Nicole Hanusek

nhanusek's picture
Neighborhood: Castro
_____

Please contact me if you plan on visiting during Open Studios.

Most of my artwork is influenced by my love of children's books, comic books and fantasy art. In my portfolio you'll find black and white line drawings, colorful paintings in acrylic and watercolor, and my new favorite, abstract octopuses. 

I struggled for a long time trying to find my "thing" in art and I have finally found it in the abstract octopuses. What I discovered while painting the first one was that I didn't have to make it look exactly like the image. I always put these rules on myself, the accurate police were going to come and compare my art to the photo reference and if it wasn't exact I would fail. These octopuses break that rule. I have so much fun when I'm painting them and each time I do a new one I'm thinking about what I want to try with the next one. 

Embracing that kind of joy is why I became an artist. When I was ten, I started drawing mermaids. I obsessed over it, and came up with clean two- and three-color palettes. By the time I was in seventh grade, the Little Mermaid was everywhere and when I drew her for myself, I felt the connection and I knew that I wanted be an artist. I dedicated myself to art in high school, and went off to the Savannah College of Art and Design. After a year, I came back to my native Ohio and transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Art and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration in 2000. I’ve been working as a professional artist and designer since.