What people did during quarantining in 2020 varies from person to person. For Alexis Bearinger, it was developing her new art style.
She officially launched her art business, Cudabeara Fine Art & Photo, in June of 2020. It features art skills and styles she developed during her childhood and the pandemic. From original psychedelic paintings to watercolors house commissions, Bearinger offers an array of services through her business.
Bearinger began taking photos at a young age, and to art school to learn more about photography. She would later drop out for her mental health and to expanding the direction of her art.
When the pandemic hit, she began exploring painting, and a more psychedelic style. She began doing art full-time and opened her art business.
“I decided to name (my business Cudabeara) Fine Art and Photo because I wanted to be able to take jobs that were anything related to anything basically,” Bearinger said. “I wanted to kind of utilize the fact that I am a little bit of a jack of all trades.”
Through her business, she does personal and commission paintings, commission watercolor paintings of houses, creative photo portraits, wedding and engagements photos, and more. She is looking into selling her original photography art for sale on her shop.
Bearinger and her art can be found on her website, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and her Redbubble shop. She sells prints, tapestries, mugs, bath mats, magnets, and more.
The Daily News spoke with Bearinger about her artic styles, how the pandemic affected her art and advice she has for local artists.
MDN: Were you always doing art, like photography and drawing, as a kid?
I think my mom was highly responsible for my love of photography, because she always had a camera on us (my brother and I). She always had photos of us, or she was always getting us disposable cameras to use our own, so I (took pictures) for fun as a kid all the time. I was always around photographs, so that was my first.
It is funny though looking back (at) kindergarten and they have you fill out those sheets about what you want to be when you are older. (Being an) artists was always top of my list. I always preferred art class, I was always drawn to it and it, was just something that I always wanted. In high school, I was planning on going into psychology because it was something I was interested in. But I had the notion in my head that I needed to get like a “real job.” So, I was going into psychology and then when I was getting ready to apply to colleges, I said to my mom one day, ‘I don't think I'm being true to myself. I'm an artist and I've always (been) one, and I think I need to run with it.’ She (said), ‘I think you should.’
How does photography fit into Cudabeara?
I've been trying recently to find more ways to integrate those two things. My personal work in photography really blends in with my psychedelic style artwork. I really like bright, bold colors and using abnormal light sources. But then I also have a love for doing portraiture and capturing moments, which I think is what comes from my childhood, like snapshot photography and like Polaroid work. I have two different avenues with my photography: one is (photos) that are experimental and creative, and then there are (photos) more personal to me, which is capturing other people's happy moments.
How would you specifically describe your art style?
I would say bold. Some people have said there is an element of nostalgia (and) have compared it to Lisa Frank from the ‘90s, which I think is really funny. Some people have said it is nostalgic and that is funny because I think that carries over into my photography work as well. I don't really know where the psychedelic side of it came from, it just kind of developed that way.
When and how did you develop your psychedelic style?
It really developed in the early months of 2020, and quarantine had a lot to do with it. It took a lot of reflection on my end. I had a lot of anxiety around that time that I was trying to work through the entire situation and the state of the world. I started reflecting on what was important to me, and I found that I hadn't been making art for a while that was just for me. It was mostly commission-based artwork and just making stuff for other people, which I found was good for keeping my technique and skills homed in, but there was something missing from it.
I realized that I was holding myself to a high standard to what I wanted my artwork to look like. When I started just letting go of what my artwork looked like, I started going back to faces and that has to do with my love of portraiture. I would start drawing these one-line faces, where you don't pick up your pen and you just draw with one line until you have a finished piece. I started making these interesting faces and shapes.
I wanted to get into painting basically. I used to mostly do drawings and sketches, but what I always imagined myself doing was painting and I wasn't really on that track. So, I started trying to experiment more with other mediums and acrylic paint was really what I (was) most drawn to. I always wanted to work with it, but I hadn't really. In 2020, when I was doing these one-line faces as practice, I started experimenting more with color and adding other elements into my pieces. (These include) bold line work and a cartoony style, which also comes from my childhood. I used to doodle cartoons all the time and I remembered someone telling me a long time ago that, ‘You shouldn't start with cartoons, you should start with realism, and then work your way to cartoon work.’ Because someone told me that, I started staying away from cartoon styles. In 2020, when I was doing all of this reflection and trying to find my style, I started going back to the things that I did in childhood, which I think is really interesting to reflect on.
