About Stephanie Corfee

I'm like my art... a little bit bohemian, frequently colorful, and super detail-oriented. i love artworks and people that reveal something new every time you encounter them. Let me help you create a quirky & bold conversation piece!

February 10, 2011

The Art Makeover: Starting with an UnBlank Canvas

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This painting does not look like me.

It needs the art equivalent of some sun-kissed highlights, extensions…maybe some false lashes? It lacks my spirit and what i have come to recognize as my artistic voice.

Here it is after a makeover.

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ahhhhh…..that feels better. Amazing what a little primping can do.

And thank goodness a canvas is ultimately always“blank.”

i’ve undertaken the task of hanging some of my artwork around my house lately. The walls are fairly bare considering the fact that i create artwork every single day of my life. But when i look through my stacks of stored paintings and unfinished ones collecting dust from a year or more ago, i realize my voice has changed….or formed; not sure i really HAD a voice a couple years back. i was so busy doing work for others, i rarely had time to consider what my own personal aesthetic looked like. i mean, today i would never hang the things i made years ago. They don’t feel like ME at all.

But in the spirit of renewal, recycling and maybe a little philosophical “i shouldn’t forget where i came from” attitude, i’ve decided to revamp and rework my older pieces into things i’d want on my walls today, and share some of the progress with you…..here’s another:

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It’s very free-feeling. Like….i can’t mess it up! It can only get better, right?

i think i like the idea of working on a canvas that has color from the start, instead of the scary, blank, white space that stares you down.

It feels like an opportunity and a challenge.

You should try it! See what you can build on last year’s foundations. And share some links here so we can all be inspired by your interpretation of an Art Makeover.

Filed Under: wake. create. repeat. Tagged With: , 17 Comments
January 28, 2011

does handmade benefit from hi-tech?

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i’m a little bit of crunchy granola at times.

Not so much a hippie, as a bohemian, eclectic spirit. i like hands-on projects and as i’ve posted before, i really love to see the hand of the maker in a final artwork.

Organic wobbly lines, varied textures, imperfections. i like to juxtapose these elements with intricate, hand-drawn artwork and fine detail. i want my art to look human, not all cold and factory-perfect.

So, i’ve been a little intrigued of late at how much i’ve actually begun to rely on technology to accomplish my goals.

Am i succumbing to my inner techie?!

Let’s see…..

#1 – um, my name is stephanie and i’m addicted to my graphics tablet.

it saves paper, and erasers and eraser dust! i can utilize cool brush tips to look just like i’ve sketched in pencil or ink or marker and not this plastic stylus. i can make sketches on various photoshop layers instead of relying on my lightbox for tracing off steps in the illustration process…..Basically, i can just keep my butt firmly in one chair and complete an entire batch of client sketches without fetching paper, and fresh pencil lead, and prints off the epson and a seat at the drafting table. When i’m done, i don’t need to scan and clean up my sketches. i just SAVE AS and email them off into someone’s inbox. It’s revolutionary….and fast.

#2 – oh Canon EOS Rebel T1i, where have you been all my life?!

amazing zoom lens, manual control i’ve dreamed of, the ability to take photographs of my larger artworks that essentially have the detail of the scans i used to have to piece together because of the darn teeny scanner bed’s limitations. Plus, the amazing speed of upload to my computer means i pretty much have the image on my screen a mere moment after i take the shot! That’s productivity!

#3 – Facebook, you are addictive and i’d try to quit you…..if my sales weren’t so positively affected by our daily chats!

i never post to my personal page. its a rarity. But my “Fan Page“, the one i use to update folks on artworks and professional projects?…..yeah, i’m addicted. The feedback is better than a focus group, the platform is simple, the reach is phenomenal and the results speak for themselves. My excellent sales in the past 6 months are NO DOUBT directly related to the exposure i’ve gotten by answering the ubiquitous FB question often…..”what’s on your mind?”

Technology is so crucial to the survival, efficiency and growth of my art business these days. And that flies in the face of my usual “purist” ways. But maybe those ways were just a crutch so i didn’t have to really push myself? Lord knows, right now i’m pushing….everyday!  i feel so blessed with work, wonderful new friends and clients. i barely have a minute in the day to spare.

But that’s awesome!!! Right? No sense feeling conflicted about that!

If technology can help me to “make” more art, satisfy more customers and advance my art career, i’m not gonna be all pouty, and close-minded and resistant to it!

