26 November 2011

Creative Interview : Ryoko Tamura

It's a warm welcome to Ryoko, who's originally from Japan and now works in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently trying to make it as a freelance artist but has no idea where to start or has no money. So, Ryoko's working as a Japanese translator in a call center style office.

Her first solo exhibition is coming up in January at a bar called The Outhouse and I can imagine how stressful that must be but wish Ryoko lots of success and happiness.  I look forward to going to see it!

It's an even bigger thank you to Ryoko with everything that's going and yet still has time to answer my questions!  Domo arigato Ryoko!
Websit
How would your friends describe you in five words
Funny, Independent, Gin, Always late.

Give me the names of 3 objects or things you dislike most and why
Dogs – Just no.
Windy days – worst thing ever, especially if you have to wait for a bus.
Council Tax – Why?
Website
Tell me about something you've achieved
I have paid my rent with art money.
Website
What’s your ideal working day
When I can concentrate and stay in the drawing mode for long enough to complete what I am supposed to do.
Website
Who influences you creatively
Absolutely anything, anyone who catches my eyes.

Are you usually late, early or right on time
Always fashionably late for everything. I know, I'm sorry.
Website
How do you start your day when you’re creating
I wake up, switch on my Mac, make coffee, have a cigarette, then check my e-mails.
Website
Where would you go in the world for inspiration
I would love to go to Cuba, (But for now walking around in Edinburgh is just as inspirational)

What piece of work are you most proud of
A piece called 'Piece of me'. Took me 3 mins to do when I was bored and became one of my favorite work.
Website

What would you like to develop further or learn to do
Learn how to draw in bigger scale, and also I would love to be better at Photoshop and Illustrator.

Ryoko's links -

Website

25 November 2011

black Friday cyber Monday at Red Road




I'm trying out the mostly USA drive black Friday - cyber Monday and am offering 3 for 2 on any of my pieces - see below the shop banner for FULL DETAILS

21 November 2011

Giveaway Winner : November


Giveaway Nos 1 : my original nursery art giveaway - ends 30th November - full details here.  I intend to do one again for December so keep checking in!

My random number generator was my best mate Tash from Blethering Crafts who chose number 4!!  Well done Ludmilochka for sending this tweet http://twitter.com/#!/Ludmilochka/status/133549344648474625 - I'll be in touch to get your address.


Please note I have a new monthly giveaway starting Saturday 3rd December!!!

Etsy Front Page



Some hard work paying off - though I'll never know how they decide! LOL!

18 November 2011

The Power of Making : V & A



I must get down to see this - it's on till January I think,

Creative Interviews : Maria Pace-Wynters

Canadian artist Maria Pace-Wynters works in mixed media using her children as her inspiration for her work.  Her favourite materials tend to be paper, wood, sparkles, acrylic ink, tissue and pastels.  A great big thank you to her for taking the time to answer my questions and now let's read her answers.
Shy Circus Girl
What do you love most about what you do and is there a down side
Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think about being an artist for a living. I wanted to be an artist as a little girl and although I have always created, I can honestly say that I couldn't really call myself an artist until three years ago. I guess I love that I have seen it through, that dream. I love that I don't have to regret that I didn't follow through on my dream. This came to me at forty. I realized that it was now or never. I am so glad that I made the choice for now. I love the magic of being an artist. I will never tire of a blank canvas coming into being. For me, this is the same with all arts. My husband is a song writer and I love being privy to him pulling a melody out of the air and making it something. We get to do that every day. We are blessed. The down side would be not always being able to get our kids everything they want or going on family vacations together because we don't always have the funds. Living by the seat of your pants, sometimes makes me feel like I am an irresponsible parent. I wish that this could be different but we are driven to do our art and this is the way it has to be. Recently I have noticed the pride in our kids when they tell people what we do for a living. What could a parent love more than that?
Pink Halo
In your portfolio what are you most happy with
First of all, I a most proud that I have painted almost every day for the past three years. That is a huge accomplishment for me. When I look back on my past work, I am often proud of the areas in my paintings that I have left. I have a tendency to get very tight and ridged when I create and when I see a piece that has a great modulated line or a painterly brush stroke or drips, I can say 'yes, that part makes it all work together.' The push and pull of a worked area juxtaposed with a loose area in a painting has always intrigued me and if I can accomplish it I feel like I have achieved what I have set out to do. That feels good. Also, I love to play with colour and I am really pleased with some of my colour experiments. My painting use to be very dark but when I had my children that seemed to change. I guess you could say that they brought colour into my life. I much prefer my palette now and when I look back on older paintings have to resist the urge to go back into them with some bold colour.
Frog Prince

What’s your perfect working day like
My perfect working day can be all day or merely and hour. It is more about being able to quiet the voices and loose myself in a piece. Sometimes I can spend hours just trying to get to that place and I am trying to learn that this is often a huge waste of time. When I feel this way, it would be so much more useful to remove myself from my studio and do something that is either inspiring or useful. Just accomplishing folding a basket of laundry,cooking supper or tiding my work space can make me feel like I have not wasted my day. Wasting time irks me and seems to stop me from being able to loose myself in a piece. It becomes cyclical. A day of balance is the best. If I have a day where I can loose myself in a painting and am able to pull out something authentically good, fulfill my family duties, keep harmony and peace and am able to make a supper that everyone enjoys in thirty minutes or under, THAT would be perfection!

