DPW Spotlight Interview: Robin Norgren

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Robin's painting, "2 Birds Connecting" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Robin's DPW Gallery page:

Robin Norgren, MA, is the founder of My Creative Peace Christ Centered Creativity Program and Author ofYour Creative Peace: How to Find and Deepen Your Creative Voice while Communing with God (Lulu Publishing, 2010).Robin is a Christian Coach and Creativity Teacher in Arizona who writes and creates heart opening books, workbooks and classes that invite you to commune with God and explore your creative side as a means to navigate through the trials of life. (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I began painting in 2012 in kind of a round about way.  I come from a family of people with incredible drawing skills and am married to a man with a fine art background.  So for me, it took a while to really own my voice as a more abstract painter. So for a long time I simply worked with scrapbook paper, creating art with other people's colors and shapes.  But slowly I began to move toward paint, feeling kind of a longing inside to put my ideas on paper.  I gravitate to loose and whimsical and freeing art which shows in the work that I create.

2 Birds Connecting
(click to see original image)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the home page announcing Robin's interview.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

I have always been afraid to label myself as an artist because I have so many talented traditional artists around me who aren't "working" artists (meaning creating in the traditional sense of the word).  My husband and daughter are the only ones that see the hours and hours I put into trying to hone out a career as an artist.  There have definitely been many stops and starts over the last six years in part because I am exploring my calling as an artist.

Woodland Sisters II
(click to see original image)

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

I love using acrylic paint and watercolors together and creating my own mixed media paper to add to my work.  I have also tried working with oils and charcoal but haven't really found a way to express myself as freely with those mediums.

Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away?

Right now, I am IN LOVE with watercolors, but there are still a few acrylic paint colors that I will sneak into my work. Oh and I have begun line drawing with micron pens; these are a new find for me and I adore them.

She Hides Some Things Behind the Pretty
(click to see original image)

Who or what inspires you most?

I read the Bible as part of a morning practice before I begin creating.  The Psalms inform my work in various ways either through the paint I choose for the mood of a painting or words and phrases that show up on the paper.

Artists that inspire me include Mindy Lacefield, Jessica Swift, Mati Rose, Kelly Barton, Catina Jane Gray and Alena Hennessey.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

Many times it is a simple shape that I either see in a painting or a photograph that makes me want to sit down and explore it. Also, I work with preschool children and have the privilege to be able to teach them art.  This helps keep my style more whimsical because that is how I am thinking many times when I am preparing curriculum for the kiddos.

A Little Birdie Sees the Red Poppies
(click to see original image)

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I love taking online classes with my favorite artists.  Seeing the inside of their creative world helps me to continue to branch out and try new techniques and work with different mediums

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

I am learning that simple honest shapes can be just as breathtaking as the color and business that I tend to gravitate to.

Red Poppies and Bursts of Light
(click to see original image)

What makes you happiest about your art?

Several words come to mind: freedom, hope, peace, joy.

I believe that God has created each of us to be creative.  Creativity has different faces but inside it feels the same. To bring something from your heart out into the world whether it be with paint or through the meals you cook or the way you solve a problem or through childrearing is such a beautiful thing.  It doesn't matter how you exercise this gift as long as you do it.  Because when you do, we all benefit; our world is better for it.  I want my art to help people get in touch with that truth.

Thanks, Robin!

© 2014 Sophie Catalina Marine

DPW Spotlight Interview: Kat Corrigan

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Kat's painting, "Untitled" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Kat's DPW Gallery page:

I am inspired by light and shadow, how color works together to make areas pulse and recede, and the way brush strokes and layers of paint can influence emotional responses to a work. My work is expressionistic, in a realistic manner. I paint in acrylic on black-gessoed masonite or canvas, allowing some of the black to show through; this contrasts against the brightness of the colors in a way that thrills me. (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I'd been calling myself an artist for years after college, despite the fact that I usually only painted in the summer at workshops or in spurts for some exhibition, and every time I did that forced effort, it felt feeble and unsupported.  It was always painful to start again.

