Greta Corens: "Peek Behind the Canvas"

The Artwork Factory® couldn’t exist without the incredibly talented artists & designers, who both inspire as well as challenge us with their creativity and unique perspectives…

It’s an extraordinary pleasure to speak with these truly gifted creatives about their candid views, personal histories & artistic visions. We’re honoured that they’ve been gracious enough to open their studio doors to chat with us about their artistic identities and equally so to share these candid “Peeks Behind the Canvas” with our subscribers.

Enjoy…

In this Edition we sit down with:

Greta Corens, U.S.A

Greta Corens saw the light as a painter of portraits and flowers, after a career as a fashion designer in New York City. She received an MFA at the prestigious St. Lucas Architectural Institute, div. St Imelda in Brussels, Belgium. Greta became a sought after fashion designer in New York City, while painting portraits, following her love for character profiles of people. She broadened her artistic perspective at the Antwerp Art Academy in Belgium. A beloved teacher guided her towards painting still lives in oils and watercolor. This led her to recognize the nurturing and elevating influence of baroque Dutch Golden Age Flower paintings during her boarding school years, and an intimate discovery of the effects of the elegance of flowers on her psyche unraveled in her paintings.

Returning to the US, as President of the prestigious Reilly League of Artists, NY she has held master classes. Prestigious galleries in New York and Connecticut showcased and awarded prizes to her Watercolor Flowers that announce her breakthrough as a realistic watercolor painter.

Greta,

Firstly, Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us…  This is a no-holds-barred arena to speak as freely as you'd like about whatever’s on your mind… So, let’s jump right in!

1) What are you doing when you’re not working on your art? What hobbies do you have?

I have had many hobbies: sportive, musical, crafts, esthetic, and intellectual. However, now I dedicate myself to practicing my art which fills my life, and afterwards, I read books, watch movies, write and travel. Last but not least, I spend time marketing my work.

2) What’s the most challenging aspect of being an artist and why?

The most challenging aspect of art is to find the right theme for the next series of works. Since the collection must to be true to oneself, an artist must dig from one's thought reservoirs and consolidate this into a new vision. Next to this challenge comes the demanding work of marketing.

3) What’s your creative process like?

I would say that my creative process is one of constant and deep longing to work, meaning to observe nature, faces or bodily movements, to life-draw and to paint. I am intense and immersed when painting, without a break. I like to draw in the company of people. Once the painting is finished, I like to market it, but I hold no more deep attachment to it. The process is over, and I am surprised that I made this 'thing'.  The process is what counts, and I can easily consider it as a 'product' after the flow fades away.

4) Do you ever experience creative blocks & how do you get past them?

The periods of thought and reflection must alternate with productive ones, and I never consider myself in a period of blockage. That would be too demanding on and rejecting of the psyche. I thrust in natural flow and what my inner world is telling me. Also, I allow myself the freedom to go from one subject to another and to just take a step away, knowing that all is preparation and development towards having something new to say.  In other words, I experience constant creative flow and do not fight with myself, and can access the easel at will.

5) What is the one thing that you absolutely can’t live without (professionally or personally)?

I cannot live without an inner sense or feeling of flow, in personal and professional situations. I sense and withdraw from jarring intrusions. This sense of balance sifts right from wrong for me, and it is a very good inner guide to own.

6) What’s your favourite medium to work with and why?

The texture and smell of paper cannot be replaced by any magical computer. The same goes for paint and brush in hand. Artists know the difference. However, I love every artistic tool, and the computer is a sensational one! All art supplies are inspirational.

7) Name a place & time, from the past, that you’d like to visit & why?

I would feel dreadful to visit the past, due to it's great miseries. However, if I would love to visit Mozart, Fragonard, Frans Hals and Jan van Dijck.

8) If you could share a studio for just one day with any artist, present or past, who would it be and why?

Vincent Van Gogh, trekking in Arles to the fields. The why of it is that the man concentrated a lifetime of achievement of the highest order in just 10 years and it follows that he was utterly unique. In other words, one of the greatest and most productive geniuses that ever lived in art.

9) What do you see as the greatest impact of art in today’s society?

The more schools deny the study of art, the more the older people resort to practicing art as soon as they retire. However, to be able to become a great artist as a result of knowledge, practice and exposure has been denied them. It is no luxury to become an artist, but essential, and marketing one's work via art oriented websites can now be found easily for niche marketing. This has the greatest impact on today's society as I see it, like a people's revolution from the bottom up, in order to access what they urge for: practicing art! That shows that real things cannot be willed in a straightjacket. The Internet provides ways to eliminate obstacles in people's way and have direct access to one's self-deployment.

10) What would people be surprised to learn about you?

People may be surprised to hear that as a practical esthete I am rooted in reality, with a keen sense of balance. I consider art a business as much as an inner creative disposition, something I know that many artists abhor. I am not an avant-garde-ist. On the contrary, I am a 'normal' person who fits in with 'society', but am apart in the way that I reform, meaning in that I translate what I experience into a new creative vision and opportunity.  It is a consequence of  my previous design career. Also, people are surprised to see the facility of my creative abilities and concrete acuteness of vision when I draw or paint, in the way that my portrait drawings or flower paintings are instantly exact renditions of what I see. One must be rooted in reality to be able to render as is, and not 'a version of oneself'.

11) The internet… A blessing or a curse for young artists wanting to market there works?

The Internet is  great and wonderful! Definitely a BLESSING. So many research paths accessible, so many marketeers and markets available, if my art is for sale. It makes for focus on sales and reaching out to one's market and buyers! This in contrast to all the social networks that are much too round-about ways for potential markets, and possibly a big hobby instead of a big professional resource.

12) Do you have any creative insights or tips for aspiring artists?

Aspiring artist: the only way to learn who you are is by working, producing, and this is the way to find out what it is you have inside yourself to make you become meaningful and unique to the world. Then find your niche, because each one of us has a niche market and a marketer who needs you!

13) Anything else that you’d like to mention that we didn’t ask?

Internet marketing and sales provide so many quality opportunities for artists, if artists allow with grace to let their work be managed by an unknown salesforce. However, the rules and standards are exactly the same as in face to face marketing and sales transactions, because there are people behind the faceless Internet channel! The world is small, this site may be operated overseas, but I feel that I belong in this wonderful site that does so well what would take me ages to do, to set up or to learn, and then not half as well! We are an extended team spread across the world, and that includes my editors and my buyers the world over! JUST GREAT!