Bring it on!

i’ve changed my outlook. i don’t think that technology is dulling my ability to effect my handmade vision anymore. Instead i’m starting to really understand and appreciate how it has enhanced it.

What technologies have you recently  discovered that have “changed your life?” What are you amazed you ever lived without? i wanna know. Seriously.  Because i’m gonna run out and get one of whatever you tell me! …then i’m going to post about it on Facebook : )

{image by bleu cherub by JL67 }

Filed Under: wake. create. repeat. Tagged With: 13 Comments
January 12, 2011

Personal Creativity vs My Creative Business

Work. It’s a blessing and a curse. If you’re self-employed, you want to be flooded with work so the checks keep rolling in and your business will grow. But if your job is being creative, it can suck you dry of any and all inspiration you may have wanted to save for yourself.

This happens to me sometimes. Lately, its been happening a lot. There’s a bit of inner struggle. Today i felt supremely satisfied with what i put out into the world. Every client was happy. Emails full of positivity flooded into my inbox. i was checking off items on the to-do list left and right, and i was enjoying myself! But as the world outside my office window grows darker and darker (its pushing up on midnight as i write this), i realize that my view for the past 15 hours has pretty much been this…

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My desk is a tragedy. A total mess. i’ve barely moved from this spot since 9am. And i realize that another day has passed where i didn’t refinish my kitchen table, didn’t make that camera strap cover i’ve been planning since i got my new camera for christmas, and didn’t sew the new crib sheets i’ve got planned for our newest little addition, who’s scheduled to arrive in a mere 7 weeks!

My creativity has all been channeled toward my clients and i’ve got none left for me.

i don’t mean all this to sound whiny. i am immensely grateful for the blessing of abundant work coming my way. i’m just seeing it as a teachable moment.

So i hopped on Google and did a little web surfing and came across this post on the Zen Habits site. i know its made the rounds on the blogs. But if you haven’t read “The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People”, i certainly highly recommend it. SO many of the main points resonated with me. i’d have to say, though, that it wasn’t the No.1 or even No.2 habit that struck me most. Nope. The item that really made me pause was in the “other habits” section, all the way at the bottom of the post, and it was an observation by actress, Felicia Day that went like this;

When I am most productive I am the most ruthless with my schedule. I will literally make a daily checklist with, “one hour gym”, “30 minutes of internet research,” and “drink 3 glasses of water” on it. For some reason being that disciplined creates a sense of control that I wouldn’t have otherwise, as a self-employed person…

YES! That is me! That is what works for me!! How could i have let something so simple escape me? Twitter and Facebook have effectively sucked away my ability to stick to a ruthless to-do list. Social media has also made my sales skyrocket in the past year, so no offense to Twitter and Facebook.

But i realized i need to get back to being accountable to a timetable that has ME on it!

Now, i know full-well that this type of strategy may not work for most people. But i’ve tried it in the past. i used to live by such intense to-do lists. They kept me motivated when no boss or supervisor was there to do it for me. And i was always deeply satisfied at day’s end to see all my check marks lined up down the margin. So, tomorrow i’m on it.  My nutty, over-the-top, 30-minute increment to-do list is going to include at least 1….maybe even 1 1/2 hours dedicated to my OWN creativity.

i’ll eventually work my way up to more…..baby steps, baby steps.

i think that the way to keep loving the pursuit of my art and also to continue to appreciate how blessed i am to do it for a living is to step away from the business end of it more frequently. i just need a daily reminder. Who knows? If i do well, i may have a personal creative project to share in my next post, instead of just a neglected item on my “ME” to-do list.

Filed Under: creating action, wake. create. repeat. Tagged With: , 12 Comments
December 30, 2010

i have a plan

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Family Resolutions Subway sign by WallBling

i’m not sure what it is about the end of a year.

But the past couple months, i’ve found myself “keeping up” much more than acting with a set purpose. i’ve been doing what needs to be done, what’s due, what’s been pushed to the top of my to-do list. But my proactivity on behalf of my business growth and personal fulfillment has taken a back seat….like major back seat…. like that bench seat on the Septa bus.

So even though i know a lot of folks are loathe to make formal New Year’s resolutions, let’s say i’ve decided to make a plan. And i think i will have to follow WallBling’s lead and emblazon my plan on a big sign or bulletin board here in my office as well….as a constant reminder.

Here are the key points of my plan:

Appreciate and value my creativity. ~ because most often, i don’t

Walk away from the office on occasion and experience the real world around me. ~ because i rarely do!

