12 Jul On Meditation

Meditation is something I’ve always aspired to make into a regular practice but never really felt I was “good at”.

But then I started to understand how painting is meditation.

I try to achieve a flow state through sustained energy focused on one thing.

Meditation  reduces stress, anxiety, depression and even physical pain. And that is a large part of what painting does for me. Perhaps that’s why I can’t NOT do it. It truly is survival.

I started painting again at 30 years old as a way to cope with the isolation of young motherhood. And in many ways it saved me. It allowed my creativity to pour forth when I couldn’t act in plays or engage in adult conversation about politics and philosophy. It became my outer expression of me at a time when my identity was so fiercely tied to my children.

When I struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety following my third baby, painting was a trusted source of calm. I remember that my first plant cell abstracts were created in the first painting session I had of total free play, in the weeks following my third baby’s birth. The tangled flow of watercolor poured out of me.

And it’s funny, because I see these pieces as all about connection. And that’s all I was craving in that dark period. Connection to others, to my children, to spirituality, to creativity and to myself.

As I’ve been writing a course on developing an art practice, it’s apparent how closely tied my wellness rituals are linked to my art.

These days I meditate daily, in my studio, before I start creating. The two practices are intertwined.

Do you meditate? Is your creating art linked to your daily wellness practices?

05 Jul “Plant Cell” Design Process

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

-Leonardo da Vinci

Keeping it simple. That’s pretty much my North Star when it comes to creating my watercolor pieces. The medium itself does such beautiful, natural things. Water and paint. The spidering effects. The bleeding and spreading of paint on water on textured paper. I don’t complicate things. The pressure of the painted line, color, and a killer composition.

The design process for my watercolor Plant Cell pieces pretty much goes like this…

1. There’s the gathering inspiration phase. This comes from books, trips, nature walks, fashion, music, film, and paying close attention to lines and texture everywhere I go.
2. Selecting colors, paints, brushes and paper, or canvas (in which case I would treat the canvas with absorbent ground).
3. Sketching many, many, many compositions with my brushes, paint and water.
4. Whittling down to a small few.
5. Picking the most interesting composition and painting it large.
6. Letting first layer dry.
7. Looking at piece for a while.
8. Adding second layer.
9. Looks at piece for a while.
10. Adding third layer or adding bits of saturated color to help add depth and help the eye travel with the movement of the piece.
11. Call it done.

I’ve learned time and time again that I need to stop before I think I’m done to avoid overworking a piece.

This is crucial. I think part of their beauty is the imperfect rawness in the strokes and the organic water marks.

p.s. This is a closeup of a big plant cell that is undeniably ocean inspired. Sometimes I see tiny landscapes within each line.

Do you have a process you use time and again? Is it simple or does it require many steps?

28 Jun Artist Travel Essentials

People are traveling again! The wanderlust is real after a year of very limited trip taking. Last weekend I visited the charming city of Charleston, where one of my childhood best friends hosted our 40th Birthday Girl’s Trip (postponed for Covid).

It was AMAZING. The culture, the food, the Spanish moss dripping from the trees and the warm water beaches, not to mention the crying laughter from friendship stories spanning 30 years.

I love packing small bags of art supplies when I travel. It adds a whole added layer of excitement to my trip…what inspiration will I see, hear, collect? What quotes or funny stories or new historical facts learned can I record as memories? You never know when inspiration may strike BUT you can be pretty darn sure it’ll strike on vacation when you are resting and consuming beauty and culture!

Here’s a list of things I always include:

1.) Canvas bag of  watercolor tube paints

2.) Striped pouch of mini palettes & brushes

3.) Journal

4.) Mini Sketchbook

5.) Verge de France paper

6.) Domino magazine

7.) An inspiring book on art, poetry, science, or psychology

8.) Camera

Do you travel with art supplies? What are your go-tos? I’d love to know!

21 Jun The Break You Need

“In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible.”⠀
-Sarah Dessen⠀

The Summer is a tricky time of year for artists. My sales reports have consistently shown that this is a slower time. People are traveling, enjoying their families…maybe less decorating gets done and buying art slips down on the priority list. ⠀
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It used to give me panic…

What’s happening, will anyone ever buy from me again? How do things come to such a screeching halt? ⠀
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I’ve come to realize that it’s a gift. A break. You said you needed one in April and May when your to do list was overwhelming and you felt like a robot churning out art. You made a promise in your heart to embrace the next opportunity where you had nothing on your plate. ⠀
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Know that you’re not alone. I’m finally realizing the gift that this is…the natural ebbs and flows of the market are allowing you to play more, experiment, gather inspiration, travel and prepare (for the fall!)⠀
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So take this time. Enjoy the sunshine. Have a slow morning. Take pictures and listen to music. It’s all creativity. It’s all feeding the back of your mind where your ideas will be birthed in the coming months. ⠀
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14 Jun Painting Everyday is a Gift

Painting every day is a gift.

