Gina's Story - Gina Cochran

Did you know?

Gina Cochran was recently commissioned to create three paintings for the Denver Grand Hyatt.

a dream job, in real life

How often do you think of your dream job? Let’s face it. It’s not difficult to define a dream job. It pays you at least well enough, with the added reward of doing something you love. How many people let go of the security of a respectable, responsible but perhaps ill-fitting career path to take a leap into an unknown? One is Gina Cochran, a Birmingham, Alabama, mom and artist. With the support and encouragement of her husband, that scary unknown became a wonderful reality.

Painting is part of Gina: “Painting is something I’ve always done, but for me it’s always been more about the therapeutic, meditative value of the creative process.”

After obtaining a graduate degree in mental health counseling, Gina’s first job was working with “at risk” youth. “It was an extremely difficult challenge for me to leave work at work – I worried about the kids all the time. We were under-staffed, under-funded and over-worked, but under the very best of circumstances the job would have been hard on the soul. Every evening I would come home and paint. This was my ‘outlet’. After several months of this, my husband began encouraging me to take some time off work and paint. We crunched the numbers, it was a big risk, and although financially it didn’t look like the wisest choice, for us it was the right choice.”

her work

Gina began showing and selling her pieces in 2005. Her work is varied and eclectic. Occasionally, there are vestiges of impressionism. Some pieces have starkly primitive images in an otherwise abstract painting, while others are more organic in nature. One mixed media piece has a faint background of hand-written text which is almost illegible, but when asked she confessed it was the lyrics of a Sting recording that she was listening to in the studio while she worked on the piece. A section of this piece may remind one of an aerial view of boats along a Venetian canal. There is a relatively small portion that could be candles on a birthday cake. The title of the work is birthday cake. “The title is actually less about the image and more about was what was on my mind at the time; I was hosting ‘girl’s night’ that evening and we had plans to bake a birthday cake for one of my girlfriends’ son.”

inspiration

In June of 2006, just a month after her first show, Gina’s 2 year old son was diagnosed with autism. In the weeks and months that followed as Gina and husband Grant struggled to deal with this diagnosis, once again Grant gave her encouragement to work. “I was standing in the kitchen and my head felt like it was running circles around me, I remember Grant telling me that I couldn’t fix this today and that I couldn’t learn everything about autism today, but today I could spend some time in the studio, that I should spend some time in the studio working. And once again, art was my outlet. He tells me I’m a nicer person if I spend some time in the studio everyday. I think I would have to agree.”

In the two and a half years since her son’s diagnosis Gina has come to look at life and her work a little differently. “In one way or another, every piece is about real life – if I’ve spent some time at my son’s school I might be inspired to paint more colorfully or boldly. If I have been alone with myself during the day I might work more meditatively. My work is affected by my life, day to day.”

Gina's view

One of Gina’s most popular paintings and one of her personal favorites is her whimsical view of five red poppies titled how does your garden grow? “My work is about real life, my life, our son, our chaotic house, how DOES your garden grow? I have no idea! Mine is usually pretty messy and strewn with finger paints and colorful plastic toys, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

a rising artist

Gina’s work is gaining recognition well beyond Birmingham and Alabama. Gina was recently commissioned to create three paintings for the Denver Grand Hyatt. In 2006 Gina began doing juried art festivals around the Southeast. Although she has traveled to Tampa, Miami, Chattanooga, Atlanta and many other cities for shows, she lists her favorites as Magic City and Kentuck, right here in Alabama. Gina is represented by Soho Myriad in Atlanta, GA; Inspired…art for the Soul in Seaside, FL; and Willis-Gray in Decatur, AL.