Riso Chan and Creative Honesty
A portrait artist living in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Angelia Maria Sierra — also known as Riso Chan — talks to Kardia Design Pulse about her creative process and and shares insights about the way art has shaped her daily life.
KARDIA: How did you come into painting and art making? Have you always been creative?
ANGELA SIERRA: I started when I was a child because my family members are all artists. My Mom is a sculptor, my Dad is a musician, my Grandma is a painter, my uncles and aunts are all into art except for a couple doctors. For me, it was a very natural thing to do. My Mom also didn’t want us watching TV, so we didn’t have one in the house and every time we said “I’m bored!” she would put a piece of clay in front of us. That was tough at times because she was always a bit extreme. In the end it really worked because I could develop my own imagination and become less passive and more active as a kid creatively. And I have it in me, I really like it. I’m grateful for that.
Of course, with creativity there are all these frustrations. Unless you get used to creative work as a kid, it’s very tough later on when you feel like you’re making something that isn’t turning out. That's why it was challenging. Everything I made I felt was bad. It’s really important to get over that feeling as an artist.
Lights Inside
2020
Watercolor and Procreate
K: Did you have any artistic relationships that helped encourage your direction and path to become an artist or define your creative identity?
AS: My Mom. She was the one who called me an artist as long as I can remember. In a way, she always said, “You're such an artist the way you look at things like that” and it was a bit ridiculous because I was a child. But I thought, “OK! I am an artist” so I grew up thinking I am 100% an artist. I think the fact that I was told so many times as a child that I was an artist made it really easy for me to make that choice. There are all these families that think art is not a career. So when I had to choose what to do because of that, it was a very easy decision.
I am also a teacher and it’s the story I always hear and almost every student says, “I wanted to be an artist, but instead I studied law.” And when you meet people who weren't happy with that decision, they finally choose to include art in their life again.
K: What do you think is the greatest duty of an artist?
AS: It will be different for every artist but for me it's to show my sensibility — my empathy, my inner world. How you show the world a new way to look and see things. Something that moves you emotionally so other people can see themselves in it. For me, making a painting is a very intense and intimate process because it's always about something in my life or maybe a tough feeling that I want to process and put there. Making all that inner work in the piece I think is important because then other people get moved by it. In return, they can also see the growth there was in that painting. Showing your sensibility and emotion in things.
Also, the other thing is helping other growing artists to learn the basics. Making art is really nice and important but so is touching other people's lives and enabling them to be able to create their own art and express their own sensibility through it.
I started teaching three years ago and it's the time I grew technique wise the most. That’s because as a teacher I was doing the basics and these things are all so instinctual and in my muscle memory because I’ve repeated them so many times. You discover so many things! Maybe for example some color palettes a student uses and then I become obsessed about it for a couple of years. I like to create portraits that have different elements. So for me it's very interesting to have a class of people and ask them — what would you add? Because in a way I am brainstorming for myself, too. So we’re all coming up with new ideas and some of them are for them but a couple are for me, too.
Bright
2020
Watercolor and Procreate
K: When you go into the studio, what does your day look like? Do you have any routines that you like to stick to? Do you sketch and then paint?
AS: Well all my days are a bit different because it depends on the project. So, right now I am building an online school even though my own work is painting. I’m booking the first hours of the day when I’m fresh to record some classes. And then after that I paint and for that the process is to begin with the most intuitive such as playing with textures, maybe abstract botanicals and with traditional media. I paint and then I digitize that and make my own art piece which is a bit more technical. Like the drawing of a portrait with shadows. So, I start from intuitive and playful and experimental and then I move on to the painting.
K: When you’re creating you transfer traditional artmaking on paper to digital?
AS: Yes. I make textures and then I can make for example a botanical. But it's all separate. I scan it all and put it together. I move things around and then on on the surface I paint digitally so the final piece is really digital.
Creativity
2019
Watercolor and Procreate
K: What things outside of the studio spark joy and inspire you?
AS: I am very obsessed with creativity so I love other artists and books and music and all types of art or even watching TV -- imagining the director with all his passion guiding everyone. So most of the things i really enjoy are creative but apart from that i have a lovely partner and cat and i live in Amsterdam which is an amazing city. I’m always happy when i’m walking through Amsterdam or riding my bike. And food of course, just small things little everyday meals. My cat right now is massaging me with her paws — that sparks joy doesn’t it?
I can’t generalize but from Amsterdam we see American culture as a lot more work driven. So here having overtime is not a thing or having three jobs is only something we see in movies. Life comes first and it's important in the European culture.
In the Netherlands, it's very normal to talk about what makes you happy. How can you get there was a new concept for me. The question is, what gives you energy and what takes energy away from you? Here in Amsterdam, people are very aware of not wasting energy on drama but rather using your energy to find happiness. I’m a really happier person since I came here 6 years ago.
K: Who are some artists that you are in awe of? How did you come across their work?
AS: When I was about 18, I was studying art and I came across two artists that actually have pointed me in the right direction for a long time. They are Agnes Cicile who does watercolor portraits — she does very emotional watercolor portraits — and Conrad Roset who made a video game called Gris and he was the creative director for that.
Again, when I was 18, Conrad became popular on Facebook making watercolor and ink portraits and full body paintings of women. At some point he started mixing watercolor textures with digital painting which was a new thing at that time. So he opened the path in a way for many artists. There is almost a current of artists I can see in Spain who have similar work. I did find my own way so you can see a similar sensitivity in our work but not following exactly what he does.
