When did you discover you had artistic talent?
Where does your design inspiration come from?
I was quite late in discovering my ability to paint. I think I was around seventeen and I was trying to decide what to take at university. I knew I was ‘creative’ but had never channeled it directly into a specific medium. Up until that point I liked to take pictures, but the technical side of photography was something that I found frustrating. I was much more suited to painting as it is very tactile and the results of your efforts are immediate. I suppose I’m an impatient person.
I watch a lot of old movies and spend a lot of time sourcing film stills. I also read a lot of magazines, blogs, and I look at a lot of old portrait paintings.
How have you developed your skills? I studied fine art in university and specialized in painting. After graduation I stopped painting for around three or four years as I was more interested in getting a ‘proper job’. Fortunately, ‘proper jobs’ didn’t like me and so I went back to painting. I basically paint every day and so that helps keep the creativity flowing.
FALL 2012
I love the titles you give your paintings. How do you come up with them? They usually pop into my head as I’m painting the image. The painting almost seems to take on a life of its own and so usually a phrase or a short remark repeats over and over in my head during the painting process. A lot of my work is quite narrative and so the title helps explain the purpose of the painting..
When did you open your Etsy shop and what inspired you to take those first steps? I opened my shop on January 10, 2008. A few friends had told me about Etsy and so I hovered about quite a bit before taking the plunge. Prior to that