It makes me a happier human being.

For years in my 20’s I felt creatively restless…anxious…should I write, should I act, should I sing? I was always an artist of some kind growing up…making stuff, painting, doing theatre, taking dance. Once I hit adulthood I resisted the one thing that was my “go to” creative skill in childhood…painting.

All of the resistance and perfectionism piled on to stop me from starting paintings and certainly from ever finishing them. I wonder if I thought that my pursuit of theatre and acting took up enough creative space…That there wasn’t any more room for visual art.

Funny now, when I look back at my pre-kid days and all I see is time. Hours I had where I could have been painting. Why then did a daily art practice elude me for so long? It took having to navigate around naps and mealtimes and busy family schedules to “find the time”. Perhaps I had to be pushed into a proverbial corner.

Make art to survive this.

I do think it has something to do with self care. For honoring yourself and the things that make you “you”.

Painting for 100 days may sound tedious, but to me it’s nourishment.

I’ll be sharing my recent 100 Day project later this week…stay tuned!

17 May Make the Time

Plant Cell 1, watercolor on paper. Design and photo by Jess Cooney Interiors

Time constraints can work in your favor. This artwork was created in a quick painting session I grabbed while my husband wore our infant in a baby carrier and made dinner. I only had the hour (cause… breastfeeding) and at the time I was painting on my living room floor while my girls swirled around the house. 

I made 2 key decisions that day.

1.) I asked for help. I told my husband that I needed him to be on the kids for the hour so I could focus on what I needed to do.

2.) I used that time to paint. Not do laundry, tidy up, respond to emails and texts or do any of the myriad number of things that could be done. I would give painting my undivided attention.

I ultimately entered this painting in a design competition (hello Minted) that would change the course of my career. The thousands of prints that ended up on the walls of influencers and designers and then posted to social media would give me the incredible exposure as well as the confidence to know that this  “art thing” deserved a real shot at becoming a bonafide business.

So my Monday motivation is this…MAKE THE TIME…even if it’s 15 minutes today…that’s enough.

That’s where you start. 

10 May Do what you love right now

I’ve had a lot of creative people reach out to me, as of late, asking how to start? Where to find inspiration? How to create a creative business doing what you love? How do I make this creative habit a creative career? Well I just listened to my favorite podcast, Creative Pep Talk, as I started my day in the studio and there was so much goodness there that pertained to these questions. Andy J. Pizza interviews Chris Piascik about his career path and his 10 year drawing a day project.

Here are my fave takeaway bits and pieces…

1.) “Creating all the time…quantity will beget quality.” There’s a freedom in putting work out there on social media and not being so precious about it. You may cringe when you look back at old work but you’ll see how much better you’ve gotten. And the bonus is when people see what you’ve created and say I want that!

I’m currently wrapping up a 100 day project. I created 100 mini abstracts in a span of 100 days. It’s a ton of practice which will only improve my painting. There are a few from this batch that I’ve made into larger pieces. So while I’m improving my craft, the by product is that I have pieces to pull from for painting references or even for licensing (I entered a few into a Minted challenge!)

2.) “You have to be a little delusional to be successful.” Yes, that fierce desire that makes you want to see your stuff in Anthropologie and actually thinks maybe that could be a possibility will serve you to ultimately make better stuff and hopefully put you on said company’s radar.

3.) “To just start!” Right now, today…start painting, drawing, designing…do what you love RIGHT NOW.

4.) “You make the time.” I get this a lot. How do you find the time? I think when I first started regularly drawing and painting 10 years ago I just made the time (like it was my job) because it gave me a creative outlet. It was my respite, my fun, my escape even. I loved it so much, and prioritized it so much that it BECAME my job. It’s like anything you put your time and energy towards…it thrives!
God I love Creative Pep Talk…it’s like fuel for my lil artist tank. Check it out friends!

Regarding the pic, photographing artwork is something I’m still working on;)

26 Apr Better than Perfect

Perfectionism kept me from creating visual art for 12 years. I would struggle with ideas for paintings. Which naturally made it hard to start. Now, after a decade of painting almost every day, I finally understand why.

I am an intuitive painter. 

I work best when I don’t know what will happen next. 

I thrive in solving the problem of the painting. 

It’s through this struggle that I make the connection. 

Connection is at the heart of creating. And that’s all that really matters. 

Fusing together the wires of 

idea, 

color

and shape 

to charge someone’s soul

(even if it’s just your own.) 

So when I let perfectionism creep in and start to allow a painting to become “too hard” because it isn’t “just so”, I remember that done is better than perfect. And I walk away. I return to the studio the next day and I see with new eyes. And sometimes, even without adding a mark, things connect.