Big Art

The past few months I have been working on so many fun and different commissioned paintings. One of my favorites was a giant abstract painting for Suzanne, a friend from high school, and her husband Chris, who now both live in Chicago.

Suzanne's living room is gorgeous, classic, and very neutral.  The room has lots of symmetry and clean lines, so Suzanne was looking for something to tie it all together and make a statement.  Another challenge was her extra long couch and huge amount of empty wall space.

After chatting about a few different options, Suzanne went with my suggestion of going with one very large painting.  Since the room is so symmetrical and already broken up by the four couch cushions, and the matching tables, lamps, and chairs flanking the couch, we decided that one one large piece would help tie it all together, whereas two or three smaller paintings hung together might make the room look further segmented.  Here's the plan that we came up with for Suzanne and Chris: 

I made them the fun little "digital sketchbook" page above to help them visualize what we were going for along with the colors, and size, just to give an idea of the desired effect.  Suzanne also referenced one of my Etsy paintings that she especially loved for inspiration, to give me a better idea of the style that she was hoping for.  

The painting, (huge - 48" x 72"), took over an entire wall of our dining room and wouldn't even fit on my large easel, so I worked with it propped against the wall with a drop cloth on the floor.  The piece took me about a month to complete.

Here is the painting in its early stages, with lots of gestural brush strokes and movement.  This laid the foundation for the painting, on top of which I built layers of brush strokes and color.  

A few weeks later, and with many layers of movement and paint built up along the way, we ended up with this painting - playful, bright, and dynamic! 

Here I am holding the painting, proud and ready for delivery. It's HUGE!

Here are photos of the final piece, hung and installed (by Chris!) in their living room. 

I could not be happier with the way that it all turned out, and I cannot thank Suzanne and Chris enough for taking a chance on me and letting me work on this for them.  It was so much fun, and I am so glad that they are happy with it.  I LOVE big paintings! 

P.S. - Want to help me out? Please feel free to share or pin away on Pinterest if you see anything you like! I'm trying to grow my business and would love your help spreading the word :) 

Happy Monday! 

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What now? Anthro + Art

one of my Etsy shop paintings! 

Friends!

Have I told you how awesome you are lately?!? Well, you’re all really awesome! I was blown away by the all the love and support you sent me following my recent blog post about my short-lived job from H-E-double-hockey-sticks... Wow! I am so glad I shared about that and was able to connect with so many of you over the perils of employment gone wrong.

So you may be wondering what I’m doing now that I quit my anxiety-inducing teaching job. I started working part-time at Anthropologie in September and am loving it! It’s a wonderful work environment and my colleagues are amazing. I love being surrounded by beautiful things and creative people while I am at work. I am learning a ton and recently received a promotion, which was really exciting!

Since I’m only working at Anthro part time, I also have time to myself to work on my paintings, and I am loving that! I’d love to see my business continue to grow, and so far it is really starting to take off. I am currently booked with commissions through the end of January! Right now, lots of the projects that I’m working on are hush hush (Christmas gifts!), but I look forward to sharing some photos of what I’ve been working on after the holidays. I also have my paintings for sale in one of my favorite shops, which is SO FUN! (If you’re in Virginia, you can check them out at Fraîche in Richmond! Side note: Fraîche also has amazing holiday decor!)

P.S. - Did you know that I now sell gift certificates that can be used in my Etsy shop or on commissions and custom paintings? You can choose your amount and purchase them here!

ALSO… 15% of all sales from my Etsy Shop (gift certificates included!) will be donated to ProNiño USA, a non-profit organization that helps street children in Honduras. My mom and sisters have been closely involved with this organization over the past few years, so I’m excited that I’ve found a way that I can also contribute!

Have a great week!!! Fa la la! 

Etsy | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

My artistic process

I receive a lot of questions about my artistic process and exactly how I complete my paintings, so I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about that and share some progress photos that show the evolution of some of my pieces from start to finish. 

I have always been really inspired by abstract expressionist painters - I love the movement in their paintings and the visible brush strokes, marks, drips, and layers.  I really enjoy painting along the same lines.  

When I paint, I tune out everything and just begin painting spontaneously and intuitively, whatever comes to me, letting the movement of my arm and paint brush guide me.  These initial spontaneous strokes lay the foundation for the painting.  Once I have made some marks on the canvas, I step back and take a break.  I evaluate what is on the canvas, and think about the composition and color, and then figure out how to respond next - which areas are working well and which need more attention.  I build up layers in this way, painting spontaneously, then stepping back, evaluating, and responding deliberately to the brush strokes on the canvas and to areas in need of attention.  It is easy to overwork a painting, which sometimes results in painting over the whole piece and starting over, but it's all just part of the process. 

Stage 1: The foundation, gestural brush strokes. 

Stage 2: Building up layers and adding color. 

Stage 3: Filling in what's missing, adding tonal variations, and perfecting the composition. 

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson.  

Interested in my paintings?  Contact me, send me a message on Facebook, or visit my Etsy Shop! 

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Lately {in the studio}

This summer, I've been lucky enough to spend a great deal of my time painting.  I love having the time and the space to create my favorite sort of paintings: large, abstract pieces.  Here are a few of those large pieces:

Currently for sale in my Etsy shop! 

I love painting on large canvases and panels because they leave lots of room for sweeping, gestural brush strokes and movement within the paintings.  I had so much fun working on  these pieces for clients, and can't wait to see what they look like in their new homes - that's always such a treat!  

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson.

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Making it happen: an Etsy shop!

I've decided that it's time to open my own Etsy shop!  Opening my own shop and selling more of my work is something that I've wanted to do for a while now, but I've just never made it happen. I've always been too busy, too tired, or just lacking motivation.  Now that we've moved to Chicago, however, I've found myself with more time, motivation, and room to paint and create.  I've been blogging, drawing, painting, decorating, and just being creative, and I'm loving it!  

I've gotten some amazing encouragement from friends after posting photos of some of my paintings here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Instagram.  So, I've decided that it's time to make it happen.  I'm going to continue working over the next few weeks to create some more pieces and to get everything set up, but my own Etsy shop is definitely in the works.  

I'll keep you posted on the details!  Thank you for all the love and encouragement!

***UPDATE: My Etsy Shop, Clare Wilkinson Studio, is now open!!!***

Fonts & Brushes used: 
Pea Roxygirl from Kevin & Amanda
Arvil by Ben Dalyrimple from Lost Type Co-op
Arrow Brushes from Creature Comforts
Art and design by Clare Wilkinson.

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New art!

Lately, I've been embracing my creative side and getting back into painting.  The images above are some pieces that I've been working on recently.  One of my goals is to really get back into it, and start doing commissions and selling more of my work.  I'm excited to already have a commission for two paintings booked, and am thinking of opening an Etsy shop as well. 

One of my favorite things about our new apartment is that we have lots of space, even room for a little office (where I am currently happily typing away) and a space for my easel (by the windows with tons of natural light), two things which we've never quite had room for.  I'm thrilled to finally have enough room to be creative with feeling like I'm taking over our entire apartment.  Our future is looking colorful! 

Interested in a custom painting?  Send me an email and let me know, I'd love to work with you! 

Font used: Penna

Paintings by Clare Wilkinson

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