How to: a Commission for Musée Rodin

I usually get up, make coffee and a simple breakfast and I work all day.

My work is very enjoyable so this isn’t a bad thing for me. In the evenings, I go for a jog, cook dinner, play music and read or maybe watch a movie. The last movie I watched was Blow Up directed by Michelangelo Antonioni – so good. I have ideas for some illustrations based on stills from the film.

Sometimes I leave the house to visit friends, or go to a ballet class – those are the days that are out of the ordinary. I have a hard time leaving my work sometimes.

We live at the base of the Catskill Mountains. My window looks out into the forest. There are trees outside my house that little birds really love. Hundreds of them nest in the trees right there and it sounds like something out of a fairytale.

It smells good here!

Right now I’m burning cedar incense so it smells like I’m in a little indoor forest.

For me, a soft pencil captures the best of my ideas. Once I am ready to solidify the ideas, I typically use gouache. The Musée Rodin wanted the sculptures to be accurately represented but still very stylized. I think layering linework over graphic shapes helped bring that request to life.

I haven’t visited the museum. Last time I was in Paris is was next on our list but we didn’t make it there so on my next trip it will definitely be at the top. I love the softness of Camille Claudel’s work. Although she was often compared to Rodin, she had her own voice. She did have a sad story – I’m sure it was hard to receive recognition as a female artist back then.

SURPRISE GIFT BAG [Original Design Emily Isabella for Impression Originale], distributed by Musée Rodin in Paris.

In a way, I feel most at home in France.

I spent a semester abroad in Provence when I was 21 and those days are some of my most cherished. I think I really found my artistic voice in France and things clicked for me there. My favorite art lives in the Museé d’Orsay. Vuillard is my favorite artist and Toulouse Lautrec is a close second. There is a room on the first floor that houses two of my favorite pieces by these artists and I wish I could live there.

I recently designed a tea set for kids! I loved that sort of thing when I was little so it was exciting to think about how my childhood self would have been so excited.

It’s a secret: Emily likes to eat gummy bears in the winter – but only few each day.