In 2009, I was on a summer road trip with my parents and my then three-month old son. I had been struggling with how to continue as an artist with this new baby (and I am still incredibly lucky to have stupendous support from the various art groups I participate in!) and I ran into Clair Hartmann in Wilmington, NC at an outdoor art fest.  She had just completed her "100 Dogs in 100 Days" painting project and was showing them.  I was very impressed with her work and with her open and generous personality and thought to myself, "Well hey!  YOU can paint a dog a day for 100 days too!" and then reality struck and I realized that a hundred days is longer than three months, which is more than the summer vacation from my teaching job that I allotted to myself to paint these paintings.

It really was meeting Clair and starting a blog for my "30 Dogs in 30 Days" Projects that kickstarted my career!

Untitled
(click to see original image)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the home page announcing Kat's interview.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

I am an art teacher and an artist, and for a long time the "teacher" part took precedence over the "artist" part.  I recently joined a faculty at a school which highly appreciates the ARTIST part of my life, and I can honestly say that the "artist" part is now at the forefront of my personal label.  And I know it sounds like a cliche because I meet tons of people who say, "I want to paint more, I really do! But I am too busy!" but you have to make time for it!

The entire Daily Painting Movement has changed my life.  It doesn't take a lot of time to paint, especially when you are doing it every day.  It's like you are just continuing where you left off, instead of having to remember what you learned last year and relearning it!  I have been committed to painting (just about) every day since 2009, and it is that commitment that makes the painting easier.  I went through a mentoring program from 2007 to 2009 and that also was a wonderful kick-in-the-pants for me in the sense of having to meet with my mentor every month and report on what I'd accomplished.  A blog continues to act as that exterior motivation for me.  You have to figure out what it is that will keep you going!

Parkway Evening Drive, Winter
(click to see original image)

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

I have worked in oils and use Golden Heavy Body Acrylics now.  I love painting on black gessoed panel because I get to create the light from the darkness, and I paint on panel because I tend to be a bit rough on canvas.  Lately I've been playing with pastels and chalk along with the acrylic and I like the effect but have a lot to learn.  I don't like the temporariness of pastel, however, and am looking for ways to fix it more permanently.

I have been fortunate to have a hugely eclectic art life, in that my world of art includes local puppet and mask theater (Barebones and Heart of the Beast), Art Car Parade, Art Shanties, a women's stilting cooperative (Chicks-On-Sticks) and being married to a sculptor and puppet maker.  Mind you, these are large scale cardboard puppets for pageants and parades, not sock puppets.  And it is these communities that have kept me sane and creative.

Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I am working towards a better understanding of how to paint humans.  I love animals so much and have studied them since an introverted, bookish child. I am now loving my current human companions so much I have to paint them as well.  But not other people's humans, just yet!  I am also playing with pastel and chalk in my paintings, mostly in landscapes at the moment.  I love the colors and the blending but not the transitory nebulous quality.  It rubs off too easily.  So I am exploring options.

Bear Chuckle
(click to see original image)

Who or what inspires you most?

Light and dark catches my eye.  There are lakes I drive past on my daily drive and I use my iPhone to snap random photos out the window without looking.  These are SO fun to go through later and find the gems that I want to paint!  I know the ones that will work when I see them - that goes for the goats at the zoo as well.  I take tons of photos of animals when I come across them, especially animals that let you get close!  Then, I look through the photos later and find the love!

I am also so inspired by artists I meet and artists who have passed on.  I go to our local art museums as often as I can, and hover and rest in the presence of those pieces that vibrate with me.  I remember seeing Helen Frankenthaler's work at the National Gallery and tears rushing to my eyes.  And Van Gogh's crabs in London - same reaction.

I was a guard at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for several years and I know that was one of the best art educations I received!  Just living with art for eight hours a day, if you are open, will teach you so much.

March 4, Carlos
(click to see original image)

What does procrastination look like for you?

Getting up and fussing with something else while trying to paint, but I am at a point now where I recognize it and am able to redirect myself gently with some reassurances.  We all have an internal critic and that is often what causes me to procrastinate - when I am feeling stiffness and resistance inside because I am struggling with a color or an edge... and I let myself off a bit and then jump back in.