Paper Dreams
Who influences you creatively
Well, my muses are my daughters. They are the reason that I paint. I can not help but to want to capture their beauty. Artists that inspire me are vast.When I was at University, I took many, many art history classes. I often embarrassed myself by gasping out loud at a painting that took my breath away. For me some breath stealing artist are: Picasso (his blue/rose period make me weak in the knees). Degas (those ballerinas and the sculpture of 'The Little Dancer'make my heart ache). Toulouse Lautrec ( His fluid line moves with such ease, it shows what an amazing draftsman he was) Klimt ( his use of pattern and design and his red heads) Sargent ( His paintings are like dreams especially "Chinese Lanterns") De Kooning (He is so painterly and loose, his work has such an amazing energy) Jean-Michel Basquiat, Edvard Munch, Matisse, Chagall, Edouard Vuillard, Mary Cassatt, Egon Sheile, Modigliani, Emily Carr and so many more art constant sources for inspiration form me. I think that I took 15 years after university for my brain to quietly sift through all these great artist and now, subconsciously, the stuff that has stayed with me, the stuff that I love, is what I am looking for in my final paintings.

Daydream
Have you ever or do you have a PLAN B Nope. Scary as that is, I have invested so much time, money, and energy in what I do that I just have to keep going and hope that it all works out! YIKES!
Little Dancer
Where’s your own favourite place to work and why
My studio is in the loft of our 1910 three story house. It looks out over the roof tops and toward the city. It sounds great but in reality I share it with the kids play area, the exercise bike and I don't have a sink. I have my dream studio all worked out in my head but I have learned over the years that if we wait for everything to be perfect we can miss out on a heck of a lot. I am more grateful that I learned when I did than I would be for any big fancy studio and possibly no inspiration.
Lost in your dreams
How much time do you or can you give to make a piece of work
This varies. Sometimes a small piece can take almost as much time a big one. Something I realized this year is that my best paintings are the ones that sit around half finished for ages and then, in a flurry, I will finish them. They need to percolate or something. I often have many half started painting sitting around, waiting for me to grab them and finish them. I often look at my paintings longer than I actually apply brush to surface, for this reason, it is hard to say how long a painting takes me to complete.

Who do you think I should interview next 
Gillian Lee Smith

TheBrilliantMagpie
Amelia K
Maria's Link -

Twitter

Facebook

Wordpress

Etsy

16 November 2011

Missing Navini Island

It's so dark so soon now (around 4 ish) that I'm missing our Navini Island 'Bure' - all mod cons including friendly geckos at night.
And here's the view we would wake up to each morning!

11 November 2011

Creative Interviews : Rachel Q Landers Sisk

I'm over in Gainesville, GA, USA for this lovely interview with Rachel.  In her bio she explains that her artwork resides between emptiness and definition - a place that is debatable. A shape possesses the character to be something specific to one person, and something completely different to another depending on the experiences they hold from their life. This encourage discourse - facilitating storytelling and a sense of community.

Rachel focused her concentration towards Scientific Illustration; however, she made a conscious move to abstraction. Her work is still based on the scientific - cellular structures, anatomical imagery, and natural forms. I think you can see this in her work below.  
Abstract Embroidery
Describe yourself in five words and how would your friends describe you (in five)!!
Me - Observant, thoughtful, creative, steadfast, dependable
Friends - Intelligent, thoughtful, creative, reflective, personable

How has work and been for you this year – anything new on the boil for 2012.
I had a large solo exhibit for emerging artists at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in April that was really meaningful to me. My great grandfather started the center long ago as a place for the local art club to meet, exhibit artwork, and increase community involvement with the arts. I feel as if I am continuing in his legacy.

Recently, I signed a licensing agreement with a company, and am anxious to get that started.

Mixed Media Embroidery
For 2012, I’m curating and showing in an exhibit in February that features artwork of trees. Then my focus will be on applying to more galleries and shops in my area to expand the business. My goal is to transition to artwork full time.

What do you love most about what you do and is there a down side
I love creating and putting things together from seemingly disparate elements, seeing how they fit together best. When people see my artwork, I love to hear their feedback, and see what they think the painting is about. Part of my artwork is about encouraging creativity, community, and sharing with one another.

