#studioforonda

So it’s been a long time that I have painted a large format painting on canvas. I remember the last time I painted an 8 foot tall Evil Red Bunny during the Bush Iraq War years in the early nighties. It was 26 years ago  and I finished It in Florida at an insane time in my life. I ended up throwing the painting away. I think for me it gave a negative vibe that I had a 8 foot devil in my house.

During my years at MICA, (Maryland Institute, College of Art) I would have large figure studio paintings, large charcoal wall drawings, large intense realism paintings and other large format pieces. At the time, I was smoking a lot. I would inevitably smoke a pack of cigarettes in front of a large blank newly gessoed canvas and contemplate my first steps. 

My senior year, I had to produce a body of work for my final senior studio class in Drawing. Although I started the pieces with charcoal rubbing the charcoal around a masonite board, I would inevitably finish the work with acrylic paint and oil washes and pigments. I would approach the work without any foreseen goal but for this time, I found figurative elements within the charcoal washes like looking at clouds and finding faces or Rubenesque bodies. Most of the work was psychotically dark with nude figures in agonizing poses. Maybe the work was looking to the future to the days I lived stressfully in Florida between 1993 and 2000.

I started the Big Red Bunny piece at the tail end of my senior year at MICA and in 1996 finally finished it and hung I in my studio at my home in Gulfport, FL, on the bayside of St.Pete beach.

This past March during my break from teaching, I quit smoking. A thirty year habit started in art school. I quit on March 2nd which was the beginning of lent and a day before my 51st birthday.

Two years earlier, I had purchased some stretchers in the hopes of painting again. But I had gotten so busy and just pushed the idea out of my mind. Anyway the stretchers that I had purchased from Black Art in Providence wasn’t big enough for what I wanted and in January during a trip to NYC, we stopped in New Haven and I bought a six foot wide stretcher by four and half feet tall. 

During my break, I put the stretcher together and stretched canvas that was already gessoed onto it. I brought the canvas into my garage to paint.

Staring at the canvas, I was so tempted to go down the street and buy a pack of Marlboro Lights, my usual brand, and smoke the pack before I even started painting. Instead, I took a 4 mg mini lozenge and my trusty 21 mg nicotene patch and started.

At first, I made a gesture. I did not want to preplan this painting and just enjoy the feel of paint and color. I used Sherwin Williams Latex house paint first. It is drippy and wet and I did not mix much. (I had quarts of this paint for a commission I did years ago on paper.) I made the gesture to break up the composition and give a focal point. 

I purchased more colors of latex to continue the palette. But latex also drys matte sometimes and I really wanted a more thick glossy feeling.

I had also purchased some oil paints and I began incorporating that into the painting and adding a yellowish white wash to the work. I also enhanced the lotus-like feel of the “leaves” making a pattern effect.

I started to see a cartoon-like face with sun glasses facing the right of the canvas and I started to enhance it subtly. 

SKATER BOY LOTUS

In the end, I added more lines of color and created the forehead and back of the head of the cartoon. It looks like a lotus but it also looks like a cartoon character like the Road Runner with glasses. I call it “Skater Boy Lotus”

It felt good to paint again and I plan on painting more this summer!

-Anthony Foronda

Fun & Awkward with Natalie Leroux

Designer & Illustrator

www.studioeightyseven.com

Natalie Leroux is the creative behind Studio Eighty Seven, a design studio located in Grafton, MA helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop their brand and marketing.

Recently, we got a chance to interview Natalie about her work and her line of greeting cards aptly named “Fun & Awkward”.

Where were you brought up? 

I was born in Massachusetts but moved to upstate New York when I was young.

Where did you get your formal art education and what was the most influential thing about it?

When I graduated from High School I wasn’t ready to give up athletics and go to art school. Instead, I went to the University of Rochester where I played field hockey for a year, and studied studio art and art history. During my Sophomore year at the University of Rochester, I entered a program called  Art NY - which was like a study abroad program in NYC. Myself, and a small group of UR students had internships, and took two classes with a UR professor.   After interviewing with small marketing firms and big publishing houses, I accepted a position with a commercial photographer. The experience at the internship, and the advice and friendship from the studio manager, a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, I realized I was not getting the type of technical training at  the University of Rochester that I was looking for. As luck would have it, one of the best graphic design schools in the country, RIT,  was right down the road from the  University of Rochester, making for an easy transition. . Looking at the descriptions for graphic design courses and typography at RIT convinced me to focus on graphic design. RIT was an amazing school. They really prepared me and other graduates for the real world in art and design.

