Interview with artist

Interview with artist

Tell us about yourself and how you came to be an artist… 
I have always been interested in art, the silent relief it offers. I started drawing at an early age and wanted really to become an illustrator at first. But when I was taught the magic of color on a canvas there was no turning back!

 

Describe your work in three words…
Colorful, figurative, disordered yet thoughtful.

 

What does your creative process look like?
I have ten thousand ideas all the time so first I try to sort them out, decide which ones to go for and which ones to lay aside for now. Then I sketch with oil pastels on paper and then I paint in acrylic on canvas or wood.

 

What influences do traditional cultures have on your work?
Everything I see influences me in one way or another! But my greatest source of inspiration is just watching people – their facial expressions, their body language, their gait. Before the kids arrived, I could sit at a café or park bench for hours just observing the people around me. Every one of my paintings is a person, or part of a person, I have observed...in silence.

  

Silence or sound while creating? If sound, what?
I often listen to a podcast while painting, often on politics... :)

 

 Artist whose career you covet?
Jesper Waldersten! (A Swedish illustrator and painter. Outstanding!)

 

Is art making therapeutic for you?
Yes, very much so. Time flies while I paint.

 

What are you most proud of?
Being brave enough to start a new career, to go for the art, at my age. And my kids of course! Haha!

 

What do you see yourself doing in 5 years?
I hope I’ll be painting full time :)

 

If you could travel anywhere to create for a while, where would you go?
To Florence, Italy. One of my brothers has his base there, so there’s always an excuse to go.

 

If you could have a drink with one artist, who would it be?
Jemima Kirk! For obvious reasons. She's the coolest woman alive.

 

What messages or emotions do you hope to convey to your audience?
I don’t really care if people ‘like’ my art, I want them to stop at it, look at it, look again...and then again. Art is there for many reasons - to provoke, to inspire, to decorate. My hope is that my art it is something that draws you in, for whatever reason, and leaves you with a feeling of having been seen.

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