Downside - Starting out, not making as much steady money as a 9-5 job. Also, artmaking takes a lot of time, and people generally take that for granted with being used to buying cheap imported machine made stuff.

What are you most happy with in your portfolio
Suspension, Shuttlecock, Macrophage, and Nephesh
Suspension
Shuttlecock
Macrophage
Nephesh
What’s your ideal working day like
I haven't had very many of these, so this is what I would love to do - Get up early, work up until lunch, walk downtown to eat, come back and work until night, and put "work" stuff away to relax. Be able to accomplish a lot, but not feel rushed like I have to be somewhere else soon. I want to be relaxed, more in the moment, and able to wander naturally.
Landscape Embroidery
3 items you love or hate
LOVE – books, knitted blanket my grandmother made for me, sketchbook and cover by Lolita from DailyThreads

Would you like to learn anything new

I love learning all sorts of things. I have so many interests, I feel like I should try to focus on one style. However, I would love to start using encaustic in my work.
Abstract Painting
Where’s your own favourite place to work and why
With my crazy schedule, I love working on smaller pieces that I can draw out or start as paintings, and then go more in depth with layering abstract embroidery. I can take the sewing portions anywhere with me in my bag, whether that be downstairs to a comfy chair, bouldering in the woods with my family, or out and about the city. Being portable makes it easier to find time to work on them, since they take so long.
Abstract Art Weaving
How much time do you or can you give to making a piece of work
I work for my husband’s tree care company, Global Tree Preservation, and another company full time in addition to my artwork, so my time is broken up more than I would like. I won’t sacrifice quality to quantity though. Right now, my smaller abstract embroidery works are spanning between 1 hour and 8 hours on a piece.

Who do you think I should interview next - Heather McCaw

Muses - Heather McCaw
Thanks so much for giving me some of your time Rachel, it's been really interesting finding out about who's behind the work that I discovered!  Wishing you lots of success for 2012 and your future!

Rachel's links :

Etsy

Facebook

www.globaltreepreservation.com

Rachel's Blog

8 November 2011

Creative Interviews : Steven Rodrig

Steven Rodrig, originally born in Havana, Cuba, describes himself as an inventive and environmentally conscious artist. He’s always been fascinated in experimenting with unconventional materials to create art. His imagination and innate technical process evolved while studying mechanical structure at his NY school.

Steven’s innovative sculpture, which he refers to as “PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Mixed Media”, is created from recycling and restructuring circuit and electronic parts. His subjects range from insects, flowers and still life to intricate cityscapes.   New York is his base.

It's a very unique art form and one that I had little knowledge of so I was delighted when Steven accepted my invitation to get involved with my 'creative interviews' series and a great big thank you to him for contributing!

Describe yourself in five words and how would your friends describe you (in five)!! 
Myself: unique innovative resourceful artistic obsure
Others: precise creative decisive calibrate odd
Data Head
How has work and this year been for you – anything new on the boil for 2012 
Now that I have conquered the human head shape in my RONIX sculpture, I plan on expanding on that. I need to be the first to create a female torso. 
Spider
What do you love most about what you do and is there a down side 
I love that whatever I create is the first of its kind since no other artist has attempted my approach to PCB sculpting (yet). So far no down side other than the predicable cuts and scrapes

In your portfolio what are you most happy with
Apocalyptic Data Hunter : RONIX is my crowning achievement.  It broke new ground on how to approach the human form using PCBs

Organic Data Transfer
What’s your perfect working day like 
Finding the perfect computer PCB board in the dumpster and not running out of coffee through the day.

Who influences you creatively 
There is an artist that I admire for his creativity, his name is Kris Kuksi. I had the opportunity to meet him and give him one of my early Data Books. His work is amazing and inspirational.
Throne
Have you ever or do you have a PLAN B
If I don't make it as the world's best PCB sculpture, I plan on working at McDonalds, this way I can work at the fry station and eat them all day long. 
Ornament
Where’s your own favorite place to work and why 
In my living room, I don't have a studio (yet), has a TV, radio and close the Loo
Sandal
How much time do you or can you give to make a piece of work 
I have spent as little as 1 week as much as 7 months. The process really depends on the right PCB, I could settle for any PCB, but then I could not look at the piece knowing that I didn't make it perfect.
Kris Kuksi
Who do you think I should interview next 
I really think you should see Kris Kuksi's work and interview him, I know you'll be impressed.

Steven's links -

Website

Etsy

7 November 2011

Baby Giraffe

Baby Giraffe
I was only able to make 5 wee animals with this wrapping paper I kept for such a long time.  I'm giving away my wee coo and sheep but I thought I'd let you know there's also a baby giraffe available on Etsy

Crowdfunder Clay.Coven Ceramics

Just a few more days to go to achieve their dream of bringing the creativity of clay to the local community. And as my lovely friend Tash sa...