It took a lot of soul searching to find what I wanted out of my artwork, but once I started letting go of this end-result idea of what I had in mind and working intuitively with my artwork, I started finding something that really works for me. That developed it into what it is today. I was very inspired by the ‘60s and ‘70s style art.
Do you primarily paint or draw?
I prefer to work with canvas or canvas boards. I used to do my sketch work before I started putting any paint on the canvas, but lately what I've been doing is I will do a spray paint layer for the background and then I will draw my sketch on top of the spray paint. It gives it a nice level of dimension because the background will be soft, but (have) bold colors at the same time. The blending is nice. It's like a blurred background, and one of the elements in my work that I really like is to make my work look like it is popping off the canvas.
The way that I do that is I have a blurred background, then full lines for the foreground, and then I always add a highlight and a shadow to all the shapes to make it look like it is really popping off the page. I like to make it look more like when you are looking at it, you would think it is something that was created digitally. It brings a second life to my paintings when I photograph them. When I put them on clothing or products because I'm skilled in Photoshop and trained in photography, I utilize those (skills) to make the images pop and look a little bit more digitally manipulated.
How has business been doing so far?
(My) main goal is to get to the point where I'm making money primarily off of selling my personal work, because that's what means the most to me. As of right now, I'm doing commission work mostly to keep consistent sales up, and I'm working on keeping consistent sales in my personal work. I'm learning a lot about marketing and advertising along the way, and while I learned some of those things in school, a lot of it I'm learning from experience.
The biggest struggle for me is keeping consistent sales. I will find that I will get awesome sales one month, and I'll be set for a while. Then some months, no one is feeling like buying artwork. A lot of it is teaching me to be versatile and find what works for other people as well as what works for me. I find that I'm extremely introverted, so it is difficult for me to adapt to what other people would want to see out of my artwork. I am trying to make sure I maintain a balance between what other people want to see, and what I like creating.
What do you do with housing commissions?
If someone's having a hard time selling a longtime home, a realtor will get ahold of me and a nice photo of the outside of the house. A lot of times they want something added or removed from the painting, so their costs for the commission will go up or down based off that. We discuss size, and all my commissions come framed and matted as well. So once they give me the photo all I need from them is a due date, and the size that they want from me. It is a really simple process.
I used to do these for fun. I was sketching them just completely by hand (and) by eye. I love the look of those, but they were a little more whimsical. When I started doing them as commissions for realtors, I wanted to make sure that I got all the details of the house correct. I will print the picture of the house, and sketch over it on my watercolor paper using a light table to sketch the outline overtop of it so that I get all the details correct. Once I do a pencil outline, I go in with pen or waterproof archival pen, and do an outline, and then from there, I can start doing the watercolor part.
The outline is what takes the longest because it (involves) getting all the details right. The watercolor part is super quick and easy. Watercolor is such a loose medium to work with that it is easy to build up layers. I will get it matted, framed, and then usually meet up with a realtor, and (make) a quick exchange. I usually get a text a few hours later once they give the piece to their client and people just absolutely love them. It is something they can take with them and remember their previous homes. I love doing it, because it's something that means a lot to the customers.
You mentioned having a job at the mall. Do you still have that job?
Yeah, I used to work at Spencer's at the mall. They put us on furlough, and I started making art and stuff. When they offered me to come back, I was back there for like two weeks and I realized that I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing full time over quarantine. I told them that I was just going to stick it out and keep doing what I was doing and see how it worked for me. I went down to the city and got an official business name and just started kind of advertising for what I do and it kept working, so here I am.
What advice do you have for artists trying to start their own businesses?
My biggest thing I can say is surround yourself with other artists and things that inspire you. As an artist, the most difficult thing I think is keeping that inspiration up so you can keep cranking out work all the time. What works for me is surrounding myself with other artists.
The other thing to keep in mind ... (is) to not get caught up in the idea that, ‘Oh my god, I have to get stuff done, I have to be productive, I have to do all these things.’ But you have to remember that you are doing it because you love it, you are doing it because it's genuine, and because it's something that means a lot to you. Everything else falls into place once you find that thing. Just remembering that, you're on the right track by doing what is meaningful to you.
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September 03, 2021 at 04:04PM
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Midland artist develops a trippy style during quarantine - Midland Daily News
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