Blank Slate: Featuring Veronica Triplett

Welcome to this month’s installation of Blank Slate, a community collaboration project where we invite talented Houston-based artists to doodle upon a giant chalkboard wall in our office.

On a routine Etsy “favoriting” binge a few weeks ago, the cutest little narwhal and llama prints we have ever SEEN popped into view. This girls’ approach to her animal subjects was so enticing: simple, defined and ADORABLE. We immediately favorited that ‘ish and invited Veronica Triplett (a.k.a The Barking Bunny) into our office.

And we are SO glad we did. Veronica approached our wall with little fear, immediately going in to sketch her disgruntled lovebird pair.  Gus, the office cat, has been trying to catch and gobble up the two of them ever since.

Describe your style as an artist.
My style is all about graphic lines, uncluttered simple designs and bright colors. I love to make things that appeal to the daydreaming, “lose my mind because that thing is so cute”, lovesick side of people. If it makes me smile or draws out some type of longing emotion in me then I know that I am on the right track.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you created for The Black Sheep Agency office? Where did you get the idea, and what do you want viewers to learn from it?
The work I created for The Black Sheep Agency is a design I have been working with on a small scale for a few months now. I really wanted to reformat it for the scale of the wall and add some simple text to give the imagination license to weave a little story. I loved the idea of the disgruntled little birds representing the tenacity of love, so I chose to add the little heart and the words “Love Persists.” I don’t necessarily want people to learn from the piece; my hope is that they get lost in it. I want the piece to make people smile and on some level dream of getting a stubborn, persistent love of their own.

What inspires you?
All things adorable. If it gives me the same feeling like a pile of kittens or seeing my dog at the end of the day, then I want to attempt to capture that emotion and express it in my art.

If you could be any artistic tool — pencil, crayons, oil pastels, computer, etc. — which one would you be?
I would be watercolor paint. It is hard to master, but once you figure out its secrets you can make it bend and flow. It’s never consistent, never the same. You have to be ok with controlling chaos and change, then embracing the result.

What is your favorite thing you’ve created?
My favorite piece created up to this point is a giant golden paper mache octopus lamp I made for installation in Berlin. It hung in space with little hand embroidered paper heart doilies with different “I ____ you” statements cut into each one. A small music space called Miss Hecker gave it a permanent home and now it hangs over their main stage.

What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
Hit the snooze button and pretend the alarm never happened.

What is the first thing you do when you begin a new art project?
Clean up my studio, put on This American Life and pour myself a gin and tonic.

Artists are notoriously weird. Prove it. (Or argue it.)
I have an unhealthy obsession with miniature horses. If I could make a living doing it, I would travel the country competing in mini-horse chariot races with my tiny steeds. It’s a real sport, look it up. I would also hitch them up to take me to work, go out and run errands. Hell, I would sell my car and make a mini-horse chariot my primary mode of transportation.

Has anyone ever said to you, “I don’t get it?” If so, how do you respond to that?
I laugh and say, “You don’t have to, someone else will.”

Fill in the blank. “I would die without ________.” 
Regret.

What advice do you have for other creatives?
If you have a gift, use it now. Tomorrow is too late. Our endless days are numbered.

Where can people see more of your work?
At www.facebook.com/thebarkingbunny
By private appointment at The Barking Bunny Studio.