SF based artist Courtney Sparks is one of those talented local artists and good people you may not be familiar with. But now you'll know. I'm not sure when I first became aware of Courtney Sparks' paintings, but I remember seeing her work in the One Year Anniversary show of projects by Little Paper Press (now, Mūnbeibī Studio) at Little Lodge.
Courtney's portraits are minimal, yet detailed. Typically without a background, you focus on the face and gaze. Especially the eyes. Up close they are texturally soft, and at times you see rough hard strokes, lines, and pops of color.
I recently met with Courtney to talk about her work and how she came to making her portraits. Read below for the interview and more photos.
SFACC: Can you talk about your positive experiences with art school, and teachers, and how that has carried over into your painting. What was something that really stuck with you?
Courtney Sparks: I had one really amazing art teacher in school. She helped me to understand that I shouldn’t over think what I am drawing, and to just let myself be more free, less controlled. I think that was probably the biggest thing I took from school. I still feel like everyday I push myself more and more out of these “boundaries” that I for some reason always thought art had to be. I used to think that I needed to make my portraits look as realistic as possible, but she helped me realize that my work was more interesting when I didn’t force things so much. She is also the one who introduced me to chalk pastels. I always thought my medium was paint, but I really found my niche when I began using chalk.
CS: I actually only began using this technique in the last few years. Prior to that I used the pastel in the traditional sense only. One of my friends told me about this chalk pastel, called pan pastel. They are compressed into small round palettes like makeup and you use a small sponge tool to apply the pastel onto your surface. I looked it up and was intrigued by the softer tones and blending you could achieve. After realizing that they were much more expensive, I decided to experiment on my own with other ways to get that soft look. Which is how I started the powder and brush technique. Like you said the versatility with this is amazing, and I am able to mix the powders to get different tones a lot easier.
CS: My work has evolved over time from a more gothic or dark place to something a little more playful. I still feel like there is a haunting and somewhat sad aspect to some of my portraits, but they don’t appear to be dark right away. Ive drawn male faces before, but have always been drawn to the female figure more. I enjoy playing with the idea that woman can be soft and elegant, but adding elements that are not traditionally beautiful, like bags under the eyes, or a lazy eye, or crooked features. It makes them more human.
CS: I think my pieces are more aesthetically pleasing with a minimal background, and less detail in certain parts of the figure. I enjoy things that are not too cluttered, where you don’t get overwhelmed looking at it. Leaving parts unfinished, or simply outlining the hair creates a level of balance within the piece. It is also partly due to the fact that I enjoy drawing the face and figure more than backgrounds. I have never really put backgrounds in anything that I have done. This is not to say I won’t in the future, but right now I am still playing with idea of keeping things simple.
SFACC: We talked about the gaze a bit, and how you like when the portraits, are not directly looking at you. When the portrait is looking away, it definitely allows the viewer to feel they can look since they aren't being confronted back. Do you think about that when you make the portraits look away?
CS: Some of my girls do look directly out, but I like the ones that are gazing off somewhere else because it creates a depth in the piece. I feel like there is more interest there, in my mind they aren’t necessarily looking at anything, but off in thought, day dreaming, or maybe sad about something, contemplative. I’ve honestly never thought of it in the way you mentioned, but it does make sense that they would seem more approachable if they aren’t staring right at you.
CS: I find most of the faces I use from tumblr, but also in books and magazines. Ive been collecting photos to draw for years and I don’t necessarily have specific blogs that I look at for faces, I just sort of browse around and if I see something I'll save it. There is a photographer, Nicolas Coulomb that takes amazing portraits though. I use a lot of his stuff as reference, but as always change things in each face to make it my own. But his work is inspiring and unique and also shows a lot of detail in the faces. I like taking different features from multiple faces and sort of creating my own, like the eyes on one girl, and the nose on another.
SFACC: Is fashion is source of inspiration, or in other ways a way you express creatively?
CS: Most of the images I use are from fashion editorials or models. So yes, I do get a lot of inspiration from fashion. Even color palettes that designers may be using are a good source of reference for my work.
SFACC: You include phrases, and other writing in your sketches sometimes, can you speak to what write? There is a range of what you write and it is juxtaposition with the sketch. It also sort of turned your sketch journal into a dairy with images.
CS: I started doing that a few years ago. I would always write down little blurbs in my journals, quotes from readings, lines from songs, or what other people may have said, just the way I am feeling, or weird things I’ve said. One day I wrote something on a piece of paper and just started doodling under it and I sort of kept doing it. I have these little sayings written all over the place. A lot of what I write at certain times relates to how I am feeling, so it has definitely become my form of journaling. I also doodle all the time and these sort of become small works of art that I don’t have to spend hours on. Its hard finding the time to sit down and work on a big piece, but these I can do wherever I am.
SFACC: Can you talk about your childhood and early connection with art, coloring, and drawing. When you where at your grandmas house. What did you use to draw? And your dad being an artist.
CS: I have always had the idea in my head that I wanted to be an artist. I believe it is because my grandma would make my sister and I create something every time we went over to her house. Watercolors, coloring books, decorating sugar cookies, painting these little porcelain figures her friend used to make us. I would always want to draw Winnie the pooh characters, It was my favorite thing to watch at her house. She always used to tell us how good we were at drawing and that we can create anything we wanted to. After that art just sort of became a part of who I am. I also was a daddy’s girl and he used to draw and paint when he was in high school and was really creative his whole life. So naturally I wanted to be just like him. He would always let me help him in his work shop and I would build these little people out of nuts and bolts and then paint them. I was really blessed to be encouraged to be creative as a child. My family has always supported me as an artists and has always encouraged me to not give up on it.
SFACC: Moving forward, what are other ways you are going to experiment of thinking of creating in your paintings? Subject wise, do you think you're going to continue making portraits the same way as you are now for a while, or are things going to look different pretty soon?
CS: I honestly am never sure where things will go, but I hit a point when I get bored doing the same things, I will always draw portraits, but switching it up keeps things interesting. At the moment I am experimenting with different backgrounds, drawing clothing on my ladies, maybe incorporating hands and more than one portrait per piece. I am also working on larger canvases, and working with larger pieces of paper as well.
With Courtney Sparks in her apartment studio space.
SFACC: Are you going to be showing any work soon that we can see in person?
CS: At the moment I have nothing lined up to show. It is the goal though. I am currently only selling stuff through instagram, but I am working on website and online shop at the moment. I am working hard to get my name out so hopefully in the near future I will be able to show my ladies somewhere. It has always been a challenge to figure out how to get my work shown, but I feel positive about this year! And as soon as it happens I will be telling everyone haha
Thank you Courtney for sharing your work and speaking with us. Keep up with Courney's work by following her on Instagram @Courtney_Sparks.
