist can make. Click here for more information. I took Make Art That Sells - part A last summer. I cried almost every week with the exception of the 'Wall Art' week which was right up my alley, did not involve being fluent in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and frankly, felt easy to me. I was stressed mainly because I felt like a dinosaur as I struggled to express the ideas I had in my sketchbook and heart and mind with limited digital skills. Looking back, I think I was much too emotional about it. I wasn't used to feeling lost with an art assignment. When it came time for the children's book illustration week I was distracted by the voices in my head that told me that's what I wanted to be when I grew up. I gave my 40-something self a pep talk and told myself to grow up and use this experience to my advantage and stop being so darn hard on myself. So, I signed up for the bootcamp. The bootcamp is less instruction and more Lilla giving us an assignment and giving us weeks rather than days to deliver a result. It ran for five months with a theme and assignment due at the end of three weeks. The themes were hot and the challenges interesting. You can take a look at past blog posts to see some of my work from this experience. Also - Lilla's book 'I Just Like To Make Things' is fabulous! 

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"Thank you for giving me my wings" 

I wasn't over-joyed with my results every time but I went through the galleries and wrote notes on the pieces my class mates had done and why I thought they were successful. I learned something new about my own work every time and that, in my book, means I was successful. 

What I learned in Bootcamp: 

 The pieces that were successful had one or more of the following attributes:

• The color palette is bold but simple - often a neutral with rich, bold color. 
• The composition is centrally weighted and reads well in a small thumb nail
• Pattern within a composition is unified and used to balance the piece
• Has a sense of humor
• Bold shapes with line work/ a mix of textures 
• Fabulous hand lettering
• Sets a scene I could walk into/feel
• Adopts a style and is consistent; i.e. folk art, abstract, etc...

 The strengths in my work that I need to leverage:

• color 
• whimsy
• concept - make it obvious 
• pattern
• texture

The weaknesses in my work that I need to address: 

• Be bolder, simpler
• Develop hand lettering style 
  
• Boost my technical skills - especially learn to use the pen tool in Ai like it's an extension of my hand.
• ​BREATHE and trust in my voice ! 

sketch from my sketch book - meditating panda . 

So - on to the next challenge: the Global Talent Search - take 2. I participated last summer and gave the first assignment 110% of my effort. Although I did not make the cut I learned a great deal and didn't let myself down. Onward... 

I'm a Little Teapot

This month's submission for Make Art That Sells - bootcamp was inspired by the Halloween costume I made for my daughter when she was three. It was a stuffed white teapot with hand-stiched detail of a folk art flower...shiny streamers coming from her "spout" arm to look like water and a little hat that looked like the lid. I thought it was adorable. No one knew what she was. All those parents at the gymboree class with their Ariel's and Thomas the Tanks bought at Walmart had no idea what to make of my daughter with this hand made costume. One father thought she was a bulb of garlic. I wish I had a good photo - can you believe I don't !? I told friends that every year at least one of my children went as a victim of my art degree for Halloween. 

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July submission for Make Art That Sells 

Progress

Q: "how long did it take you to paint that ?" 

A: "comin' on Fifty years"

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Humpback Whale piece with base layers of paint 

What's involved in creating a painting? 

• lightbulb moment: "what if...?" 
• research images of whales, their habitat, their plight, ...
• do some sketches of whales, deciding on what kind of whale to focus on
• do some sketches of seaweed and other sea creatures
• sketch out plan for composition
• think about what I have so far as I drive in my car, take a shower, do the dishes...
• rework my initial concept
• consider color palettes 
• mix colors and note the mixing ratios in notebook
• rework colors and start again
• decided on size of panels and order them...make sure I can afford them...wait for them to arrive
• sketch out initial composition
• lay down base layers of color
• lay down tissue paper layer and cover that with 'acrylic ground for pastels'
• wait for it all to dry 
• go over tissued areas with gouache where wanted
• paint over tissued areas with acrylic to define seaweed and sea life details
• order collaging materials from Australia...wait for them to arrive in the mail
• separate collaging materials by color
• cut and arrange the collage materials. Glue them down
• Sand the edges of the collage materials to clean up the edges that hang off the edges 
• cut tissue paper into intricate seaweed shapes to try an idea...glue them down. Rework idea to make it work...involving painting with a glaze of white ink, drawing with ink and graphite...
• begin embroidering barnacles and detail on the whale's body...mostly done late into the night
• ....to be continued 

“Please click through on the above image to see more photos of my process...
Please follow me on Instagram (link on site) to get weekly updates on my process to get to the solo show of “Beasts” ”

In addition to working away on the Beasts series I am also working away at the Make Art That Sells bootcamp and preparing myself for the upcoming Global Talent Search. Sketches and refining sketches for the current MATS bootcamp assignment: 

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Sketches and Refined Sketches for MATS bootcamp assignment 

Featured Artist

I am celebrating Independence Day in America by working with little interruption for the next four days in my studio! My husband and youngest son have headed north to visit my in-laws way up on the Canadian border in Maine. I plan to dig in deep to my emerging humpback whale piece for the Beasts series that will show in October at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

detail of in process Humpback Whale piece - their eyes are so human! 

Phygment Studio today as I prepare to make progress on the Humpback Whale piece 

I was interviewed by British artist and blogger, Gabriella Buckingham about my art business. I talked mostly about my business: it's history, decision making, my goals and juggling it all while raising a family and running a home. I am the featured artist on her blog today ! 

"Corinne didn't know she was a saint"