We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cora Worthington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cora below.

Hi Cora, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve ever completed was a large stippling drawing I made to represent mine and my husbands’ marriage. Drawn on 19×24 cardstock, taking 176 hours and made of 2.2 million dots, the drawing looks like a still life drawing of a couple pairs of cowboy boots and some stringed instruments. It grabs the attention of many guitar players, music lovers, or country people everywhere. But few people know the story behind the dots.

A month before my first wedding anniversary, I decided I wanted to draw my largest drawing yet, and I wanted to make it meaningful to me, but tasteful to my audience. So I took some items that meant something to me and my husband, Matthew, and arranged them in a relaxed setting next to our fireplace in our home, representing our love and life together. Matthew and I both play bluegrass and country music, so I included his guitar and my fiddle. Since we both love country life and western hobbies, such as horseback riding and dancing, I included our cowboy boots and his cowboy hat. Most importantly, I included our cross necklaces and one of our bibles, representing our faith in God and His active hand in our marriage. Because of the western and Christian elements of this drawing, I named it “God and Country Music” after the George Strait song. I finished it over a year later on April 30, 2023.

To other people, this drawing is impressive due to how long it took and the size it is, and many would agree that it is a great drawing. And I agree with them, but no one could understand how much this drawing means to me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Cora Worthington. I am a 23-year-old stippling artist from Southwestern Illinois, originally from Red Bud. When I’m not drawing, I really enjoy reading, playing music, enjoying time with my husband, and horseback riding.

I have been drawing since I was a little girl. When I got into stippling in 2015, I never imagined I would do much with it. But in 2017, I started getting commissioned to make drawings for people, and in 2018 I started going to craft fairs and selling my work. Now I do my art nearly full-time, selling products such as prints, stickers, magnets, keychains, bookmarks, and journals!

I help people fulfill their decorating and gift-giving needs. When people don’t know what to purchase for a friend, I am able to create something completely custom-made and one-of-a-kind for them that they couldn’t have bought themselves.

There are very few stippling artists out there, especially because the work takes so long to do compared to other mediums. Since you don’t see stippling often, my work is very unique. That’s why many people are drawn to my work- often times, my work looks like a photo until I tell them to look closer and see that it’s actually drawn with dots.

I am most proud of how far I’ve come as an artist. As I said before, I never thought I’d really go anywhere with stippling, or any art for that matter. I am grateful to God for having the ability and opportunity to do what I love everyday. He is the reason I do what I do and I give Him all the glory in all my success.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The most helpful thing people can do to support artists is to purchase drawings, prints, and other products directly. This goes a long way and helps us keep doing what we are doing, and it’s also really encouraging to know someone appreciates our work enough to purchase that.

Another very helpful thing to do is to follow us on social media! This helps boost credibility and will drive further sales. It’s even more helpful if people invite people from their friends list to like/follow our page. The more people that see our work, the better!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first started creating, I had my stuff priced so low that I was quickly overwhelmed by all the commissions I was getting from people. I didn’t think my work was worth all that much at the time. But because people kept commissioning me over and over, I started to learn that people valued my art more than I thought. Over time, I had to increase the prices of my drawings to help curb the demand. This meant I had a lot of people tell me “no” after they heard how much a drawing would cost. And sometimes, they were rather mean about it. I had to unlearn that my art wasn’t worth it, because even though some people don’t value it enough to pay what I was asking, there are lots of others who are. I learned that my art doesn’t deserve to be purchased for a cheap price, and if someone isn’t willing to pay the price for it and they tell me my art isn’t worth it, then they don’t deserve to have my art.

Contact Info:

• Website: coraworthingtonart.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coraworthingtonart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coraworthingtonart?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@coraworthingtonart?si=E09ZuK54TRH2wb0h