This interview is with Queenie Wong, a Canadian artist better known as Coco Bee. Her abstract watercolors combine her love for watercolor painting and her studies in psychology and evoke feelings of freedom and joy.
Queenie’s own journey in art began during a personal period of dark sadness when art therapy and painting became the foundation from which she rebuilt her identity. Now, part of her mission is to share her artwork in a hope to heal, inspire, and transform the lives of other people. Queenie also makes short films to raise awareness and to fund-raise for humanitarian organizations, including art therapy programs for paediatric cancer patients like PCA and the Aga Khan Foundation, Canada for awareness of global poverty.
Check out her wonderful Coco Bee Art Channel on Youtube for inspiration and her website for her current creative projects.
When I was first introduced to Queenie’s work, I felt like I had stumbled upon a kindred spirit. If you are a sensitive creative, you might feel that way as well after watching her organic, free-flowing forms. I thoroughly enjoyed this interview, and I think you will too!
Hello Queenie. I know that you are a wonderful artiste and the creative force behind the popular Coco Bee Art youtube channel and www.cocobeeart.com. You also make short films to raise awareness for non-profit organizations like the Aga Khan Foundation, Canada. Not only this, you are also completing your Master’s program conducting clinical research under the Department of Medicine in Psychiatry in your university. In short, you are a multi-talented person and artiste. Can you tell us a little bit about your own journey as a creative person?
I would say that I’ve always been predisposed towards drawing, playing music, and creating as a child. It was a dark period in graduate school that really pushed me to paint. I felt like I needed to paint in order to survive. I need that space of quiet, that anchoring point to remind myself of who I am and who I want to be, away from all societal notions of who I should be. The day I gave myself permission to pursue both an artist’s career (without compromising my present pursuits in science) was the day I say my journey consciously began. Painting is now as easy and as necessary to me as breathing.
I think watercolor, as a medium, brings out our fear of letting go of control and our compulsive and unhealthy need for things to Be Perfect. The videos on your channel and your artwork, in general, are so free-flowing and organic. You don’t seem to be scared of making mistakes, of doing the wrong thing. Do you have any advice for the timid water-colorists out there who might be just dipping their feet in the water and who are afraid of making mistakes?
It’s not so much that I’m not afraid of making mistakes, it’s just I’m more interested in watching the colors flow than have cleanliness with lines. They say it’s hard to change behaviors because we expend so much energy monitoring ourselves to not act a certain way, then have to spend more energy to make the correction when we do, possibly employing both guilt and shame. Isn’t it so much easier to think not in terms of things we cannot do, but just do more of what we want to do? Mistakes are only mistakes if you think they are!
Do you work in other mediums — acrylics, oils — apart from watercolors? Do you find that you are drawn to certain mediums that appeal to different parts of you or that you turn to a specific medium for a certain kind of experience? To give a related example, when I do photography, I feel embodied, in the present moment. When I draw or paint, I almost feel like I am moving into my heart, nourishing it. There is a difference in the energy associated with these two experiences. Is there also a difference in the life lessons we might learn with different kinds of painting?
Well, I’ve only started strictly painting watercolors less than a year ago. So I haven’t worked much in other mediums, purely because of the little time I’ve had so far on this art journey. The strong affinity I have with watercolors also hasn’t helped in giving me a reason spend time with other mediums! The closest medium I’ve worked with apart from watercolors are inks, mostly due to their similarities.
I love these mediums for their fluidity and free spirit.. I think they speak only if you’re willing to embrace that uncertainty. It’s really an intimate relationship in many ways. I like to think watercolors may suggest something about my generally calm, centered disposition as a person, perhaps even my optimism for life in general. That could be a confirmation bias though, haha! Music, on the other hand, is what pulls my emotions out of me when their energy is too raw. Sorrow over sadness, anger over frustration….Everything else, watercolors can handle without too much trouble.
I know what you mean about a difference in embodiment. I know for me, writing music and listening to music is very different. Creating interjects more of you in the experience than just a pure immersion in sounds.
I think we can learn whatever we seek in any medium. The same state of meditation can be learnt in music as you can from painting. The distinction is only if that medium speaks to you in a way that allows you to open your heart to hear. That’s what I believe anyhow.
I have become extremely interested lately in how colors and art help us metabolize our emotions, especially the so-called negative ones. Some time back, I also started doing visualizations with color after stumbling on Inna Segal’s work. She is an intuitive healer and talks about how colors can be used to heal both emotional and physical pain. I find her work very effective for me. It has also prompted me to think of times in my life when I needed a certain kind of energy and gravitated towards a certain color. For example: During a time when I needed all my inner power to change things in my life, I used to be constantly drawn to yellow (unknowingly), which is also associated with the Solar Plexus chakra (in yoga philosophy), the center for personal power in the body. It is so interesting how we naturally gravitate towards certain energies when we need them.
I know that you work very organically, and when I see your work, it feels like you follow your heart when you make color choices in your paintings. Are there colors that you are especially drawn to? Is there something that you have discovered about your own relationship with them or by using them that you might like to share? I would love to hear your thoughts on how color affects you and what it means to you.