These artists were very important for me because they were managing to have an art career with very beautiful artwork. But also with portrait work and they were doing it over and over and it was always interesting even though I did not warm up to it early on. I thought it wouldn’t be possible to be a portrait artist. I felt like there was more work for illustrators.
Path
2020
Watercolor and Procreate
K: What are your favorite creative exercises that help you get the flow going?
AS: I start working with watercolor in the beginning of my pieces. Taking a big brush and making my paper really wet and then adding pigment on it to see how the pigment moves on its own. Maybe guiding it a bit and mixing in a couple of colors but that’s a very abstract piece at that moment. It's not going to be standing on its own, and that gives me more confidence. I make three or four of those and then move on to my ideas. It always starts with a bit of a game, where there is no pressure and everything is really allowed and new things are accepted. Normally when I’m doing this I get excited about something and have a really hyper moment. I can only find it if I really relax in the beginning.
K: What are some benefits of creating digitally? Do you have a preference on mediums used?
AS: It's a very flexible technique and you can change anything at any time and the transition is permanent. Some techniques you can add, but the texture of the painting changes. So whatever you do stays — and that's something that can be very blocking and frightening if you're trying to create something for an exhibition or a client. Pressure for the right outcome. So, that's the way I work and it takes the pressure off and always guides the piece in a more successful direction.
K: Have you ever experienced a creative block? What are some strategies that helped you resolve that “blocked” resistance?
AS: I have experienced creative block and the most recent was three or four months ago. My life was just at home like everyone else and at some point I just needed to leave to have more ideas. I couldn’t finish any artwork. But anyone who would look at me from the outside wouldn't think I was in a creative block. A creative block, for me, doesn’t mean that I don't create. Creating is my routine. It means that I am not able to love what I do. I am not able to finish what I do and to make simple decisions — of color or composition for example.
I get blocked on eerily simple decisions. I may be painting even more but the result amounts to nothing. Most recently, it kept happening over and over again for a few months and I realized it was an official block. What I do is say OK, I cannot finish things and make decisions and not like what I produce. So what I can do is study. I choose a topic and start making studies of it. This last month I focused on light and color temperature. I worked on representing light and representing temperature relationships in my portraits and things like that. Funny enough, it became so important for the work I'm making now. I think when you have a creative block it can be for so many reasons but for the most natural one is this — whatever you have learned, it’s not enough any more. Your eye has a higher level than your skill. Something is off. But your skill is not good enough to get there yet. And then you get excited because you create something you’ve never created before like a portrait that has more atmosphere in it. And then the block goes away naturally because I get excited about what I learned and then it starts again.
K: If you could speak to your younger creative self, is there anything that you’d want to say or share that you wished you’d known back then?
AS: Yes. When I was younger, maybe 7 or 10 years ago, at some point I convinced myself that my passion wasn’t good enough for making a career. Because I saw all these amazing illustrators doing children's books. I shared a studio with people working for editorial outlets and they always had clients and they were in a very different industry than the one that would be mine later on. So I convinced myself that portraits weren't a thing and I spent a lot of years trying to come up with a way to create other stuff. More children's illustrations followed but it never really fulfilled me. I did get some opportunities, but it always felt a bitter sweet. So that's why meeting Agnes Cecile was so important because she was painting portraits over and over and I asked her, “Why is that so important?” And she said, “Well, it’s important because they are important to me!” And it was so so simple.
I would say — follow your passion, don't look at how other people solved their creative career because it might be that yours is very different.
In Two Worlds
2020
Watercolor and Procreate
K: What are some challenges that you’ve faced, professionally or personally, that really helped shape your identity as an artist?
AS: I come from a very difficult family. It comes with them being artists and they have a very big inner world. My Mom and my Dad both had many struggles while raising me because they separated. I always had a lot of drama in the house, so I needed a way to avoid it and cope with it. So one of these coping mechanisms I got was just painting or inventing things with my younger sister. Like drawing together, so we could create our own world.
Another problem I faced was being very sensitive. In this world, at this moment as it is shaped and with the values we have, it is quite a challenging thing. I've always been super sensitive and feel everything really strongly. For a long time I fought with it and wanted to be cool. Couldn’t I just not care? So I spent much of my youth trying to turn it down and experimenting with drugs and what not. But at some point I started to say, ok I feel this and I feel it really strongly. Can I paint it? And this became my superpower and it comes from a struggle. It's really difficult being so sensitive. Actually all artists I meet are really sensitive people, and it’s not easy for your own image. Couldn’t I be a bit calmer, no? So I found a way to cope with it and help me with art.
And the third thing is about the coronavirus. For me, my career was always about school. I had started Bluemarthouse, I organized classes and invited teachers from all over Europe to teach intensive courses including local artists. It was very active and time demanding. It took a lot of responsibility but i was really proud of it. And I could never have stopped it but because of the pandemic I had to. So, with all my free time I took myself seriously as an artist and painted more. And maybe it was about time! Very quickly it started being my first job and now because of my own values, I'm building an online version of that school. But in a way that it doesn’t become as demanding. It helped me move forward.
The big irony in my life is that I spent so many years avoiding taking myself seriously. And once I did, it brought me so much success! People can connect a bit more with what I do now because it’s more honest.
K: What are some ways that your artist community can best support you?
AS: My courses will be released in November or December and through my Instagram, and I sell a couple of my prints on a shop called Imprint.
Support comes through signing up for my online courses, or buying prints. But I feel a lot of support already just by doing this interview. Knowing that people are excited about what I do, that's enough for me! Give me a second of your time and connect with what I do. That’s all.
Freedom, 2020 Watercolor and Procreate
To learn more about Riso Chan, visit here.