I was a Featured Artist on RedBubble last week, and with that comes a little interview opportunity. Oh, exciting! I’d link you to it but I think you have to be a member to view it, so I’ll just copy and paste it here. I hope it’s not too boring.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your art background?
I’m from Pasadena, CA, and grew up in a household full of heavy readers and English majors. My mom said she realized I was more “visually inclined” when I was about 4 and made a big, weird pattern on our living room carpet out of plastic spoons. I started taking art classes in elementary school, probably 2nd or 3rd grade, then I studied at Mission: Renaissance for a few years, and then went to Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. After I graduated I pussyfooted around L.A. for a few years, working at a dog bakery and doing pet portraiture, and then I moved to Portland, OR, on a whim. I’m now studying General Fine Arts at PNCA.
What are your main influences?
Animals. I’ve always loved animals. I don’t particularly like birds, but I paint them often because I think they’re so beautiful. I lived with a very unpleasant cockatoo as a kid, and an equally unpleasant green parrot as a teenager. I’m more of a dog person.
Film. Especially old Disney movies. I watched a lot of old school Disney growing up – Dumbo’s my favorite. But I also just watched a lot of movies in general — I still do. My family was very Kubrick-centric. Tati, Tarkovsky, Soderbergh, Jarmusch, Hitchcock. I went through a big slasher movie phase in middle school, and more recently I got pretty addicted to classic film — Sturges, Hawks, Billy Wilder. I just love film, I’ll watch anything. I watch roughly a movie a day. I also love sitcoms. And of course, Robocop.
Americana. I just can’t get enough of jukeboxes and gumball machines and carousels, so on. It’s the colors! Oh, those colors.
As far as artists go: Mary Blair, Margaret Kilgallen, Wayne Thiebaud, John Tenniel, Ralph Steadman, R. Crumb, Walton Ford, J.J. Audubon, really any Ancient Chinese brush artists, Kozyndan, Charley Harper, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and Laura Knight… to name a few.
Can you tell us a bit about the mediums and techniques you use?
For whatever reason, my heart belongs to water media: watercolor, ink, gouache. I’m not particularly fond of acrylic, I don’t like the plasticity, it creeps me out, haha. I recently started toying with oils but it takes so damn long to dry, and I enjoy working very fast. I have pretty bad OCD so I like to work with small brushes (I am partial to da Vinci brand) and get real tight. I’m trying to get away from that, though- let go, loosen up. As for drawing, I love dip pens. I taught myself to draw by copying all of Tenniel’s original “Alice” illustrations with a dip pen when I was about 7 or 8. My dad was an amateur calligrapher, so we always had nibs and ink around.
Which of your works are closest to your heart and why?
Oof. Right now, I think I am most proud of my “Lady Gaga” piece. It’s a
silly, fun piece, but I really feel like I nailed it. However, my “Laughing Kookaburra” (below) piece has always been dear to me. I woke up in the middle of the night with this nagging urge to paint a kookaburra, so I dragged my ass out of bed, did a Google image search for “Kookaburra” and banged out that piece in about 10 minutes. I was able to really loosen up and just paint, not over-think things. It felt good.
What can we see coming next?
Lots more birds! I was recently at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena and saw Audubon’s double-elephant folio (HUGE!) of bird paintings. So beautiful. It got me all excited about birds again. Expect 10-12 new bird pieces in the next 2-3 weeks.
Finally do you have any words of encouragement for other artists?
Man, just draw all the time. ALL THE TIME. And don’t be afraid to try other things. I went to an art high school and even though I had the resources, I never tried photography, sculpture, or printmaking until college because I was just too scared. Try everything. You’ll be surprised.
