How I Make EVERYTHING
Introduction
The following is a description of my current process which is used to create all of my art including my stories, picture books, and poems. This is also the process I use for creating products and making other types of illustrations, animations and paintings. I even use certain steps of this process for creating social media content, you tube videos, and more. I make what I make; my words and ideas can no longer can be separated from my images, and my thoughts are not constrained by a medium. I am an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans platforms, mediums and industries; I believe my process is the thing that links them together. It is the thing that gives everything a united look and feel; it is also the reason for my consistent message. I believe it is through my process that I share my authentic self and my joy, because it is the way that I create joy for myself. This is something I learned to do as a child; I found joy in my imagination when I could not always find it in my reality. My art soothes me and heals me; It continues to do this for me now as an adult. I visit the same happy corners of my imagination, I still paint in the quiet of nature, and I tell you all the beautiful things I experience in many different forms.
I have decided to write all of this out in order to create a deeper connection between me and viewers/readers of my work. It’s also an amazing experience to be able to describe my process;I feel clear headed knowing the steps. If you are an artist reading this, I hope you find something inspiring here to get you started. However, I believe an aristst’s process is to each their own, and each artist must listen to their own inner voice to find the process that works for them. All this to say, I do not share this information as advice or a road map, but as inspiration.
I would like to thank Kathleen Buckley, who helped me pinpoint what my process really is. A lot of the writing below is taken from or expanded on the drafts and notes she put together for me in May, 2023.
1.
My creative process begins with making images in nature. I take a sketchbook, watercolour and gouache paints, and walk through woods, by the sea, hike trails or sit in a park. I draw the landscape and I paint rocks, shells, flowers and trees; I paint what I want to paint, I paint what I am drawn to. Sometimes I paint an entire landscape; sometimes I focus on details by creating botanical studies. I follow my curiosity. During this intuitive process, parts of stories begin to form. While I sketch, lines of poems, scenes, and characters come to me alongside my paintings. Sometimes I work simultaneously out of two notebooks, one for writing, one for painting—the images and text are inextricably linked and inform one another from the beginning. I do not question or consider anything that happens during this creation period. These images become sources that I use to create my stories. The images and word fragments are answers to future creative problems that will happen in the studio. I do not ask the questions during this phase; I create, I gather, and I write. I seek out specific places to fuel my stories; I have visited Sable Island, Ireland, and many parts of Nova Scotia seeking source material to make my projects.
2.
The next phase of work happens in the studio. This is where the “source piles” accumulate. The piles contain all of the plein air paintings, botanical studies, and sketchbooks. They also contain quotes I am drawn to, color swatches, older sketches, and photos. The piles are not just physical. I use my instagram feed as a storage place to hold many of these things; I often post quotes I am thinking about, images I am creating and thinking about, patterns I am working on, and the paintings I made out in the world I use these two piles; digital and physical, to draw on when I am working on a project.
When I take on a new book or illustration project, (or a project of another kind, which might include freelance illustration work, a social media post, a video, or a commissioned art work) I sift through the ‘source piles’ by hanging selected images on a wall in my studio. The rest of the images in the piles are not discarded, but resorted into new piles to be used for other projects and other stories. After this initial edit, I begin storyboarding. If I am writing a book, I will use the images on the wall by rearranging them until a storyline starts to form. If I am developing a new stationery product or print line, I use the images in a similar way; I “storyboard” them until a colour, a theme, or a visual connection starts to emerge. For social media, videos or public presentations; it is the same idea. I collect videos and images in my phone and my digital camera when I am out in the world; I often take a 10 sec video if I am someplace working. These accumulate, and when I am working on a video I look through these digital “piles” and pick out things that I would like to talk about or share. These videos can’t go up on a physical wall but I rearrange them in a timeline on Adobe premiere, and I figure out the arc of a story to share. If I am creating a workshop, a presentation or a speech, I work in similar ways, using images on the wall as well as thoughts and words.
Because of this, I consider myself a visual storyteller. I communicate in lots of ways besides creating images, but the story always comes from the creation of images first and not the other way around. Once I figured out that this was the best way for me to work, my art began to flow out of me at an alarming rate. It feels like a tap was turned on. I often say I will continue to work in this way until the faucet runs dry. ( If you want to read more about when that turning point happened, read this post.) The arranging and rearranging forces my imagination to consider what I am working in a new way. The creative constraints I enforce on myself spark the creative work. The constraints I use are things such as only working in nature, only painting from life, or a time limit. Staring at a blank paper means everything is possible; for me, this opens the door for “analysis paralysis”.
A collection of images and photos used to create the book “Wildflower,” Nimbus 2021.
3.
During the next phase, I write. If I am working on a picture book, a story or an animation, I sit in front of this wall and I describe what I see happening in the storyboarded images. I describe the connection between images, I describe what’s happening visually and I also consider the presentation constraints-is this a novel, a picture book poem, or a script for a video? This period of writing is when I ask and answer the questions, why and how will this make sense? When I am describing the images as they are arranged on the wall, it feels that I have something to work on and nudge into place, versus staring at a blank page. The story is there inside me, my eyes and my heart saw it first; I know this because I felt it stirring when I was out by the sea or in the woods painting, and this is the moment I need to pull the story out.
4.
The last step is to edit the writing, create a more finished piece of art, or make the thing I set out to make. If I am working on a large project such as a picture book, this process cycles over and over and over until I have a complete manuscript. For something like a stationery collection, a paper doll, or a single illustration for a magazine, I might only use this process once. For things that must be made quickly such as a project with a time constraint, or something small-I may only use steps 2-4.
In addition, this creation process is also how I teach children (and adults!) drawing, writing, and intuitive storytelling. I have developed this method over the past 12 years, and I am eager to apply this creative process to future projects.
5.
Items 1-4 describe my creative process. I understand there is physical process of painting that happens with everything I make. I cannot describe HOW I paint, except to say I studied academic oil painting in art school, I work from life whenever possible, and I have been practicing drawing and painting from life since the age of 12. I cannot pass on this information to you because you can only get it by working every day for a number of years.
I will leave a few relevant notes and answers to FAQ about how I make my paintings here:
•Paintings: I paint plein air with gouache or opaque watercolour on Yupo paper in 7 x 7 or 9 x 9” pads. I don’t ever use any other paper. I love Legion paper. I often use a blue watercolour pencil that comes in the coloured pencil pack found in the kids department of Ikea to sketch in the the landscape in before I paint it. (My thoughts on art supplies: If you like them, use them. I have very expensive paints and I also love using craft stuff or things my kids have in their desks. Use what you have on hand is my first thought for everything.) I love oil paint. When I make paintings in the studio, I paint them in oil. Sometimes I paint on top of my plein air studies and finish them in the studio using oil glazes.
. •Patterns and Illustrations: For book projects I use a different method for each book. Each book has its own “feel” its own colour, or its own medium. I have illustrated books in watercolour, traditional oil paintings, digital paintings, and a combination of all three. Individual illustrations are often started as traditional paintings and finished digitally. Another method I like to use is to physically cut up my plein air paintings and oil painted botanical studies. Because I paint on this delicious yupo paper, I can cut up things and put them in a drawer. I have a drawer full of hundreds of cut out flowers. I can use these flowers to make an illustration or a pattern by collaging, either physically or digitally. If you have read everything above, you will see how cutting up my paintings and storing them in drawers is exciting. It’s another perpetual source pile.
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The photos in this post are all taken by the talented Nicole LaPierre.