Creative conversations with Poppy Dodge

Today I want to introduce you to the wonderful Poppy Dodge, who I was lucky enough to meet virtually while she lived in New Zealand. Poppy’s work is dynamic, fun and filled with colour pops. It’s an instant pick-me-up for tired eyes. I absolutely love how honest and down to earth Poppy is in this interview and I hope you find some encouragement for yourself.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Poppy Dodge and I'm a contemporary abstract painter based in Northern California.

Tell us a bit about your creative journey - how did you get to this point?

My mother was an eccentric, prolific working artist who taught by example how to live a life led by creativity. My first memories are drawing on my Mom's studio floor with crayons spread out everywhere. Although I'd been making art my whole life, I never really thought I would become an artist. I studied Sociology and Psychology in college and began a career in social work once I graduated. But, I started taking painting seriously about twenty years ago when I wanted some art on my walls in my apartment. What started off as painting in my bedroom at night became an absolute obsession. I started taking classes at the local community college in my free time and eventually went back to university to get my BFA in Traditional Arts. After graduation, I worked in shared studio spaces which allowed me to meet new artists and have new opportunities for shows. I worked part time as a children's art educator and part time on my art. My work was figurative and heavily into narratives- derived from relationships in my everyday life. I slowed down on my practice considerably when I began raising my kids. I struggled with my new role as a mother and honestly didn't know where my art fit in within my new identity and shift in priorities. It took several years until my youngest son started Kindergarten for me to really dig in and start painting regularly again. In 2013, we moved as a family to Wellington, New Zealand for work opportunity for my partner. The dramatic change inspired me to start painting consistently. I just had a desk to make work on at the time and I began exploring small colorful abstracts and feel in love with my new found acrylic addiction (much easier to have inside the house than my oils). In 2014, my mother died from Alzheimer's Disease. She was a prolific painter and potter and she was my everything. I began a new relationship with painting after her death. It became a time of memory, grief, and conversation with her. My abstracts started getting larger and my palette continued to explore bright hues and color, much like my Mom's palette. I moved from my desk, to an aisle, to the dining room table, then to the walls and eventually I took over the dining room entirely! I showed my work locally in Wellington and began making custom commission work for clients world wide. We moved back to California in 2018 and I am continuing my abstract painting practice in a makeshift studio in center of the house. It's not ideal, but it's great to be able to paint here and there through out the day.

Can you talk a bit about your work and the ideas behind it - what inspires it?

I'm an abstract artist unapologetically obsessed with color, texture, line and play. I think of my work as color celebrations; playful conversations between colors making sense of the world around me. I am a process driven artist who is all about layers. I start with thick, opaque layers and follow with translucent watered down washes to help achieve depth and texture. I pull combs and pencils through wet paint to continue strengthening texture and build line and movement. Warm and cool colors live in harmony in my work and are inspired by years of world travel and living in various places like the arid, craggy Sonoran Desert all the way to the bottom of the world in cool, crisp New Zealand. Influenced by my love of collage and textiles, my work takes on color stacking or building block like shapes - imperfect yet balanced. Strong yet precarious. I feel at ease in this state of so many moving parts and contradictions, making beauty and joy despite/ in spite of it all.

My current body of work is the Candy Jar Series. It explores my obsession with stacking color and shapes and is influenced by modern quilting and collage. The palette is bright, saturated colors making me reminisce about my collection of candy jars from childhood. I envision my painted color stacks as gem- like, loose, hard candies sticking on top of each other, precariously stacking yummy treat on top of yummy treat.

How do you fit your studio practice alongside your everyday life?

At the moment I am home full time and building my new body of work. My kids are in school full time, so I have a good chunk of time to create most days. My greatest challenge is managing the business side of being an artist. We are our own publicists, marketers, web designers, accountants, personal shoppers, sales staff, the list goes on! I am trying to figure out a balance, but am fairly certain it's an ever changing game.

Whats your greatest joy/biggest struggle as an artist?

My greatest joy being an artist is when the world fades away and I am completely lost in painting. All sense of time becomes irrelevant, language is lost, my mind is blank and I'm just in the moment creating. This sense of zen doesn't happen for me daily...maybe not even every week. But, I show up as often as I can with darn good intentions to find that zone. The flip side is the struggle. Struggles change for me. As I mentioned above, we move often and that flux is so difficult to make consistent work. It's also a struggle to build community and support. I'm working on this right now and my goal for 2020 is to apply to more shows, go to galleries and research where my work may fit in, and reach out and connect with artists who I admire and who may be able to give me advice/encouragement. Another struggle is sales and communication. I think that ties in with above when I mentioned my challenge of managing the business side of being an artist. Some years I have consistent sales and things fall into place well for me and some years are quiet. I want to get to a place where my business is always growing (even in small ways) and figuring out how to do that is very daunting. After all, I really just want to paint all day ;)

I know your mother was an artist - could you tell me how that influenced your childhood and your practice as an artist?

