MR MAN
Cartoon Painting with Melissa Cootsana by Laurie Pace
The Man that entered back here in 2026.
Several years ago, in the summer of 2022, I took a workshop with Melinda Cootsona. We were all seasoned painters — artists with years (and in my case decades) of experience. Melinda’s gift was not just teaching technique so much as encouraging us to push past habit. She asked us to loosen control, take risks, and wander into unfamiliar territory. Magic appeared in unexpected ways.
©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2026
At one point she asked us to explore cartoon-like characters.
That word — cartoon — did not sit comfortably with me. I was trained as a fashion illustrator. My work has always leaned toward structure, refinement, and intention. “Cartoon” felt foreign, almost dismissive of the language I knew so well.
I tried once. I failed.
Then I tried again — and Mr. Man appeared.
He arrived without a plan. I wasn’t thinking of anyone specific. He simply emerged, brushstroke by brushstroke, as these things sometimes do when we stop directing and start listening.
He ended up with a long face. He’s wearing a dress shirt. He’s clean-shaven — typical of the men in our family. I still can’t decide whether he’s unhappy or simply deep in thought. Perhaps that’s why he stays interesting. He isn’t performing an emotion.
He’s occupied by one.
I enjoyed him enough that he has been hanging around on the wall by my computer — along with other exercises from that workshop — as a reminder of play, permission, and not overthinking the outcome.
What each day brings to you, don’t overthink it.
Live it. I live it in my studio.
Too much time at the computer is not healthy. Playing with color, form, and ideas — allowing thoughts to appear instead of forcing them — is creative joy for me. This small painting reminds me of that every day.
•contemporary figurative painting •expressive portrait painting •artist studio process • intuitive painting
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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