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When I was a young girl it was expected that when someone asked me what my favourite colour was that I say: pink. Everything was pink; from the duvet cover to the walls. The first teddy-bear I received when I was born, my newborn body-suit, and the bouquet of flowers that sat in my mother’s hospital room. Pink. Pink. Pink. So of course, being surrounded by brothers and the blues, greens, reds, and blacks of boys colours, I didn’t care much for pink.
words by kayla gaskell
PORTEUS
But my issues with the colour have faded over the years and I now have pink (as well as blue) on my duvet. I have pink ornaments, patterns with pinks on shirts and scarves. I even have a pink duck on my shelf, gifted by a friend a few years ago. Reclaiming the colour meant too things: acknowledging that pink isn’t a girl’s colour and that the colour can be used to both calm and motivate. Ellen Porteus too, it seems, knows the value of colours as her typical palette takes advantage of a range of bright colours, in particular, pink. ‘Pink’ encompasses a wide variety of colours and shades, all of which give off a different feeling, impression, or flavour. Bright pinks are energetic and motivational whereas soft pinks are calming and refreshing. Porteus takes full advantage of this in her work, not just with pink but with a range of colours, keeping her palette bright and fun to look at. Porteus’ work is all about self-reflection and positivity. She uses bright colours to motivate and inspire her audience. She uses it to draw attention to social issues and reclaim the right for women to be unapologetically themselves. Many of Porteus’ illustrations portray women and women’s bodies in a positive manner, as well fighting the conception that bras are a necessary evil.
Despite my earlier sentiments about the colour pink, Porteus uses the colour well, not just taking advantage of the range of variations but also the feelings they evoke. What I love about this is using pink, a colour I always associated with being girly, to reinforce messages of female positivity, women supporting women, and women being successful as, undoubtedly, Porteus is. Not only does Porteus’ work represent her success, but also her ability to inspire others. She has a following of over 14,000 people on Instagram. Her work, to many, is a conglomerate of creativity, blending various concepts together in her unique style. Being a writer, I find it refreshing to take a break and look at art as it reminds you that the term “art” very is versatile. Art can be created in a variety of ways and in different mediums or on different platforms. Not only this, but artists tend to present their work as being only the beginning. The idea of endless possibilities is something which I personally find amazing. These possibilities make it possible for creatives to create new work. Every creative person—whether they be an artist, writer, musician, filmmaker, actor, comedian— dreams of the day they can quit their day-job and do what they love for a living. Doesn’t it just sound wonderful to have the freedom to write or draw or make music every single day? Without having to worry about changing your style or adapting your work to suit others in order to monetize it? While, for most of us, this is just a dream, there are a few magical people who have both the skill and luck to live the creative dream. Porteus is one of the lucky ones—someone with incredible talent, amazing drive to succeed, and the good timing to make it happen. Porteus studied graphic design at university meanwhile working hard to develop her own unique style. Porteus said that after university, “I started to develop my own style of illustration and began creating and publishing personal work on my blog.” It was through the blog that Porteus found her first paid illustration gig with Bloomberg Businessweek. She says: “From then I was hooked. I left my job almost immediately, told everyone I was an illustrator and made it work. Thankfully, it did!” Leaving a job to pursue your passion is the ultimate dream, one that Porteus lives. After Bloomberg Businessweek, she worked with a number of big-name clients including: Adidas, Apple, New York Times, and Sydney Opera House. When I asked about her clients, Porteus told me that she “feel[s] incredibly lucky to make a living out of art, and whether that’s for well-known clients or not doesn’t bother me at all. I get excited about an interesting brief rather than a client or agency its attached to.” Working with big-name clients also doesn’t necessarily infringe on Porteus’s creative freedom. She says: “Sometimes the bigger clients have more hoops to jump through in terms of getting things approved, but then again I’ve worked with some huge clients that have given me the most amazing creative freedom. It really depends on the brief!”.
www.theeyecreative.com
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