Athena Cooper :: Creative

CLOSING IN 5 DAYS! MASKED: Self Portraits of a Pandemic - A virtual self-portrait exhibition that brings together art from around the world, tapping into a cent...ral theme inspired by the COVID-19 crisis. The theme broadly explores major events and incidents that have occurred during the pandemic, such as sinophobia as well as prejudice, ableism, audism, xenophobia, discrimination, violence, and racism. The exhibition closes on October 6, 2020. Art by Athena Cooper :: Creative of Canada Prints and Originals available. Shop art collection at https://ikouii.com/art-gallery/

#ThrowbackThursday - Eight years ago today I started working at lululemon. I know for a lot of folks taking a job there would be a no-brainer, but for me back in 2012 it represented throwing in the towel on my dream of being a full-time freelance artist and illustrator. In the previous year I had done what we are often told to do. I'd left a salaried job to pursue my passion. I had thought that by being my own boss I'd be able to finally take my art to the next level and s...pend all my days painting or collaborating on fun illustration projects. Instead I spent my days chasing website contracts, (the only thing people would pay me to do at the time), and trying to put bread on the table. I was keeping my head above water, but only barely, and my art aspirations were at a standstill. So when a recruiter contracted me on LinkedIn, I figured... what do I have to lose? Still, I made a promise to myself the day I signed on... my time outside my 9-to-5 was my own and I would take no other contract work unless it was something that furthered my art. I gave away all of the freelance web contracts I still had and devoted that time entirely to building myself up as a practicing professional artist. In a weird way, I became like those artists of old with lululemon acting as my artist patron whether they knew it or not. Today my role at the company is as an Email Marketing Strategist. Essentially, if you're signed up to the lululemon mailing list anywhere in North America, then you're seeing a steady stream of campaigns I've had a hand in arriving in your inbox. More importantly though, I have completed 39 paintings since I started working there. I've had a steady stream of painting sales, launched my online store, been part of multiple group art exhibitions and had my own solo exhibition as well. As I told a co-worker recently... my secret is I have a day job and I have my career. People sometimes confuse which is which... but I never do. See more

Random errands were the perfect excuse to snap a few fall photos. The sun in the leaves was particularly stunning around downtown this past weekend.

"Dusk in the Rockies", 11x14" acrylic on canvas. This painting is based on a photo that my sister took on her train trip from Vancouver to Toronto over New Year's awhile back. I really enjoyed exploring ways to put colour into this piece and there are lots of interesting bits of teals, purples and pinks that keep the cool winter shades interesting. This piece has already been spoken for, however you can find all of my art currently available for sale under "Shop Original Acrylic Paintings" - https://www.athenacooper.ca/shop-acrylic-paintings

Channeling my inner Bob Ross today. Here's a happy little tree... and here's another happy little tree... and here's ANOTHER happy little tree...

Continuing to pull this commission painting together bit by bit. I really like how the mountains turned out with their blend of teals and pinks reflected from the sky. My focus this weekend will be on trees. Many, many trees. I've been picking away at them all week, but there's a lot to go and there's really no way to do them quickly without losing out on all that interesting texture. I'll try to not to get completely lost in my snowy forest along the way...

#ThrowbackThursday - As I'm watching the leaves start to turn here in Calgary, I'm reminded of the fall colours I used snap shots of back in Vancouver. I find that here virtually all the trees go from green to gold with very little variation. In Vancouver however, there were more trees that would turn these brilliant reds and oranges in the fall. On a bright sunny day, seeing the light behind those leaves... wow, it was like walking through a living stained glass cathedra...l. One small problem though... you can't really count on that sun coming out in Vancouverparticularly when fall rolls around. I direct you to the last photo to see what a more typical wet grey fall day would look like. There were SO many times when I would be stalking those bright red leaves and just waiting for the sun to come out so I could get some halfway decent photos. See more

I received these lovely photos from the BC art collector who purchased my painting "Darkest Before". I love how she's showcasing this little painting in her home as it adds a little spot of colour to her living room arrangement. As an artist, it's just so great to see my work settling in exactly where it belongs.

It was so good yesterday to see blue skies again after all those smoky days last week. I find I'm taking more photos again as I try to capture the changeover from the greens of summer to the golds of fall.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the price of paint is different depending on the colour? This often surprises the non-painter folks when I tell them, but it has to do with how paint is made and the relative cost of different pigments. As you can see here, the cost of a tube of Cadmium Red is nearly double that of some of my other paint colours. It's not necessarily true of low quality, beginner paint, but once you get into the good stuff you'll start seeing the price differ...ences. It's worth it though. I painted with the beginner paints for a long time and I've simply found that the professional grade paints won't completely fall apart in the tube after only a year and go down smoother on to the canvas. It's basically like the difference between a cheap bottle of wine versus that pricier one that you know you're going to savouror so I'm told since I'm not much of a wine drinker. Happy painting! See more

Lots of paintings on the go right now! I spent much of today working on the under painting layer of this new commission piece. I find painting snow really interesting. There's this temptation to just go "well, snow is white", however snow shadows often have these fascinating shades of blue and purple as well. I try to use the under painting layer to bring those in, then lighten them in subsequent layers of the painting. You can see a sneak peek here of where this piece will be headed eventually as I continue to play in my painted snow. The photo is courtesy of my sister who captured this view during her train ride over the Rockies from Vancouver to Toronto.

"Ohmyfreakinggod I love this! It’s even lovelier in real life " This was the message I got from Valerie after her art print of "The Lighthouse and the Tugboat" arrived in the mail. She was the lucky winner of the last month's art giveaway contest for my newsletter subscribers and I couldn't be more thrilled to see her happy face alongside my art. If you'd like a chance at future giveaways, be sure to sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/dEP6sT... You can also purchase one of these limited edition 10x8" fine art prints for $20Cdn + shipping. Message me on FB or email me at [email protected] if you would like to have one of these to brighten up your world. See more

#ThrowbackThursday - I've currently got three painting projects on the gotwo projects I started on my own and a commission piece. I'm going to be starting another commission painting over the weekend, so needless to say, there's a good deal happening in my painting world right now. All of the pieces I'm working on right now are more in line with my stained glass inspired landscape style that has been showing up in the paintings I've done over the past year. This paintin...g that I finished last May"Pond Lily Lamp"was the last of my stained glass studies that I completed. You can also see the original lamp that inspired this painting as well. I find these studies are a great mental cleanser. I feel like I can bathe in pure colour for a bit and it leaves me refreshed and revitalized for my next work. I have some ideas for wooden boxes with painted stained glass style lids that I might play around with once I'm through my current projects. So many paintings, so little time. This original 14x11" painting is available for sale. It's $200Cdn and, if you're interested, please DM me or email [email protected]. You can also find the all my currently available work here: https://www.athenacooper.ca/shop-acrylic-paintings See more