Acrylic and Fabric Markers on Hi-top shoes. Estonia. Spring 2017.
As I am highlighting my Estonian collection of Paintings, I can't skip out on the shoes!! I have been making a pair of shoes for myself every Spring here in Estonia. 😉 I want to kick it back to 2017 for this one. Some of you have already seen this pair before, but for sake of variety, I will walk you through the years in my shoes. For the others who haven't seen these before, then I hope you enjoy these shoes as 'new to you!'
Some background first: I started off my art career looking to be a well rounded artist. Over time, though, painting shoes became my bread and butter. In my early art days, I was learning how to tattoo. Shout out to Tattoo Lou for that. Although tattooing didn't really pan out for me, I painted on my first pair of shoes during this time. I was never big on shoes before this, but it really piqued my interest. I made a few pairs, and then my aunt Mary and cousin Chelsea reached out to me to do some art events in 2012 (painting UGG boots 😊). Shout out to them for that ❤. This prepared me for the TOM's shoes events at Firefly music festival (2013-2015). I was an event artist there for 3 years painting shoes on demand. I met some cool people and learned how to set up an Etsy account. I sold custom shoes on there for a few years before I moved to Estonia. It's a quick summary, but this should bring you up to speed on my shoe journey!
Tattooed Shoes - Pacific Northwest
In the Spring of 2017, I had just started my new job and moved into my apartment in Tallinn. I did not have a lot of resources available to me at the time, but I had a few markers for this project (black, red, and beige as you might see 😅). What can you do with three markers? Most of the shoes I painted were wall to wall color, or sports logos. Thinking back to art styles using three colors my mind drifted to old school tattoos. Not a lot of blending, just lines/shading and a few colors to make it pop!
I drew some tattoo flash, but it didn't suit. Even though I painted many shoes in the past, I did not make very many for myself so I wanted something different for these shoes. These all-star knock-offs (Shout out to Dunlop for that) were my first chance to express myself, in a place where not many people do that 😁
Indigenous art of all sorts has always fascinated me. That romantic idea in the real old times, of pulling something out of the world around you and capturing it in an art form. Cave paintings, rock carving, or in this case, Totem Poles!! I had never attempted this form of art before but I had always wanted to. I drew primarily on the Haida art references I could find.
I chose the sea and the sky as a theme for these. Figured I am already walking on the earth, so I brought the sea and sky to me 🦅 🐠. I had a fun time with these. It really opened my mind to combine the technical skills I was using for some designs without having to paint the whole shoes. I utilized the black background and added a few colors. They stand out with subtlety instead full in-your-face color.
This is also when I started taking a more Tattooed Shoe sort of approach to my shoe designs. 😉
You read my blog and that means a lot to me, to have someone to share my art life experiences with. Shout out to you for that!
☮♥RSM.
Pacific Northwest Art:
I dug up an old video on YouTube that covered one of the TOMs events I worked. Enjoy this gem from 2015...you might even see me in the background 😅
The Etsy page I started. Drop me a message on there!
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