Brushstrokes: A lesson in patience from CoCo Artist, Erica H.

"When you look closer, you notice the thousands of little dots that make up the image...I've gotten to where I am in my art career because of thousands of hours of practice over the last 7 years."

Today's artist feature, CoCo Artist Erica H., offers a path for those of us who are struggling with the uncontrollable circumstances before us. Erica's trajectory as an artist as well as the technique required in her artwork are visual representations of the patience, faith, and joy with which she operates on a daily basis. Reading her story and noticing her extreme attention to detail may be just the thing to inspire ideas on how to fill your free time without worrying too much about how long it will take for something to be over.

How would you describe your artwork?

I use a technique called stippling to create hyper realistic images. I mainly work with black ink on white paper. I like creating pieces that look like they’re a photograph, but when you look closer, you notice the thousands of little dots that make up the image. When you see how many dots there are, you’re able to understand how much time I put into my artwork and I think this makes the artwork special to the client.

Tell us about your training as an artist.

I am a self-taught artist and I have gotten to where I am in my art career because of thousands of hours of practice over the last 7 years. When I discovered that art is my passion, it became easy for me to practice drawing because I love doing it so much. Growing up I believed that artists were born with their talent and you either had it or you didn’t. I was inspired by other artists who were self taught and had a crazy work ethic and I realized that if I wanted to be successful in the art world, I would need to work just as hard, if not harder.

Who is your art for?

My art is for people who enjoy detail and appreciate attention to detail. Because my pieces can take over 100 hours to make, people who respect the process enjoy seeing my work.

What does your work of art bring to its environment?

My artwork brings a clean, sharp aesthetic to its environment. Because I use black ink on white paper, there is a bold contrast that people enjoy.

What is your artistic/creative process?

The first thing that I do when I am starting a project is to sketch out the image lightly with a pencil. I don’t do any shading with the pencil, just a quick light sketch to lay things out and make sure that I have the proportions right. With hyper realism, it is crucial that everything is exactly where it needs to be. If anything is slightly off, it won’t look realistic. After I sketch things out and I’m pleased with the layout, I use my pen and dot along the pencil line lightly. When I’ve outlined everything with the dots, I erase the pencil mark. Then I go in and start to shade the image with the black ink dots. The darkest areas get the most dots and the lighter areas get fewer dots with more space in between them.

What is the most important part of the artistic/creative process for you?

The most important part of my process is the initial sketch and layout. Even a misplaced dot could throw off an entire drawing by messing up a facial expression and making the drawing look off. I’ve had to start over after 60 hours of work on a commission because a few misplaced dots changed the face of a baby in a drawing. The initial sketch is everything.

What is your favorite piece and why?

My favorite piece is a piece I call Dreamer. Often times you will see clouds in my work. I use clouds to represent dreams. When I am day dreaming, I look up at the sky and that’s where I see clouds. I also love how the clouds and the sky is never the same. It is always changing. This represents change in our lives and the evolution of our dreams and goals. In Dreamer I have drawn a picture of a woman with clouds on her head. This represents women wearing their dreams proudly and not being afraid or intimidated to show the world what she hopes to achieve. When I first got into art, I was afraid to tell people that I wanted to become a full time artist one day. I was intimidated by their judgement about how hard it would he and I often wondered if I had what it took. This drawing means a lot to me because it represents strength and the belief in ones’ self.

Tell us about an interesting piece that you have displayed in your own home?

I have a piece that I did a couple of years ago hanging in my living room that I call Misshattan. It is a drawing of a woman wearing a crown made up of New York City iconic buildings and landmarks. I grew up in a college town in the middle of Pennsylvania. So, you can imagine my shock when first moving to a city like Manhattan. You are constantly surrounded by the hustle and the fast pace of life. This can become overwhelming or you can embrace it and own it. Misshattan represents a woman owning the city, embracing the hustle and wearing her city like a crown. She’s using the power for strength instead of carrying it with her as a burden. This piece is for sale, so for a while I had it in a closet all wrapped up. But I decided to have it out where I can see it all of the time because it is one of my favorites but it also is a great reminder to me of what I am trying to do with my art career and daily motivation to make things happen. It is hanging in my living room so that I can see it all of the time.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a balloon letter commission of the number 15. It is a gift for a woman who played collegiate basketball and wore the number 15.

