About
I am Chelsea Olsen, a block print, watercolor, and marker Artist. I enjoy putting the styles together in unexpected ways and adding bright, bold colors to a lot of my art. I live in Yelm, Wa and enjoy exploring the Pacific Northwest with my kids. This is where I get a lot of the inspiration for my work.
Artist Statement
Coloration Chaos:
Visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red green blue and others along with any variation quality or property thereof.
Complete disorder and confusion; behavior so unpredictable as to appear random.
How humans see different types of light, and how our brains and eyes understand all the differences in colors.
A state of confusion or disorder; total lack of organization.
Coloration Chaos is the name I chose for my business because I feel it represents my art as well as my life. I am a Homeschooling mom of two young boys and our family is neurodivergent. This means navigating most days has an element of chaos. We are a family that will drop everything to go see the sunset, drive two hours to see an aurora, or hop in the car on a random afternoon to go on a new adventure. We love to connect with nature in the Pacific Northwest.
I bet you’re wondering how this applies to my art? I love colors! I love adding them and using them in different ways. I also love making small changes to things and adding a little of my own chaos to my art! One example of this is my logo. For this piece I used markers and watercolor. I wanted it to represent my family’s favorite places to visit in the Pacific Northwest: Cape Disappointment Lighthouse and Mount Rainier. I used the sunrise and space as the back drop for this piece because I love the way the colors mix in the sunrise and I love stargazing with my kids. I also included a compass rose to represent my family’s love for adventure, but I turned it slightly sideways to represent our chaos. North is pointing to the Big Dipper, representing me and my husband. South is pointing to the Little Dipper, representing our children. I also surrounded it with the phases of the moon to represent the passing of time and phases of life.
The process for a lot of my art begins with an adventure with my kids and sometimes my husband or a friend or two. We explore a new place and I take lots of pictures of all the things I see. I use my favorite pictures as a reference for my block prints. The first and probably the most important step is to make sure you reverse your image because you’re essentially carving a giant stamp. I draw the reversed image onto artist’s linoleum then I use little curved knives to scoop out the parts I want to be white or be able to paint. Once my image is carved, I ink the linoleum, place it on a piece of paper, and run it through a press. With this medium I can make the same image multiple times. I leave some unpainted so it’s just the paper color and the ink color. Most of them I paint, so even though the images are similar they can turn out very differently and each one is an original piece of art. Most of my block prints are used to make greeting cards, but I also do bookmarks and some larger block prints as well. The reason I like greeting cards so much is because it’s a small original piece of art that most people can afford. Also, the size is fun because cards are easy to gift. When people have a connection to a place I printed on a card, I get to hear a part of their story or the story of the person the card will be going to. I have heard stories from everyone from mountain climbers to commercial fisherman and visitors from other places who had never seen tall mountains or the ocean before! I love making connections and then sending a piece of my art off on its own adventure.
One of my favorite things to include in my art is lighthouses. A goal of mine is to get a photo of every lighthouse open to the public in Washington. I’ve visited all of the lighthouses in Oregon, and am working on cards for each one! For me a lighthouse represents new adventure, but also finding your way back home. There is something comforting about them. I want to discover new landmarks in the Pacific Northwest and further that I can explore with my family and, then with my art, create connections with new people.
Recently I started exploring collage; putting all my styles together with pieces of my art that didn’t turn out the way I wanted. The first collage I did is called Essence in Art. It is kind of an abstract portrait of me using pieces from seven different block prints, watercolor, and markers. The individual rising out of the water represents me changing and finding the time for my art and my exploration of the world with my family. This piece also includes some of our favorite places in the Pacific Northwest, my favorite constellation and the unexpected orca jumping over the moon as the sun sets. I also really like this piece because it’s a way of taking art that I considered not up to my standards and altering it to make it something I am proud to put out into the world. Art doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.
Coloration Chaos is a metaphor for my life in the Pacific Northwest. It’s my way of documenting and sharing my love of nature and exploration. As an artist and homeschooling mom it allows me to create meaningful connections. My adventures become my art,and my art becomes my connection to my community. My art is taking flight and this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more Coloration Chaos!
Artist Biography
As long as I can remember, I’ve loved art, creating things, and putting things together in different ways. When I was young one of my favorite things to draw was orcas and underwater scenes. As I got a little older I discovered lighthouses and I love to draw them as well. Once I got into high school my art became more abstract. I liked to use lots of small details and lines. I traced people‘s hands and then I would ask them to tell me about themselves. I would add little things about them hidden on their drawn hand and hide their names as well. In 2003, I received the Judges Choice award from the Kettle Falls Historical Center for a piece I did that was an abstract hand with a heart on it. After high school I went to The Evergreen State College. My first class included lithograph, life drawing, and linoleum block printing. I loved block printing from the beginning. I continued to do it on and off over the years as well as the abstract art. I also began playing with watercolors.
Once I had kids, my time to sit down and do art completely disappeared for a few years. This is when I got much more interested in digital photography. I could take lots of pictures, quickly playing with different angles and lighting, and still have plenty of time to be a mom. Once my kids got a little older I reclaimed some of my art time. I realized I could use my photos as references for my block prints.
In 2020, I began offering a few pieces for sale. In 2023, I started thinking about different ways to represent my art, and how I could fit in being an artist with being a full-time homeschooling mom. This is when I began playing with the idea of greeting cards and stickers.
Luckily for me, my kids love exploring the Pacific Northwest as much as I do. We all enjoy exploring new places and seeing new things. This has allowed me to take photos all over the Pacific Northwest of our adventures and use them in my art. I have created many different greeting card designs, most of which are Pacific Northwest based, as well as some larger block prints and bookmarks. I also used watercolor and marker art for my logo and a few stickers.
My goal is to create small, original pieces of art that almost anyone can afford. Because most of my block prints are then watercolored, each one is an original piece of art. Recently, in an attempt to repurpose some of my pieces that didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I have started using them in collages. I am excited to see how this new medium progresses!