BTS in The Studio: Part 1
The journey of creating my newest piece: "Can You Hear The Rain, Love?"
If you’ve been around for a bit, you’ve probably picked up on some themes we’re always exploring here. And I’m not just talking about the obvious—creativity. I’m talking about themes like personal evolution, self-trust, celebration, self-leadership… The larger umbrella over all that though, seems to be transformation.
As an aside, I’m gonna go ahead and wink at my 5th house being run by Scorpio. That means I’m seeing a pretty natural connection between the transformative, alchemical depths that Scorpio represents playing out as the major flavor in my 5th house arena of creativity and expression. Not to mention, I’ve got Pluto hanging out there so that’s an extra generous helping of transformational energy. Intense? Perhaps. But I also wouldn’t have it any other way. *chibi heart eyes*
Okay, back on track. So this theme of transformation has now expressed itself through my latest mini collection of original art.
Guys… I’m so deeply proud of this collection—for many reasons.
A major breakthrough…
Hilariously, the two parts I’ve separated all this time: (the “designer” and the “artist”) found some common ground and are actually now collaborating and using the strengths of the other! I can’t even say how fucking delightful it was to create each piece and curate how they worked together as a collection by bringing more of me to these pieces, not less.
Since it’s a beautiful thing to honor the magic of creativity, I’ll be sharing the intimate bits about these pieces with you. I’ll be letting you in on the journey of capturing the vision (that I literally see in my mind’s eye), creating the pieces, and what the final result became.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
Capturing the vision
If you consider yourself highly imaginative, you might experience this too. Let’s say you’re wanting to create something new. And maybe you’re not even at your desk or in your studio, but the most interesting images start dropping into your mind. So you start to play with what you see like a remote-viewed mental sandbox.
This is often how I create pieces these days. And that’s exactly how this mini collection began. It all started when I saw…
A foam cloud.
With, like, dangly beads.
For about a week or so, I was putting it off and focusing on other priorities but I couldn’t get this cloud vision out of my head. It kept popping back in to say, “hey, you still thinkin’ about me?”
Well, I was. I kept seeing this cartoon-like cloud that had these sparkling beaded droplets hanging off of it. And at first, that’s all I saw. That is, until I began making the cloud… then of course, I saw the next part.
Following these weird little visions has not only been radically different from how I used to “strategize” a piece, but also positively riveting. I mean, I never really know what’s coming next until I see it. How bizarre. And how fun! If that isn’t like following fun little hands-on clues, I don’t know what is.
In fact… Would’t it be interesting if those clues were actually from my future self who had already created the piece? And maybe knowing that I love solving a good mystery, I was dropping visual hints for myself all along the way?
Well, I might not be able to prove that it is… but you can’t prove that it’s not. 😂
Creating the piece
Once I made the cloud, then the background started to crystallize. The next image that I saw was a softer landscape background. And I immediately knew I’d use Carandache Neocolor II’s for that. These French crayons are eve-ry-thing. They’re water soluble, so they turn into watercolors if you use a wet brush. They come in so many colors and are so versatile. I made some landscapes on handmade paper last year and loved how they looked with the neocolors so I knew it would be a fun choice to try it on a bigger scale. (BTW, one of those little landscapes is still available!)
As it took shape, I started to get into that really playful mode where you start imagining different ways of creating it. One of the things that surprised me was when I realized that just a flat surface wouldn’t do for the background. With the dimensional foam cloud, the background needed some depth too. So then the hunt for the perfect shadowbox was on.
I looked a lot of places, had my measuring stick with me in stores like a woman on a mission, and finally settled on flipping a cradled wood panel around and making it a shallow shadow box.
Meanwhile, as I’m fully diving into this piece, I keep having this desire in the back of my mind to make more pieces to go with it. For context, this was originally just going to be one, unique piece. But I always have this urge to make multiple things that go together beautifully and tell more of the story. As someone with a neurospicy brain and a lot of creative energy, this shiny object approach can be my downfall. What I’ve been learning though, is that the trick is following those urges at the right time rather than letting them side-track you from your original plan.
So I stayed the course, but opened myself to the possibilities of what might complement this piece. I did that by prepping some panels on the side with that same hot-pink underpainting, ya know, just in case I had more ideas—and I certainly did!
Creating the Meaning or Meaning to Create?
I’ve alluded to my previous working style being much more linear and strategic. But following these weird little creative nudges has let me play FAR more than that original approach ever did.
I would usually always have the concept pre-planned so that everything I did was aiming toward that predetermined goal. But in this chapter of my life, I’m letting the meaning come to me through my creativity.
Even as I write this, I find it hard to tell you exactly when I finally knew what this funny little sparkly cloud really represented. Because I just eventually knew. It was almost like it dawned on me that the thing I was trying to capture was how it feels to be in that necessary stillness that often makes us so uncomfortable.
But what I was trying to show is: if you can move past the discomfort of momentary quietude and settle into that stillness, there are treasures to be found every time.
With that said, here is: “Can You Hear the Rain, Love?”
My intention was to capture the stillness in the simple and slightly foggy landscape, where you could imagine walking while only hearing the sound of your own footsteps and the rain falling gently around you.
The stars on the edges allude to the “void” as it can often feel like you’re floating in between things at times like this.
The cloud and sparkles represent the unexpected beauty that can peek around any corner when you settle into the stillness and listen for what it has to offer you.
I’m excited to be showing this piece along with the others in the collection at LIC-A’s “Off the Wall” Affordable Fine Art Holiday Exhibit on Nov 6th at 6pm! It’ll be on view through Dec 14th.
And so, my friend, have you experienced this type of stillness before? And did you find the treasures waiting for you within?
Until next time, create bravely, lean into the stillness when it comes, and keep betting on yourself.
P.S. If you’d like to see more of my art and peek into my creative life, come follow me on Instagram. 🌹