What is your favorite thing about doing a commission?

My favorite thing about doing a commission is putting so much time and effort into a piece that is special to the client. Maybe it is a special photograph or a photograph of something that is meaningful to that person. Whatever it is that I am drawing, it has a great meaning to the client, so meaningful that they want the care and detail and time it takes to recreate it in a piece of art they will have forever. I feel that and that care goes into each hour I spend on the piece.

Tell us about your favorite commission.

My favorite commission I have done was for an NFL player after his team won the super bowl a few years back. He broke a record for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. His wife had me draw a picture of him that was taken during that run. The best part was getting a picture of the framed drawing with his super bowl ring sitting on top of it. That was special.

Inside the Artist's Studio: Donna L.'s Warehouse Workspace

CoCo Artist Donna L.’s studio is located in Long Island City (LIC), a stone’s throw away from Manhattan. The city’s skyline gleams from across the water, but feels a world away from LIC’s hushed industrial landscape now populated with warehouse-cum-artist studios.

Donna’s studio is located on the third floor of one of these warehouses. She meets me at the top of the elevator and leads me to her studio, past a community library where a mix of art books, cookbooks, and philosophical manifestos perch precariously on a bookshelf. Donna’s studio is strewn with art supplies. Brushes, stacks of papers, and boxes absorb the available surfaces. In the middle of the room is a folding table covered with newsprint. The beginnings and in-betweens of projects rest on the surface. Against one wall are stacks of pastel drawings of sky-scapes, seascapes and mountain-scapes. They are breathtaking in person, and seem to glow with a lit-from-within quality. I mention this to Donna and she smiles. “Yes, my real subject is light.” She’s not kidding. Despite the studio’s lack of windows, Donna’s radiant work gives the impression of a sunlit room. There’s a stack of metal drawers against another wall and she opens them one at a time to reveal a marvelous collection of works on paper. They are much smaller than the ones lounging against the walls, here lie entire horizons collapsed into the space of a business card.

CoCo: Why do you work in such dramatically different scales?

Donna: These little worlds are so much faster to finish than some of the larger ones, I like the immediacy. It helps to get an idea out quickly, and provides some relief from the larger pieces. Of course, the large ones provide something to focus on for a long time. I have really large ones too, works that are 40 x 60. I’ve noticed that the larger works have a softness to them that isn’t present in the smaller works, it’s interesting how scale can affect something like that.

CoCo: How do the images take shape. Do you use reference photos?

Donna: Yes, but not usually just one, I combine multiple photos and sample the elements that I like. Sometimes I make it up. I’ve done enough of these now to understand how the sky could look.

CoCo: Can you tell me more about your choice of materials? Why pastels and not oil paint or graphite?

Donna: I enjoy the way the pastels allow me to work in thin layers without a heavy build-up. When I work I’m able to wipe away the layers, thin them out, blend them with my fingers and shift things around easily. I usually do high-contrast black and white pieces, but I’ve recently started working with grayer tones. It doesn’t have the same wow factor, but there’s some subtlety there. It’s delicate. I worked on a whole series of black and white seascapes that I wiped down with tissues so you can see the black pigment give way to a warm, yellow-tinged undertone. That’s something you can only get with pastels. It’s also interesting to use a material that isn’t traditionally associated with this type of work. Pastels are usually associated with flowers or still-lifes. I also enjoy working with watercolor and collage. I’m hoping to explore more of that soon. I’m inspired by some of the early 20th century collages, Kurt Schwitters and the like.”

CoCo: How do the  white edges of your works stay so pristine?

Donna: I tape around the edge of where I want to image to go. This creates a clean line when I remove it and stops any powder from smudging on the white border. It’s funny in comparison to the rest of my studio, which isn’t exactly organized.

CoCo: What’s been one of your favorite commissions?