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

I paint daily in the morning before I get involved in other work.  I have a Stay Wet Pallet (fantastic item for daily painters!!!) so all I have to do is pop the top and get started, and I can usually get a small piece done within 45 minutes.  I have a file folder on my desktop where I toss all my "keeper" photos so I can find them easily.

Get the Goat
(click to see original image)

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I am fortunate that I love painting people's pets, and that I also love the collaboration of working with humans to paint their pets, and this keeps me painting.  Having commissions also allows me to feel that this is valid work because I am being paid for it.  And I do also allow myself to paint what I love, which lately has been goats in a small format and otters in a larger one.

To keep my head fresh, I teach painting lessons from my studio, and these as SO enjoyable and set me up all over again with energy and enthusiasm because these are adults who are interested and want to learn and talk about art.  Sometimes the classes I teach feel more like therapy!  And I've just started a First Friday Painting Party at my studio to keep the community feel going.   I need people and community.  And I know I work better when I am around people -  I've gone from introvert to exhibitionist!

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

How to be a better teacher, how to get that reflected light, how to keep a sense of humor and love in a sometimes difficult world, how to remain centered and confident in a whirlwind, how to listen to students' questions to better understand how to teach.  I learn more about myself everyday.

What makes you happiest about your art?

I get to play with color all day, and to teach others how to play with it too!

Thanks, Kat!

© 2014 Sophie Catalina Marine Cruse

DPW Spotlight Interview: Lisa Fu

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Lisa's painting, "Love of Roses" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.


From Lisa's DPW Gallery page:

Lisa's paintings are inspired by her traveling experience and the simple beauty in nature and life: the bright sunlight, blooming flowers, falling leaves, running puppies, busy city streets, green vineyard, colorful sky... Her paintings seem to tell a story about the sun is always shining and that love is always in the air! (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I’ve loved drawing since my early childhood, but I actually started paint about 5 years ago, when I joined a community watercolor painting group.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

When I just started painting, I worked as a biology researcher full time, so I painted in my spare time, following the growing desire in my heart; I became a full time painter two years ago. Since then, I’ve come to understand that painting is my job and I will always keep time for it.

Love of Roses
(click to see original image)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the home page announcing Lisa's interview.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

I lived in Paris, France for two years in the 1990’s, during that period of time, I visited museums around Europe and was deeply inspired by the works of the French impressionists. I have tried oil, acrylic and watercolor. I choose watercolor as my favorite medium, largely because the soft and romantic feeling of watercolor paintings.  I love the passionate quick painting process with watercolor.  l enjoy to see the color merging and blending together when the paper still wet.

Yellow Roses
(click to see original image)

Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I will continue to explore the endless possibilities with watercolor, going with the flow and spontaneous nature of the watercolor….At same time, I am looking forward  to experiencing the texture, brush strokes and rich color which oil painting could offer….

Who or what inspires you most?

My travel experience and the simple beauty in daily life inspire me a lot. The bright sunlight and beautiful color in nature give me great inspirations too. My painting style influenced by French impressionists and some watercolor masters in UK, Edward Seago, Edward Wesson and John Yardley.

Rose Haven Heritage Garden
(click to see original image)

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

I am a professional artist now, my studio or field is my office, I take my dog for a walk in the morning, after that is my painting time, not making plans during morning painting time as much as I can.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

I paint something that inspires me. I always take my camera and sketching book with me and record everything which I would love to paint! I always paint with an impression of what I see.

Under the Lights
(click to see original image)

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

Based on the transparent nature of watercolor, I count every wash I put on my paper. I make the draft plan about composition, light, shadow and color. I paint loose, passionate and quickly in an impressionistic approach. This is my way to keep my work fresh and vibrant. I usually finish one painting in about two hours.

Lake Como, Bellagio, Lombardy, Italy
(click to see original image)

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

Always learning with enthusiasm and passion, love what you do. Keep painting and strongly believe: good art will be noticed and loved by people!

What makes you happiest about your art?

When I have finished one painting and feel satisfied is the happiest moment for me. I feel so honored and happy, when people love what I paint and willing to buy my paintings for their sweet homes!

Thanks, Lisa!

© 2014 Sophie Catalina Marine Cruse