a collaboration

Up until 4 years ago my husband Andy and I (while happily married) had very separate lives- we had our own friends, our own hobbies and interests and our own identities. We would say goodbye in the morning and head off on our separate ways for the rest of the day, sometimes only spending time together on the weekends. For many years this worked for our marriage but these days we spend all day, every day together! We run a business together, co-parent together, homeschool together...and while we still love our alone time and still have our own identities and interests, we are around each other all the time. And let me tell you...this lifestyle is NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! It can be challenging, annoying and down right humbling! The transition into this set up has taken us a few difficult years to get used to. There are days when I am convinced that our marriage would be way easier if we only saw each other on the evenings and weekends but those moments are fleeting.

It is when we sit down and collaborate on creative projects together that I am reminded just what a gift it is to have someone that you love by your side. And while we struggle, we disagree, we are weary some days, there is magic when we put our heads and our hearts together.

andy draw from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

This print is now available over in the shop HERE

collaboration art prints in the shop

As many of you know, my husband Andy and I really enjoy collaborating. While our style, process (and pretty much everything else) is TOTALLY opposite, when we collaborate something magical happens. I am happy to announce that we have picked a few of our favorite collaborations and turned them into art prints. In the coming weeks and months, we will be adding more. You can view all of the art prints over in the shop HERE

a family collaboration

This time of year can be challenging- it's raining, it gets dark early and this year we've all been battling the colds. All of these factors all add up to CABIN FEVER! And there is nothing better for the soul than a little creativity (at least that is what our family thinks). So we have been spending a lot of time at home and in the studio making art together as a family. If you are a long time follower you will know that we like to capture our process- we set up the video camera in the garage and let it records hours of our painting collaborations. It's really chaotic, super messy, sometimes challenging but always lots of fun and a great way to blow off some steam on those rainy days! We just finished our latest collaboration- this painting is paying homage to Andy's Indonesia heritage. I've put together a peek into our crazy process!

aa-collaborate from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

You can view all of our family collaborations HERE

the art of collaboration

If I am being honest, I am a bit of a "creative lone wolf"- I prefer to make art by myself and I typically don't collaborate or pull others into my process. But collaborating with my husband Andy has really opened my eyes to how wonderful it is to come together with another artist and make something really special. We are so different in a million ways (some of those ways create a lot of challenges in our marriage) but somehow when we make art together our differences are the best part of the process. If you haven't tried collaborating with another artist I want to encourage you to give it a try at least once! It is a wonderful way to push yourself in new and different ways.

face by Andy, pattern and color by Alisa

check out more of our collaborations HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

another collaboration

Once in a while my husband Andy and I like to collaborate on a project together (see here and here). And as many of you know, we are creative opposites. He has a serious gift for drawing realism and portraits. I am an expressive and colorful artist who loves pattern and making a mess. Somehow our creative strengths work really well together and when we collaborate on a project all of our differences fall away and we make magic! Here is a peek into our latest work:

the art of collaboration

My husband Andy and I are different in just about every single way but some how we manage to always come together in the best of ways. This last year- with the baby, the move and the challenges that occur when you make big changes- we've had to learn and re-learn how to be partners. Spending all day every day as stay at home parents, business partners and a married couple is hard work and it takes a lot of compromise. We are still figuring it all out and most days we drive each other CRAZY but we are slowly getting accustomed to our new normal. 

The most profound change that has come from this transition is discovering how great we are at collaborating with each other. From parenting decisions to to business decisions to daily stuff, it turns out we can come together with our individual strengths and make great things happen. Lately we have taken our collaboration even farther and started making more art together and collaborating on art can be challenging! You have to give up some of the control, trust one another, give each other room for expression and somehow find common ground. But if you can pull it off- the creative process takes over, you are able to problem solve together, your differences blend together, there is laughter, peace and the calm that comes with losing yourself in the simplicity of creativity. Before you know it- you've made magic!

This painting is for our bedroom and something we have been planning for the last few months- a large piece that brings together both of our creative strengths. We reserved a couple of days, set up a camera, pushed record and captured hours of our life and the process of working together (even Lucy got in on the action)! While I have hours of footage (and the painting is still being worked and reworked) here is a small peek into our collaboration

Alisa and Andy COLLABORATION from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.