How did you break into designing in Boston?

With extended family and friends in Massachusetts, moving  to Boston  after graduation  was easy. It took awhile for me to land  a job in Boston. But I got involved with the local AIGA chapter, and volunteered for events. I also got involved with Design Museum Boston. Overall, the  the design community in Boston was welcoming.

I eventually landed a job as an entry level designer at a small, niche advertising agency. The hours were long, but I was eager to prove myself. I stayed with the agency for 6 years, and by the time I left I was the Creative Director managing some of Boston’s best young designers.  My personality is one of a leader, and being a young impressionable manager I found it more challenging than I expected to balance the needs of the individual talent on the team, and the business demands of a growing agency. I left the agency in October of 2016 to pursue my own creative and business endeavors.

What are your artistic influences?

In the past I would say I was heavily influenced by Pop Art. I had a 8’ x 10’ poste rof a Roy Lichtenstein piece on my wall in college. I was really drawn to the contextual history during that time, and the combination of  type and image interested me. Now, I find myself inspired by ephemera. Since I was young I spent a lot of time in antique stores and was always drawn to the  boxes of old ticket stubs, postcards, and play bills.

Recently, I was working on a wedding invitation suite, and was checking out vintage baseball cards and ticket stubs for inspiration.I love the 1960′s self published zines, and am drawn to  1970′s design, typography, and illustration.

Recently, I am finding inspiring artists and designers from Australia and New Zealand on Instagram.

What are your thoughts on DESIGN?

I find that a lot of small business owners have a vague understanding what branding is, and why it’s important, but have a hard time coming to terms with the value of a professional. It can be frustrating trying to compete with internet sites that offer cheap alternatives to thoughtful, conceptual design solutions. I spend a lot of  time educating clients and communicating the value of what I, and other professionals, have to offer.

Unlike household brands, small businesses have flexibility to shake up their brands visually. With a lot of small businesses living solely online, it’s easier to erase what is there and start over. The screen can be ephemeral. 

What are your thoughts about Illustration?

I didn’t consider myself an illustrator  for a long time because I thought I wasn’t trained, or didn’t seem “good enough”. . Once I got out of my own head a bit, I got less precious about my illustrations.  Most of my illustration work is created for the Fun & Awkward greeting card line. The style fits this brand. I am being myself. The illustrations and greeting cards fit the vision I want, and I’m trying to make them cohesive for  wholesale opportunities.

When did you start your company?

November of 2016.

How did you get involved with Greeting Card Design?

I started in 2010. I was single and unemployed in Boston. It was an outlet for all the awkwardness of that time. I started putting them on Etsy. Just a handful of cards, about five of them.  When I started Studio Eighty Seven, it provided an opportunity to expand. . Someday soon I hope to have them in more retail shops around New England.  

What are your hobbies and interests?

I am an active person. I ran a couple of half marathons. I practice yoga. I like to spend time outside no matter the season. My backyard has become my favorite gym - spreading mulch and ripping out weeds and other unwanted plants is a great workout. . As a family, we love to explore New England. It’s not unusual for us to wake up on a Saturday morning and decide to take a 2 hour drive somewhere. 

What are your future goals?

Short Term, I’d love to get son in daycare one more day a week :) I’m pretty much there! There is a shop in Portsmouth that does wedding invitations and retail. Long term, I would love to have retail shop, and continue to do branding and marketing in the back for small businesses. My husband and I have also talked at length at owning and managing a wedding venue.

Who are your biggest fans?

My Mom, of course!  There are also a handful of local women who have been really supportive of me and my card line.  The local owner of a dog barkery and boutique, Quite Fetching, has been wonderful to me. We collaborate on card concepts, and they are sold at her shop.  I am also fortunate to call all my clients, past and present, fans of my work and business.