Today we’d like to introduce you to Cortney Herron.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I started painting when I was three years old and continued pursuing art throughout high school. While I participated in several different extracurricular activities, I was most passionate about art. In high school, I spent many hours in my room listening to music and painting – those were some of the best moments of my childhood. After graduating high school, I attended the University of California, Davis where I studied Visual Communication Design. I knew that I didn’t necessarily want to go to art school, but still wanted to study something in the creative field.
After college, I moved back home, and began the post-grad job hunt. I was living at home, eager to move out, so I really was looking for a full-time position to allow me to do that. I had been working part-time for a little over a year before I landed a full-time job, where I’ve been working for the past six years. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I got back into art. I had gotten so used to the 9-5 lifestyle that one day I realized I felt like something was missing in my life. I knew it was time to get back to what I was really passionate about. Cut to the present day, where I’m still working full-time, but simultaneously putting my all into creating art. Art brings such balance and peace to my life that I wish I had never taken that break from creating. Even though you can’t change the past, I’m in such a happy place now, that the journey to self-discovery was absolutely necessary to getting where I wanted to be and where I want to go in the future.
Please tell us about your art.
My art is abstract, eclectic, and fun. I consider myself to be a very eclectic person, so naturally, I love working with different mediums, like acrylic paint, watercolor, and even digital illustrations. Working with paint, I love creating abstract art because it allows me to be free and in the moment. I try not to overthink what I’m about to create, which makes the end piece that much more exciting. I’m much more invested in the process of creating rather than having to know what the end piece of going to look like. For my digital creations, these are much more playful and cartoony – I’m inspired by the randomness of daily life, people, things that make me laugh and think. I gravitate to the color pink, which has been a part of my digital palette for the past year or so. In terms of fashion/style, I’m really not into pink or bright colors, but I absolutely love exploring color in my art – it’s so incredibly fun and playful – it should make you feel happy inside, because that’s what it does for me. My goal is for the viewer to smile while looking at my art and furthermore, be able to relate to the subject matter.
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
In such a digital society, conditions for traditional artists today may seem challenging, but I can’t say that I agree. I can confidently say that I feel like an artist’s main goal is to make money. So, keeping up with the current times of social media, ads, and streaming, is just part of the process to getting where you want to be. For those that can accept that, artists can essentially make his/her own conditions. I think the co-working communities in Los Angeles area have become a powerful way to reach many different groups of people through things like events, meet-ups, and social sharing. While a lot of the co-working spaces are geared towards startups and tech companies, I feel like including more artists and art-related events in these communities would be truly beneficial to helping artists thrive.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work is for sale on my website: https://www.cortneyherron.com/. People can also view and support my work by following me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cortneyherron/, where I love sharing what’s happening in real time.
Contact Info:
- Website: cortneyherron.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cortneyherron/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bycortney
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cortneytherron
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/cortneyherron/
Image Credit:
Cortney Herron
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