Megan Nolton is a talented artist from Washington DC who is the owner of Etsy shop Art Shark. She specialises in whimsical and romantic gocco prints of a cute couple holding hands under red umbrellas in cities all over the world.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I live just outside of Washington, DC
with my husband Devin, two mischievous ginger cats and one crazy little
black and white bat-eared corgi mix pup named Rorschach. I have a
B.F.A. in graphic design from James Madison University in Virginia.
Getting my art degree was one of the happiest times of my life, because
I could learn anything I wanted, and got to take classes in so many
mediums. Another bonus was that homework doubled as Christmas presents
when I didn't have the cash to buy anything- all of my family members
have their own hand dyed and woven queen size blankets from when I
needed a few extra credits and kept taking independent study in
weaving. Now it's a bit harder to find the time to take art classes,
but I still do when I can! I also love photography, traveling, sharks,
will read anything I can get my hands on, have a serious library
booksale addiction, and would have probably 20 rescued animals living
with me if Devin wasn't around to give me a reality check about how
much 20 animals would eat!
What first made you want to become an artist?
I
don't remember an exact moment or anything, but I do remember my
parents sending me to a lot of art classes when I was a kid at places
like the Corcoran and the Torpedo Factory, and this great little hippie
grade school on a farm that put so much emphasis on art that they had 2
full time art teachers with MFAs who taught things like woodblock
printing and ceramics to 1st graders. That school was bliss. I spent
most of my days making art, running through the forest, swimming, and
playing with farm animals that roamed free through our
"classrooms"(really just a bunch of nice barns). I didn't learn a lot
of concrete things like math, per se, but I did learn how I wanted my
life to be. Really, it was always a part of my life. Hand me a scrap of
paper and it'll come back to you completely obscured with doodles. Even
if it was something important, I generally forget and draw on it
anyway. This does not always go down so well at my day job as a
paralegal - lawyers do not like it when the deposition you were supposed
to file has vampire kitten drawings all over it, even if you are
related to said lawyer.
Who are your favourite artists at the moment?
I
always like Kandinsky and Toulouse-Lautrec, but mostly my favorites are
illustrators: Edward Gorey, Chris Van Allsburg, Maurice Sendak, Eduard
Erlikh, to name a few. I love fashion illustration, and I have a rather
large collection of childrens books for a 20something with no kids. I
could probably write a paper tracing bits of my personality back to a
specific book. Case in point: Peter Spier's Oh Were They Ever Happy is
the reason why I painted every room in my first house a different color
(and I mean everything from bright orange to lime "ectoplasmic residue"
green. yeah, that was a Ghostbusters reference. Any respectable child
of the 80s would make one). The colors didn't all go together all the
time, but they were bright and fun and oh was I ever happy!
What are your top five favourite movies?
Tough,
but I'd have to say Funny Face, Pride & Prejudice (the 6 hour BBC
deal with Colin Firth), Waiting for Guffman, Wallace & Gromit, and
The Nightmare Before Christmas. I can't get enough of stop motion
animation.
Where do you see yourself in five years time?
I'm
hoping by that point my little shop will help me to leave my full time
job so I have more time to create. Finding some freelance fashion
illustration work or a childrens book illustration deal would be pretty
sweet too!
Thank you so much Megan! All these pretty images can be found in Megan's Etsy shop Art Shark! From the top: Venice Love Gocco Print. Below that: Paris Love Blue. Bottom: San Francisco Love.
