Valerie draws just about anything which ranges from SFW and NSFW. I always stumbled onto her Instagram stories which always held new art pieces as each story entry showed us the progress as time went by. It was always a nice treat to see and it's something I always look forward to seeing, but now you can see more of her work on her Instagram posts!
This week's weekly feature is Valerie, @murdermitteninc
A little something about the artist before we begin is recently she has been enjoying yoga "I'm tired of being inflexible and creaky! It's been fun seeing my progress." A morning stretch sure does change things that's for sure.
With that being said she is a Valley artist "just trying to keep their art page alive."
She mentioned some of her favorite local artists being "Abraham Bautista @ab_bautista, He has been my role since I was in high school and @gluttenisfree."
Val starts us off with that she's been drawing since she was five, but when she started to her current age being 22 has her style changed, or has she grown with it? She tells us "Oh my god yes! It changes constantly. I don't know if I actually have a style. It's nice to be able to change things up and not having a "style" is not bad either as long as you are doing what you want.
She may not have a style, but what about a certain medium she enjoys as she says "I've tried every medium possible." Every single medium? Well, there must be one she enjoys the most as she continues "my favorite medium is copic markers, colored pencils, and soft pastels." Soft pastels and colored pencils sure are nice and are vastly different from paints as she gives her reasoning behind her choices "it's fast and bendable with less work."
While we are on the topic of her favorite medium she tells us her least favorite "painting is not my thing. I can do it, but it will be beyond stressful for me." she continues to name a couple "watercolor, acrylic, oil. OIL is very nice I like it, but it's TEDIOUS." What about it makes it so "tedious" and "stressing" she explains by saying "It's the whole process. I've taken painting classes before and I had never been more stressed out in my art in my life. Prep the canvas, get the cup for the water, clean your brushes, get a rag, dry them off, blend the paint before it dries, crap you messed up add more, now it looks like rubbish it's unsalvagable, careful with the oil for the oil paint because without it you can't paint, careful not to dump paint on your clothes especially oil-based." Just knowing all of that to prep one canvas and the steps before painting sure did put me on the edge. As someone who just used watercolors and dipping my brush into the cup, there seems to be more to it than a simple dip into a cup comparing a more relaxed simple watercolor session to this she continues by stating "the whole process is STRESS! Too many steps, I just use markers for a base and colored pencils or pastels for dimensions." With all this being said she finishes off with "I live by the K.I.S.S motto when it comes to the arts."
Now, what exactly is the "K.I.S.S" motto? Well, a quick google search will lead you to it being "keep it simple, stupid" For example for one of the art pieces she says "yes actually, it's all sharpie markers." I can see how it's being kept "simple" without anything complex, but looking at her work it looks complex.
With how some mediums may be tedious and keeping to the "K.I.S.S" system how would Val like to grow with her work as she says "Goal for 2021 would be producing more metal art pieces and selling them. I have big plans for that." On the topic of metalwork, she has stated that she has "a bunch of prototypes" at the moment as she continues by saying "just drawing for a machine is hard" meaning "you have to make sure everything is connected or you'll have pieces falling off y'know?" She also uses a "plasma cutter" for these metalworks which actually sounds really cool.
With all the mediums and even metalwork under her belt, what would she like to try next? Val brings up "tattooing, I've always aspired to be a tattoo artist. Hell, I've done a few tattoo commissions so my artwork is already on someone's skin. This year I'd love to become a tattoo apprentice." Already having her out in the streets who knows what can come next!
Out of all the work she's done does Val have a favorite piece and to that she says "each new piece I create becomes my favorite, but right now I love my Zopilote Priest the most right now. I've never really drawn a bird in my life and I was pleasantly surprised that I did such a great job on the first try, The intensity of the colors, how they overlap, the way I drew each wrinkle with sharpie freehand- incredible, had no idea I could do that." It does have really great details and it is a great piece! Can you imagine the Zopilote Priest as a tattoo?
Val shares her thoughts on the local art/business scene in The Valley
"Honestly, in my experience, it's pretty small and people don't value art. I've tried selling multiple times, but people are more mirones than buyers. My philosophy is 'you like, you buy' but alas, here I am broke. Regardless of the lack of consumers, the artists themselves are incredibly supportive and keep me motivated to still produce my art."
She shares her comment by saying
"My artwork is free with purchase!"
Also if you are interested in commissions by Val be sure to send her a direct message!
Comments