Set one goal for my business each Sunday evening, something attainable like, “list a new illustration in my etsy shop“, or ” write a tutorial for my blog“, then do it.

Find time for my own personal creativity in the midst of creating for others. ~ you know what they say about the cobbler’s son having no shoes…

Make my blog a more streamlined & valuable tool for my readers – with tutorials, downloads, great links and better writing. ~ i see myself enlisting the help of a certain talented blog guru for this….initials= TG

Make a year-long goal – i’ll spell it out here so i can’t turn back – “get at least 2 of the children’s book dummies i have lying here on my desk in the hands of actual publishers” (yikes!)

Appreciate my husband. Tell him so.

Pay off my one, last looming credit card. (i’ve already made a pretty good sized dent in this goal!)

Serve others;  through charitable donations, art benefit sales and my own random acts of kindness.

Work on being PRESENT in the moment and enjoying my blessed life.

What are your “plans” for 2011? Have you ever felt like you’re “keeping up” rather than setting the pace? If you close your eyes and see your life in 5-10 years, what does it look like? Are you taking the steps now to make that vision a reality?

i’ll paraphrase something i heard a long time ago and try my best to live by; “if you never change anything about your life, you can’t expect your life to change.”

Fair enough.

So i here i go to start a-changin!

{image by WallBling.}

Filed Under: wake. create. repeat. Tagged With: , , , 9 Comments
December 15, 2010

my handmade holiday

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CoopSTocking

As this year of waking, creating and repeating draws to an end, i am kicked into high gear on the creating bit. Every Christmas i inevitably make a few gifts, a few decorations and a few sneaky plans that raise the bar a teeny bit on the holiday shopping routine. i thought i’d share a few of my projects with you and even show you how i created one of them.

First, for the gifts! i’m making quite a bit this year and here are a few:

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1. a little flannel batman nightgown for my handmade Apple Treehouse doll that my son has commandeered to practice his big brothering. i’ll be surprising little man with matching batman jammies i’m stitching up as well

2. this is the digital comp i made as inspiration for a wildly colorful portrait of my son i’m in the middle of painting for my husband. it’ll be perfect in his office

3 & 4. gifts for Grammy & Papa Joe. My son made this drawing of my folks and himself and we uploaded it to zazzle.com to make them fun keepsakes

5. custom-painted ties. i designed these custom stencils and then painted little boy neckties for my son. he’s crazy into ties right now! He cracks me up. You can see a tutorial here on my blog.

These gifts make me excited for the giving. They will all be unexpected because they weren’t on anyone’s list. One other gift i can’t wait to give is a professional extended family photo shoot to my parents for all the children, grandchildren and such next spring. i arranged a whole scheme with a local photographer. i’ve had an antique sofa for a while now. i intend to upholster it in cream canvas and take it outside so the grandkids can do this to it.

YES. i’m going to encourage them to scribble all over a fresh, cream couch. And then i will lovingly use it in my home when the photoshoot is done. i’m sure it will be added to over the next umpteen years as well. i love decor8! Such an inspirational blog.

Anyway, We’ll capture the kids getting crafty and being all scribbly and giggly, and then we’ll all pile onto and around the sofa for some memorable family photos. Picture kids jumping on the cushions and being tickled by grandparents or tumbling in the grass…maybe a few slightly more behaved shots as well. i’ve had so much fun in the planning of the shoot! Can’t wait to see my parents’ faces : )

Lastly, my son informed me it is high time we had names on our previously plain stockings, so i devised a super-fun scheme to make some names a little more colorful than the ones i’m used to with glue and silver glitter. Here’s how i made patchwork names for our stockings.
StockingNamesTuteSteps

1. use pinking shears to cut random strips of colorful fabric

2. topstitch the strips together with bright zigzag stitches until you have created a broad swatch of fabric

3. tear masking tape roughly the size of the cuff on the stocking as a guide to write your names. adhere the tape on the diagonal to your patchwork swatch and write names in chunky letters

4. stitch through tape close to your marker lines and then tear off the (now perforated) tape

5. trim out your letters close to the stitching lines and use fabric glue to attach them to the stocking cuff.

6. SHOW OFF! look how crafty you are!

i have to say, that as busy as i’ve been crafting this holiday amidst the typical holiday business rush, i wouldn’t trade it. It makes me all the more excited to spend time with my loved ones sharing these gifts and hoping they all love them.

Joy of the Season to everyone!

{ sofa image via decor8 }

Filed Under: holiday, tutorials, wake. create. repeat. Tagged With: , 4 Comments