For the Fun of It - tiny paintings

following a phase and thinking of process

When I started this substack, I’d only just started my re-evaluation of my artistic practice. Working in a commercial field like animation (or even books), there’s an element of working towards the project.

I think when we want to be more productive, we think of things as a step-by-step on a way to a goal, or even breaking down our work into smaller pieces. We sketch, we ink, we complete. But in play, and the exploration of something new, the steps aren’t clear- because you haven’t come up with them yet. When you try to impose a process on something new, you create rigidity. You’re trying to lock something in place before it has a chance to sprout.

Let’s explore that with one of my phases- tiny paintings!

I think the tiny paintings started during lockdown, when I added a “Little Free Art Gallery” onto our Little Free Libary.

Unfortunately, our library got hit by a car, and the gallery fell off. The library is fine though!!

Obvs, I like miniatures (listen, we all do, we just can’t justify having a whole doll house in our homes).

There’s a great set of miniatures in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Thorne Miniatures room. I think maybe even it started there, the idea of making tiny art that can fit into a room. Seeing a gallery all at once! It really makes the concept of an art gallery into something silly and fun.

After that, I really started hunting for tiny frames. There are a lot of small frames at craft stores (usually 2'x3’). But when I found these ornate resin frames on Amazon, I knew I was travelling down an interesting path.

I started as I usually do for art, by making presents for my husband.

In continuing with the tiny gallery theme, I dreamed of making a tiny gallery of maybe pop-culture paintings. This is Nightwing, my husband’s favorite superhero.

These were definitely really fun- I loved making the little dioramas. It’s pretty hard to see the scale though.

Then I returned to an old favorite- pet paintings. I’ve always loved painting people’s pets, and it felt natural. I also could just paint a LOT of animals. And I did, and I had a lot of fun playing with styles and colors and layouts. This is the play- the making of LOTS, of trying and not showing, of following your heart. I spent a few weeks making these alone.

Then, I felt ready. Sometimes you feel ready, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you have to share to see how people react before you feel ready. For me, I just knew that for now, the tiny cats and dogs were a fun thing for me.

These paintings were the real impetus for starting my store, Art and Fluff. I’d been toying with prints and things. What I realised in crafting an artist statement for my own personal website was that I really liked making handmade things that felt personal, and felt like a present, even if the person giving it hadn’t made it themselves. That idea felt like something I could build my store on.

There’s value in an artist statement, after you’ve allowed some time of play. It forces you to think a little about the why, and the how this process came to be. An artist isn’t a justification for the value of the work, but instead, an attempt to distill the joy of the artists’ process for an audience. In doing so, you can also distill it for yourself

I encourage you, after some time of exploring something new, to journal about the why behind it. What makes you laugh about it? Those are the things to keep. Even if the thing that makes you laugh is “Oh my god imagine a fancy art gallery full of tiny ornate paintings of dogs.”

Anyway, you can see more of them here on Art and Fluff, and you can buy them or even commission one. My commissions come with a poem, too! What a deal.

Do you follow artist/illustrator/author

Carson Ellis

‘s Substack “Slowpoke”? You should- it’s so lovely! She shares her process, and also just her thoughts.

Uh OHHH I bought a thing. It’s not here yet though. TO BE FAIR, I got paid from a development thing, so I felt justified!!! And I was influenced by Chey Curtis!!

I ordered a Prixel! I also saw this tiny stamp press on Kasey Golden’s youtube channel.

As I’ve been dabbling with etching (some of those coming in an upcoming newsletter) and linocutting, this felt like too much fun to pass up. Maybe I’ll do a column when it arrives.

ok love u bye