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Ria Sharon

pondering creativity, process, and making art

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An Artist’s Sketch: Chloe May Brown

July 21, 2015 by riasharon

chloeChloe May Brown makes objects for the everyday. She uses her hands to build with clay and translates her drawings into textile designs. Chloe incorporates fabric dying, screen printing, and sewing into creating her soft objects.

Chloe lives in Portland, Maine where she works as a designer at More & Co., spends time by the ocean, and hangs out with her cat. You can see her recent work at www.chloemaybrown.com as well as on her Instagram.

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1. What’s your medium of choice and what do you love about it?

Recently I have been in love with screen printing as well as hand built ceramics. They both have such different appeals to me. Screen printing is clean and immediate, I am able to see my drawings translated onto fabric in an instant. Working with clay is almost the opposite. There is an element of time which is not present in screen printing, I have to be patient between the firings, I am not always sure what the outcome will be, and there is always a surprise.

2. What are you working on right now? What’s on your camera/desk/easel or in your studio?

I seem to always have a handful of projects all happening at once. I love to work this way, I find that one thing feeds off of another and something I am building in clay could inspire something entirely different that I want to make out of fabric. Right now my home studio is filled with screen printing supplies while I work on some fun new fabric designs. My desk is overflowing with fabric samples and color swatches. At my ceramics studio my shelves are filling up with vases and planters. I have been feeling so inspired by the growth and blooms this time of year, I am constantly finding ways to bring them into my home.

3. What practices/activities are most valuable to your creative process?

One of the most important ingredients to my creative process is to just make. To make with no agenda or outcome in mind. This is where so many of my ideas for larger projects stem from. I can be doodling and one little aspect of a scribble will inspire a new design for a fabric.

Being outdoors is equally important to my creative process. I live on the coast of Maine and this is an inspiration for much of my work. To take a walk around my neighborhood and see what is growing or to go for a swim in the salty ocean refreshes my mind and my vision.

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4. What’s one thing you want to share with others about your art and/or process?

I get joy from making simple, beautiful, useful items. I want to make items that will become a part of one’s everyday life. Many of my pieces are made with this intention, dishes to eat your meals, pillows to rest on, or maybe just a painting to hang on your wall.

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5. What advice would you give to your young artist self?

If I could step back just a handful of years I would want to tell myself to do and make what feels right. Don’t try to force anything to happen that is not feeling natural. When something truly feels right you will know it and you should sail on that feeling whenever you can.

Inspired by Chloe?
Want to know when the next sketch is posted?






 

Filed Under: an artist's sketch, design Tagged With: ceramic, fabric, pattern design, surface designer, texture

Happy holiday weekend, everybunny!!!

April 3, 2015 by riasharon

bunny-invitation-template

Happy holiday weekend! Wow! Easter and Passover all rolled into one. Bring out the matzo bunnies!

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with finding the golden egg at the annual Easter Egg Hunt, for the sole reason of winning the real live bunny they awarded the winner! I never did.

I’m clearly a grown up now because I’ll take the Lindt chocolate bunnies over the real live bunny any day! Unless the bunny poops chocolate. Then maybe.

It’s with delight and honor that I’m introducing my bunny birthday collection, inspired by the talented ceramic artist, Alisha Katz Hastings-Kimball of Songbird Studios. You’ll be hearing more about her soon. ;P For now, know that she is the creator of the bunny cake toppers and magic spoons!

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Filed Under: design, etsy, tribe

Baby Announcement: Class of 2033

January 9, 2015 by riasharon

Not my baby!

Just baby announcements.

My achilles heel is stopping short. I can have a solid concept but I have a tendency to say, Good enough! long before it really is great. So I decided to submit to Minted.com’s baby announcement challenge to see if “social design” would push me past my natural stopping point.

Step-by-step as follows…
mood board
sketches


drawing


inking

color palette


first submission

So… this is the point where I would stick a fork in it! 🙂
But I got lots of great feedback from the Minted community. Obviously, I’m a little enamored by my hand-lettering and was jumping at the chance to do this vintage collegiate thing but considering that the point of a baby announcement is to feature the baby… I gradually toned down the graphic elements.

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Final
Vintage hand-lettered 1-photo birth announcement riffs off of your 2015 new arrival being a future 2033 grad. Works well for your retro boy or girl!

I must admit, I LOVED doing the challenge! It was incredibly helpful to get input but it was also a great feeling being part of a community working on something together, so to speak. It was equally fulfilling providing constructive feedback to other. So yeah… I’m Minted! 🙂
There are so many amazing designs so who knows if I’ll place but regardless, I think the process really helped my end product. Voting begins on Jan. 12, I think.

© Ria Sharon

Filed Under: design, learning hand lettering, process

A little about me

I have an undergraduate degree in art. By day, I work in higher ed and in my free time I'm currently putting myself through DIY grad school.

I teach classes on creativity and inspiration on Skillshare. I occasionally share my original paintings on Etsy and fine art prints on Minted. I've also been known to make puppy portraits.

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