Art ... with sole
N.L. artist Marina Blake takes inspiration from her familiar surroundings
After living in Alberta for six years, Marina Blake bought a cabin on the beach in Birchy Bay, returning to her roots and continuing her passion for painting.
Blake was born and raised in the small community in Notre Dame Bay. No matter where she’s lived, she says, Birchy Bay, N.L., has always inspired her work as an artist.
“The sunsets over the bay, combing the little beaches looking for treasures, climbing the rocks, going for picnics, visiting family and friends... even in winter there’s skating on the bay, snowshoeing in my backyard, ski-doo trips and boil-ups. It all inspires me to be creative,” she said.
Blake and her partner, Kevin Guy of Musgrave Harbour, moved to Birchy Bay in October 2018.
FEETS BY MARINA
She got the idea of painting colourful pictures on footwear four years ago while scrolling the Internet for new ideas.
“I had a pair of grey, cheap running shoes in the closet. I knew, if I ruined them, it wasn’t a big deal. I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan,” she said of the artwork she created on her first shoe project.
Since then, Blake has painted everything from cartoon characters on shoes for her nieces to jellybean row houses on a pair of flats for her 84-year-old motherin-law, Doreen Guy.
Blake prefers to paint on white shoes made from canvas and uses acrylic paint for such projects. After she sketches the design on the shoe, the painting begins.
“Some colours take more layers than others... I sit at the table and watch TV and paint away.”
After the acrylic shoes are finished, she sprays them with a clear coat to ensure the paint doesn’t fade.
It can take up to 10 hours to complete a pair of shoes, she said, depending on the design.
Blake also paints on leather shoes, though special paint is needed for those projects.
“You have to prep the shoes, you have to clean them and put a solution on to take the finish off the leather. Then you paint them but you don’t need to coat them after.”
Blake’s love of paint dates to her time as a student.
In high school she enjoyed painting images on the backs of leather jackets.
Since that time she’s painted everything from a door knob to the side of a tractor trailer.
Many of her footwear paintings are Newfoundland inspired and include whales, fishing stages, flags, puffins, dories, and lighthouses.
Although she does take orders for wearable art and sells them, she says Feets by Marina is more of a hobby right now. She also hosts paint nights, and creates and sells oil paintings, murals, portraits, prints, and commissioned pieces of artwork.
CUSTOM ORDER
When Diane Davis of Gander saw Blake’s artwork on shoes, she wanted a pair to wear while attending the award-winning musical Come From Away.
A teacher at Gander Academy during the 9-11 tragedy, Davis’s story is told in the musical through a character named Beulah Davis.
Davis told Blake she’d like her shoes painted with a theme that would represent both Newfoundland and the musical.
She sent Blake a pair of her comfortable shoes, along with ideas for the artwork which, she said, had to include “Beulah Davis World Tour” and “Welcome to Gander Academy,” among other characteristics.
Davis said she loves the shoes which caught the attention of many people – both here and abroad.
“I wore them to the Elgin opening in Toronto, to Canada House in London for breakfast and to a press junket. Lots of people photographed them. Then (she wore the shoes) to the opening in London and countless parties this week,” she said when contacted via social media in February.
COMING FULL CIRCLE
After living in Ontario, Alberta, and even Gander, Blake said, she can honestly say there really is no place like home.
“There’s just something about the sound and smell of the ocean that really grounds you – being able to wake up and sit on your front deck with a coffee and enjoy the solitude... Artists paint what’s close to their heart, what they have a connection to. For me, that has always been my little hometown and this beautiful province. It’s so good to finally be home and be surrounded by it all again,” she said.
For more information on Feets by Marina visit Saltwater Studio on Facebook.