Laura Tetrault

A Creative Life by Jen Merritt

Laura Tetrault is a regular contributor to the Arts and Culture section of the Chatham-Kent Daily Post. As an avid follower of her blog, London. Art. Girl., I have witnessed her journey through 30 days of art. Now that she has completed this challenge, I sat down with her (virtually, of course) to tap into the mind of an artist. Read on to find inspiration to draw out your inner artist.

1. Tell us a bit about Laura (background, education, current life, etc.)

Hmm… I would say that I am in love with the stories that images tell. I grew up divided between words and pictures and it is hard to say what came first, and which I love more. In first grade I was convinced I was going to be a fashion designer and drew little outfits for all my friends while watching the half hour segments of Fashion Television. My first story (written for a grade school assignment) must have had at least 10 drafts. The instructions said to write a rough draft and then copy it neatly onto good paper. The problem was that every time I was copying the story onto good paper I changed something. The character’s name, a plot element… there was always a better word.  My teacher was a stickler for detail, and I had the attention span of a fruit fly.

I still hadn’t resolved the artist/writer conflict by the time I went to university, so I completed a double major in English and Visual Art at Windsor University. By the time I graduated, I was in love with the motion and colour of painting, and although art is dominant I wouldn’t say that it has gained a complete victory over words. I write regularly for my blog (www.londonartgirl.wordpress.com) and occasionally for the CKDP.

I’ve been a bit of a nomad, first with my parents (my Dad’s job involved a lot of moving) and now with my husband (before returning to London, we spent two years in Seattle, WA.) but I think that my travels inform my story-telling, both verbally and otherwise.  Right now, I live in London with my husband Steve and two year old daughter Chloe. When I am not reminding Chloe that the kitty doesn’t like to have his tail pulled, I am planning, painting and completing commissions – especially wedding art commissions.

2. How are you connected to Chatham-Kent?
   

   Starry Night by Laura Tetrault

When I was 13 my family moved to Chatham and I feel like I grew up there. It is the place I had lived the longest and I really started to come into my own in Chatham with the help of teachers, friends and employers.

3. You recently challenged yourself to paint 30 paintings in 30 days. What prompted this?

Well, there are a couple of parts to how the 30 Days of Art came about. I have great admiration for daily painters. These artists create a small work of art every day and post them on various web pages. Maybe I am a little strange for an artist, but I like a plan and a regular routine. Boundaries help me work. So the structure of daily painting was really attractive.

Anyway, I had convinced myself I couldn’t be a daily painter now – after all I am still chasing around a two year old and my husband likes to eat and have clean clothes. There was just too much in my day to add that much commitment to my art. Then my sister-in-law sent me a note with a link to an article about a 30 day art challenge. So I let that marinate for awhile until I decided that I would try it out. I can’t remember if I actually read the article, but the title was enough and I made up the “rules” myself. Post a painting everyday by noon on my blog.

4. What inspired you each day to create the piece you did?

I guess this question goes back to my need for structure. I knew I wouldn’t be inspired every day and I was afraid I’d get to my easel on day five and say “So now what?” – so I picked a theme for each week of November: Women, Flowers, Shoes, Coffee Shops, Cups and Abstracts. Five pieces for each theme seemed really manageable – enough to experiment with but not so many that I’d get sick of them. Voila, 30 days of art!

5. Do you have a favourite piece?

Most people opt out of questions like these, but I try not to be most people. I don’t know if I have a favourite overall, but I do have a favourite for each series.  “A Little Mystery” for the Women, “Fairytale” for Flowers, “Starry Night” for Shoes, “The Meeting” for Coffee Shops, “Sunrise” for Cups, and “Like Someplace I’ve Been Before” for the Abstracts.

6. What type of feedback did you receive from others regarding this project?

People seemed to like the ones I struggled with the most, and that surprised me. I got lots of feedback and encouragement through my blog and Facebook fan page which really kept me going. People told me they really liked following along and asked me if I was going to do it again- I am. I am already in the planning stage for February 2010. There is a discussion board on my fan page where people can post ideas or things they want to see in the next challenge. I also got feedback from other artists who are thinking about doing it with me – which I think is wonderful.

7. You have listed many of these paintings in your Etsy shop – how long have you had the shop open, and how has the 30 day challenged complimented the shop?

I opened London Art Girl (http://www.etsy.com/shop/londonartgirl) on November 1^st this year, although I started preparing it in October. It is specifically for selling my smaller paintings, especially for the 30 Days of Art series. Each painting in the series is painted on either illustration board or watercolour paper, and they are designed to fit perfectly into 5×7 inch frames.  I think that art should be approachable and affordable. Since the paintings are small and easy to mail I can offer them for $25 each including shipping. The size and the price make it really easy for people to have a cluster of original paintings for the price of a couple of Wal-mart prints. People have been really supportive, and I am really blessed. Out of the 30 paintings I created 14 are already sold/spoken for (and this is only Dec 6^th!) and the shop is doing really well.

8. Do you have any suggestions to others who would like to participate in similar challenges?
   

   A Little Mystery by Laura Tetrault

Please do it.

You’ll grow and learn so much, and lose a lot of your fear of making “bad” art/quilts/knitting projects/ jewellery/ pottery/whatever.

Set your own rules – make it doable for your life.

Ignore your reasons not to do it. My reasons “not to” turned out to be just excuses.

Tell people you’re doing it. The accountability is powerful motivation, and the encouragement is great.

Send me a note and we can do it together.

9. Do you have any plans for future challenges?

I’ve found the challenge so rewarding that I can’t wait to get started on the next challenge – although since it will be in February, it is only going to be 28 days. As soon as it was over I was ready to do it again, but I may modify it a little bit and take the weekends off. We’ll see.

10. Any final thoughts?

Just that I didn’t realize that all of the paintings had such strong stories in them until I sat down to write about the paintings on my blogs. I always thought the story would come before the “illustration”. What a fun discovery.

Follow Laura’s art adventure in London (Ontario) by visiting her blog: London. Art. Girl.