I was very excited when I was asked to to create two paintings for NZ fashion designer Juliette Hogan which would be used for a print to go on their upcoming collection.
This was the first time I had worked with a brand and so I'll share a little of how this process worked . First I was invited to go along to the workshop in Morningside to meet Juliette and the design team. When I arrived they showed me the mood board theys created featuring the season's colour palette with different images . I was pleased to see that the colours were ones that I often use in my work, such as soft pinks and neutrals with deep blues. I’ve learnt from experience that I can’t work with a palette that I don’t love. We talked about sizing and time frame and went through some of my paintings on instagram , discussing style.
The plan was to create two paintings - One 1.4 m x 1m and one 90 x 60 cm . So, I went away and created a number of small studies, which is how I usually begin a commission as i like ot be sure the client and I are on the same page before I commit to colours on a large scale. .
I was excited to begin the large painting , and enjoyed the process, though as I worked on building up the layers I couldn't help worrying about how I was going to create something that would work as a repeat pattern and couldn't get this out of my head . I was used to going off at tangents and adding any colours when I wanted.
At one point I was overthinking so much that the painting and become over fussy and complicated. I did panic for a while and this kept me awake at night but I realised this is a stage I tend to go through with every painting and I need to remember this. The extra pressure I put on myself thinking about a pattern was making this worse but I was able to get back to thinking of it purely as a painting and get back on track.
In the end , as the deadline drew close I was satisfied and pleased with how they turned out and in the end found I enjoyed the constraints of sticking with a specific colour palette. I was thrilled to have this opportunity and love how Louise at Juliette Hogan was able to create such an interesting repeat pattern from my brush marks.
The larger painting was photographed and digitally manipulated to become ‘Expression silk ‘, a hero print from the Juliette Hogan Collection 2022.ONE. It can now be found in stores around the country and online, so you might see people wearing this out and about already .
The Juliette Hogan site