Donna: A man once commissioned a black and white seascape with a  pop of red. It was my second commission with this client. I know lots of artists who wouldn’t be open to working this way, but I don’t feel like that. To me, there’s always something to learn. Of course, I had my doubts about how it would turn out. Red, as a color, is not very see-through. It’s not particularly luminous. Red has a density to it, and so much of my work is about light. It was a struggle to find a shade of red that lit up. That’s the thing with commissions, they always push you.This one was very difficult, but I ended up loving the result and it influenced the works that I made after. There’s an ad on the subway for Westworld now that looks remarkably similar, I feel like a trendsetter.

CoCo: What drew you to this topic to light and atmosphere?

Donna: This is such a lame reason, but when I was younger we had this convertable and I was always obsessed with having the top down and lying the seat all the way back and staring up as the sky. Of course this was terribly unsafe, and I probably never had my seatbelt on correctly. But I’ve always loved the sky, there’s something very spiritual about it for me.

CoCo: What commission are you working on now?

Donna: I’m about to start working on one with rainbows. I can see this sparking a whole series. As much as my works is about light, I also want them to provide a refuge for the viewer to feel at peace.

Inside the Artist’s Studio: Our Visit to CoCo Artist Michael M.’s Workshop

CoCo Artist Michael M’s studio is almost a visual rush of personal experiences.  Everywhere you look is an example of collaborative commissions – with his team, Michael takes anything and everything and transforms it into fine art through a wax overlay.  Whether it be old clothes, ticket stubs, programs – literally anything – it becomes part and parcel of a mixed media artwork, such as a portrait of a child, a depiction of a pet, or a meaningful landscape.   Read on to learn more about the backdrop of this very personal and unique style of art.

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Brooklyn, by Michael M.

CoCo: How would you describe your work?

Michael: I would classify my work as contemporary, at times bordering on pop-art.  More than anything the work is 100% process based.  As an artist I am extremely calculated and have every step of the process mapped out prior to production.  With great attention to detail I feel you provide the collector with a very finished product as well as a beautiful piece of fine art. 

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Michael, as an artist, focuses solely on commissions now.

CoCo: You used to be in finance. Tell us how your life is different now.

Michael: Finance was always something that served as a means to an end but was never emotionally rewarding.  As so many people know, it is so easy to get caught up in the "Rat Race" and sometimes place what is truly important in life on the backburner.  By refocusing life on my two passions, art and family, I can honestly say that I feel an emotional success that I don't feel was possible in my past life.  

CoCo: Tell us about your space.  What about it works well with what you do?  

Michael: When my daughter Charlie was three years old, I asked her what I should name my studio and she very innocently said, "My Life."  This is a space that was created to do art...YES, but to do art and have the ability to be with my children.  It's through interactions with my children that my personal style and approach have evolved into something much deeper.  My Life studio does commissions now, focusing on creating a depth of emotion and memory to a fine art piece. It is extremely important that everyone that walks into this space, feels the connectivity as well as the innocence that this studio was so thoughtfully named.

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Michael M.'s daughter, Charlie, aptly named his studio "My Life" and he has modeled the space as an area to both create art and interact with his children.

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After a career in finance, Michael M. refocused his life on his two passions: art and family. 

CoCo: Do you have any personal “rituals” that help you with your work?

Michael: I wouldn't say that I have a particular ritual but I do try to draw inspiration from the materials at hand.  I will always have a few pieces going at any one time ranging from personal pieces for an exhibit or commissions.  After dinner and getting our girls to bed, I return to the studio at night in order to complete any unfinished tasks from that day.  It is often at that hour that I will take a step back and see what works-in-progress are screaming my name.  It's not the best thing for a good night sleep but I find myself focusing on that unfinished piece and come up with some really great solutions to be excited about first thing in the morning.

CoCo: What is the best part of what you do or the best part of your day?

Michael: I constantly find myself comparing my life now to what I was doing in the world of finance.  Before, my focus was on my clients and building a business.  I felt my priorities were completely upside down.  I now get to wake up to my amazing little girls, (sometimes) take our time getting to school and focus on our own little world.  After saying goodbye to my family, I get to head down to my art studio.  I could tell you that it's the ability to create what I love most about the studio, but its not.  My favorite part of the day, is when I open the door and turn on the lights.  My Life, is a great Life!

Feeling inspired? See more work by Michael M. below.

Her Constant

Equine

Coco