The best way to simply answer this is that she showed me that a person can BE an artist. I know that may sound small, but I have met so many people who struggle with being an artist because they didn't even really think it was actually possible. They didn't have personal examples in their lives to inspire, believe or even give (unconscious) permission. My mom had a painting studio and a ceramic studio in our house. Her dedicated spaces were so important to her and she was unapologetic in her daily practice and need to create. I saw her ups and downs, times where work sold and quiet times where her work stalled- and either way, she created art everyday with the same determination. She always told me I was an artist growing up. I loved that compliment, but I never believed it. I think her talent and personality were so large, I was scared my family and friends would compare me to her, and I was afraid of falling short. But, you can't hide from your heart and purpose in life. When art was finally no longer something I could push away, I told my mom I was going to pursue an art career. She was both happy for me and worried about the ups and downs and uncertainty it can bring. But, we loved the connection we shared. She developed Alzheimer's Disease just after I finished art school and that support and ability to relate and bounce ideas off each other stopped. I miss my mother so deeply, but I am so grateful I can open a tube of paint, grab my brushes and a canvas and feel her with me instantly. Besides my children, that connection is my greatest blessing.

I wanted to ask you a bit more about your process and how (and if) it differs with the different mediums you use - and did you used to paint with oils post art school?

I was a die hard oil painter in before art school, during art school and several years after. I love the texture you get with oils. There's a richness I only sometimes find with acrylics (and you gotta pay for it!). I love the process- the ritual of setting up my paints and solvents. It took time and care. I was painting figurative, narrative work with my oils and it lent itself well to that. Eventually I wanted more visually and texturally, and added mixed media- oil pastels, soft pastels, pencils and ink. I played with photo transfers. I loved how they looked on top of rich oil paints. But once I had kids, the time intensive oil paints became cumbersome. When we moved to New Zealand, it took several months for my "studio" to arrive. I bought my first acrylic paints in Wellington while waiting for that shipment and fell head over heals in love. It was quick drying and non toxic- I could paint INSIDE the house!! I haven't looked back since.

How do you feel your work has changed from when you started out till now?

Well, it's totally abstracted now. LOL! But, my palette hasn't changed. I have always been drawn towards a very bright, cheerful palette (even though I am not always the most cheerful person). I love yellows and pinks and contrasting them with deep blues and black. I always have. Looking back at my old work there was always abstraction in it- the background mostly. And that was always the part I loved making the most. I LOVE portraits and I miss making them...but I struggled and never found an authentic voice with them. With abstraction, even if I'm not breaking new ground, I feel authentic in my point of view and that pushes me to continue.

I’ve been loving your new 100 day project - can you tell us a bit about it?

I started the 100 Day Project smack dab in my explorations of my Candy Jar Series. I knew in order for the series to grow, I needed to explore what the fundamentals of the paintings were all about- color, shape and line and how they interact/play with and against each other. I decided to focus on "stacks" (#100daysofcolorstacks). This has meant deep diving into composition which has really challenged me. I've loved it though and have come up with a new body of work which has focused on favorite or vivid summer memories. The color stacks have been able to express time and place and emotion in a way I hadn't really anticipated when I started the 100 Day Project. The 100 Day Project is such a daunting project in so many ways, but the growth that happens is so worth it!

What's your advice for other artists?

This may be the hardest question! Everyone is unique has their own struggles and determinations. Besides the obvious- create work as often as you can- I would say, don't be afraid to be a beginner again. What I mean by that is, take new classes, travel to new places, learn a new language, try a new sport, pick up a new hobby--- not all at once! But every now and then. Shake things up. These new experiences will positively effect your creative work, your well being and your confidence so much. When we moved to New Zealand, I was so drawn to the landscape and nature and WOOL. I had been seeing a trend of tapestries on Instagram and I knew I had to try it. I followed my curiosity and took online classes and tutorials and taught myself how to weave on a homemade cardboard loom with my sons. We all caught Weaver Fever! I dived so hard into weaving...and it changed my paintings, my outlook, my confidence, even made me fall deeper in love with New Zealand. I started meeting fellow fiber lovers, taught weaving workshops, and learned a whole new medium to express myself. So, follow your curiosity- your "what if's" and "that could be cool"...good things will happen!

You can find more of Poppy’s work on instagram and on her website