For artist and ModStylist,, every face tells a story. Markeeta captured the spirit, heart, and hardship of the women featured in her collection of portraits for the ModCloth Blog, Women of Black History Series. Expressions of hope, pain, courage, and triumph are present in the faces of these historical women and Markeeta used every brush stroke to shape the complexity of each story.
Today, Markeeta tells ModCloth Blog about her creative process and how community inspire her work.
ModCloth: When did you know you were an artist? How did you get into painting?
Markeeta: I knew I was an artist when I was 7 years old. I taught myself how to draw cartoon characters from an educational TV program for art. I would practice it almost every day and even in school. My 5th grade art teacher recognized my talent and recommended me to a creative performing arts school where I worked on my craft for 8 years in middle school/high school. I got into painting when I was freshly graduated out of college during the pandemic. I posted my art from time to time on my social media until a good friend of mine asked me to do a big portrait painting of her for her home. Since 2020, I’ve been passionate about painting ever since!
ModCloth: For the fellow creatives in the room, what is your creative process? How do you stay focused on your subject and vision?
Markeeta: My creative process comes in 7 stages: inspiration, ideas, planning, production, critique, rework, and presentation. The process of my work is very important to me especially because it was also made aware of the importance of going through the process when starting projects in school. I allow myself to just flow with my process and stay open to
any changes that may come along the way. I stay focused by allowing myself to set time
to work on my subject and take breaks when my body pulls me to. It can be easy to get
lost in your subject and vision and it can become frustrating. It helps to take a step back
and gain a different perspective of my piece with where the progress is at the time. It
shows me the possible changes I can make to the piece, while also showing what works
within my painting style/technique. It creates a balance for me to focus on my art
individually and to step back and take a look at my vision in another lens.
ModCloth: Each face you paint is such a vivid likeness but you are able to add your creative edge to each piece. How do you balance between what is real and what is art?
Markeeta: I believe the creative edge I add to each piece is what makes each one different and unique and I like to connect that to the subject itself, haha, PEOPLE! People are different and unique in their own way, but since I am the creator of the paintings of the people, I create a balance between adding the real features of their appearance and then adding in my style to add to the personalities and show who they are from my perspective.
ModCloth: What drives you creatively to paint portraits? What is it about faces and portraits that inspires you?
Markeeta: The funny thing about that is, people drive me to paint portraits! Also, viewing the world around me inspires me . I usually use my social media pages and come across people who spark ideas in my mind or I may see an artwork being created from another artist I follow, that drives me to come up with an idea from that piece, to showcase my own
portrait style. Faces and portraits just allow me to visualize automatically, but I also find it
interesting to view someone from your perspective. I’m sure we all would want to know
how we see ourselves, outside of ourselves, but instead we have other people to do
that! Haha! Being able to create portraits from my perspective is just amazing because I
don’t want to take away the authenticity of their appearance, but just adding to it from
using their vision and mine combined. I want it to be “what they wanted/envisioned”,
because I believe it’s important that people, as individuals, have a say in what they
want/how they want to look. So, I allow them the freedom to speak their vision, as they
do the same for me. With our visions combined it creates a beautiful version of that
person each time. Even if it is a portrait I’m doing by myself, I still gather people’s
thoughts or ideas for inspiration to further expand the vision I’m creating for the piece.
ModCloth: We see some famous faces in your work. Who are your icons?
Markeeta: My icons in art are Frida Khalo, the 4 main Renaissance artists (Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello). I also have a few current artists I see as icons as
well which are: Trenita Finney, Kehinde Wiley, and Arcmanoro NIles.
ModCloth: Which portrait in the Women of Black History series did you enjoy painting the most?
Markeeta: I enjoyed Katherine Johnson’s painting the most because I am fascinated by outer space
and it’s incredible to know she was the mathematician who helped send astronauts to
the moon!
ModCloth: Of all the women you painted for the Women of Black History series, who would you want to meet?
Markeeta: I would like to meet Phillis Wheatley because I am a big fan of poetry and I admire the poems she wrote especially being in a time where as a Black woman, your voice was not heard or you were just looked at less than the people around you. I love the fact that she used her poems as an outlet to express herself.
Enjoy on the Women of Black History series on the ModCloth Blog.
