Merrie Okie spent time traveling abroad, during which she had shows in Sydney, Australia and Bali, Indonesia.  Merrie was commissioned by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to paint a 200-foot mural in a downtown Los Angeles housing project with the help of the LA street gang Dogtown.  Her artist talents turned to the film business when she was hired as Art Director on the indie film “When the Party’s Over” and several of her paintings were featured in the movie. She was hired to open and design a store/gallery on Main Street in Santa Monica. Her art was also exhibited at the Salon Des Independences at the Grand Palais in Paris. Merrie was a featured artist in VIV Magazine and has done graphic design work for “Q” Advertising Firm among others.

For the past twenty-three years, Merrie Okie has lived on the central coast of California with her husband and two sons.  She is an Art Ambassador for WILDCOAST donating an artwork each year to support their amazing conservation work. This important, annual fundraiser raises money to fund initiatives that conserve ocean and coastal ecosystems and address climate change through natural solutions. They envision a society in which ecologically sensitive and globally significant coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife are conserved, restored and sustained for future generations. https://wildcoast.org/

Merrie sells directly out of her studio and keeps busy with commission work.  Merrie’s past projects included several murals, including a 12-foot mural painting at The Little Village. Future art project inspiration includes a trip back to her favorite islands Bali and Kauai, and teaching art sessions in Florence and Provence.

I am inspired by art, nature, cultures, movies, books, nature, and humanity. I am motivated to create images to relay my experience or feelings. One of my favorite paintings is the birth of Venus, by Botticelli. It is a masterpiece and symbol of love and beauty in both the spiritual as well as physical terms. The painting represents humanistic values and a medium to get closer to the divine. I am inspired by the values and beauty of this painting. Painting and mixed media allow me to relay my feelings and experiences in a different medium than writing or speech. All good stories must be able to convey a thought, reflection and meaning to a person who was never part of any of those experiences. I use my paintings as a means of telling stories. I am terrible at spelling so I started drawing & painting knowing no one could tell me my artwork was wrong. They could say they don’t like it, but I could never be wrong. I believe creating stories in color and paint is one of the most expressive creative ways of sharing the human experience. From the beginning of time man has had the urge to create. From the handprints found in caves across our globe to street graffiti there is a desire to communicate and tell one’s particular story.  I believe art can communicate religious beliefs, shed light on elements of society, educate and even showing that we are capable of doing something no one else has tried before. I make my paintings to tell stories.

I may start out with one image, and it evolves as I go along. I call it a conversation in color and shapes. Art can be used to convey an experience that is common or uncommon. My inspiration can come from a daily occurrence or a unique event. Sometimes there are simple words to explain my thoughts and sometimes I feel I can represent these ideas in my paintings. Fun fact- Pablo Picasso and I share the same birthday and I love this quote,

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls

I use acrylic paint, watercolor, pastels, colored paper, mixed media applique to name a few of my mediums. I never start a painting thinking about where it will end up living. I paint the idea because I think the artistic challenge will be energizing and I have this strong desire to see it made on canvas. I would like the viewer to understand that my creative process is like a friendship. You need to spend time with the artwork to see the layers.

My creative process and medium of choice is layering, scraping, gluing, drawing and acrylic, watercolor, oil painting. The process is important as I see images develop on the canvas and that might take me in a different direction than originally intended. I draw inspiration from nature, friendships, other emotions, music, and other artists. Inspiration impacts my imagery, especially Frida Kahlo, Diane Arbus, Georgia O’Keefe, Grandma Moses, Faith Ringgold, Van Gogh, Botticelli and too many to list. These all impact my work in that I am always trying to share emotions in the hope the viewer will get an emotional response.