I’m intuitive with the colours I use but I can’t tell you exactly why. At most, I think I play off of Kandinsky’s theory of colours as I’ve read some of his work. Blue is my favourite. I feel it can express all the depth of complexity – sorrow, stillness – all in one. I love it’s almost dual nature. Orange is my close second. Not surprising, perhaps!
From the little time that I have spent truly observing colours, I feel like each has a life of its own. They have their own personalities and some play nice with others. Some others may even do some bullying. Yellow, for example, is a bit stubborn. It always has to play first, and if you don’t follow along, your painting becomes mucky. Purple is such a natural peace giver. It plays well with all the cold colours as well as all the warm colours. It’s happy to accentuate other’s beauty and depth without compromising its own integrity.
Red, I’ve always felt was the colour of your heart pumping, blood rushing, courage. Perhaps the necessary pain associated with growth and change. Green I find a curious colour. It feels sickly to me and mostly requires the reassurance of blue. Sometimes I feel it tries too hard to be real which makes it look fake but given the right environment, green can flourish as brightly as yellow. I can go on forever!
You have used art therapy for your own personal healing. What would you suggest to people who don’t think of themselves as artistes or creative people, but want to try art for their own personal growth? Are there any exercises you might suggest that they can start out with? How can art help in someone’s personal journey?
Hmm…I would say that first, being creative or artistic is not as singular as the stereotypical painting and music. Dancing, cooking food, playing sports, interior decorating, everything has aspects of creativity. There is art in everything. The only exercise to to try, to play, and to have fun.
We know that some artistes hate schedules while some say that they wouldn’t get any work done without them. Since you have a lot of different commitments, how do you relate to time and its limits? Do you have any systems in place that you follow? How do you keep on being a productive artiste amidst all the different demands on your time?
I think this is where I’m not so relatable as I’ve never encountered this problem thus far. If anything, I take too much time away from other things to create art. Art is my space to play, to meditate, to share. And I love to play everyday! So, there is never a need to set schedules. If I don’t want to paint today, I’ll probably like to write music. It’s like eating. Perhaps I can skip a meal. But sooner or later, I’ll get hungry and I’ll have to eat or at least have a snack to bite on. Don’t take things so seriously, everything will come naturally when you relax and enjoy!
In one of your videos on Coco Bee Art, you talk about the What Ifs we face in both painting and in life. We keep thinking of all the things that might go wrong. But as you say, something might go right. But our minds often run on the negative track. As a creative person, how do you handle your imagination so it does not veer down the negative path? How have you learnt to handle fear both as a person and as an artiste looking at an empty canvas?
I know people who experience fear when they see an empty canvas, but all I see is the freedom of the space to play. Painting only becomes a negative space when I try to do something that I don’t want to do. As long as I’m painting from my heart and purely for fun and pleasure, I don’t stray too far. I can easily see the positive from the seemingly negative.
If things become too disfigured in an anatomy sketch, for example, then I throw it away and try again. You can also keep it to think about how to improve it and then compare it a few months down the line to see if you have improved upon it. I’m not pursuing anything during art creation other than the pure enjoyment of the process.
I think a lot of creative types have a problem with marketing and putting our work out there. It can feel like either we are selling or that we are selling out. Your youtube channel has grown exponentially over the little more than a year that you started it. Your videos are so authentic and it almost feels like you have put your heart out into the world. To me, it feels like you attract kindred souls who feel and see the world as deeply as you do. How do you approach the process of bringing your work to people? Do you think of it as marketing or sharing or something else?
Those are really kind words, thank you. The growth was unexpected and I am so grateful for all the love and support. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, as it’s given me the belief to do more than I thought I could. Art is intrinsically connected to my soul-searching journey. It’s not a coincidence that my undergraduate and graduate studies in academia are psychology-oriented. I also have a side interest in philosophy. So it’s immensely fulfilling to be able to share the bits of me I feel are most authentic and connect with like-minded individuals.
As I’ve mentioned before, my only objective is to enjoy the process. Social media has given me a platform to share my work. Monetization only came a bit after when I realized I could do it and then thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to cover material costs so that I could continue creating. I only recently started investing time in marketing because my followers/supporters have told me on numerous occasions how therapeutic my videos have been for them and how they wish they had either seen them earlier or known about them. I feel perhaps I can help more people if I share my work more extensively. Sharing may also help attract other artists and healthcare specialists for future collaboration that could help make my work even better! (If any art therapist happens to read this, please send me an email. I would love to speak with you.)
Thank you for this interview as well as your beautiful work! You are bringing light into this world. Is there anything else you might want to say to the creatives out there who might be feeling blocked or held back on their own creative journey?
You’re most welcome. Thank you for giving me another way to share my thoughts. I hope they have at least been helpful, if not supportive and comforting. My journey has really just begun so it would premature to impart “words of wisdom.” I merely share my experiences and hope that they can be a resource for others. The only other thing that I would I like to say is, take it easy. It’s art, it’s your space to do whatever you like, to express whatever you want. There are so many rules in life already. Embrace the freedom inherently there when creating art. Have fun, and play. All else is secondary.
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