Seeking inspiration – part one

“I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” Vincent Van Gogh”

As an Artist, I sometimes need a little help to find inspiration. Some days all I want to do is create, and I can feel my hands start to itch. All I want to do is to hold a brush and transfer images in my mind onto the canvas, but my mind is blank. I can’t seem to get a vision or an inspiration. Those are the days I find most challenging, not the least frustrating.

To start, I usually place the canvas on my easel so that I can see images from the corner of my eye but they’re often not there. Finding a vision or simply getting inspired is a complicated process to describe. On some days it simply helps me to arrange my workspace, sorting my tools and colours. I let the colours talk to me and I might just start on my canvas without having a “proper” plan.

I find music is a great means to get myself “into the zone”, especially classical music. I have a few playlists that help me to get my creative mind motivated. But in saying that, there are days where I can’t tolerate any background noise and I enjoy the sound of silence while working on a canvas.

Emotions and feelings! These are very important sources for me to draw my inspiration. Just by listening to friends or family I find myself in the zone and images begin to appear in my mind’s eye. The painting below is a good example. One day I had a long chat with a dear friend, and I learned all about his Scottish heritage. Only by listening to him, different colours came to mind and I immediately got started while those images were still fresh in my mind.

Connection 2021, 60×50 cm, acrylic on canvas

On first sight to the observer, this may appear to be a rather simple piece, but it has a deep meaning for me, as it does to my friend.

There is an important lesson I learned through my art:

Don’t fear failure. If you are not happy with your work then clear your mind, step away for a while and when you are ready start again. The harshest critic to an Artist, is the Artist. So, reuse some of your old canvases, and experiment. You are only limited by your imagination.

Kat

Art?

„Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.“ ~ Stephen Sondheim

Art and I have a strange relationship. On one hand, researching artists and their work, while enjoying a coffee, is my favourite pastime. I remember it like was yesterday when I went to Tate Britain in London. I saw some great pieces of art could not help but think, “I don’t understand, I don’t understand, I don’t understand“. But perhaps it is not about understanding at all, but about what art does to us?

A dear friend is a thorough art nerd, and I mean that in the most endearing way. One day he asked me to join him to visit an exhibition so that he could expand on his collection. Later, we talked about our tour, during which he also showed me the pieces he was most interested in. The conversation was good until he said: “Oh Kat, you don’t understand.” Again, I felt I was intimidated by art, I had the feeling that one had to understand art in order to be able to deal with it.

Today I confidently stroll past the “I don’t understand’‘ pieces. I know that I do not have to understand everything, and I certainly do not have to like it all. Instead, there are paintings a few meters further on that excite me, “Oh, that’s beautiful!” Or I ask, “How does it work?” It is then, this very moment, that I allow myself to enter these colorful worlds. I think it is best described as a playground for one’s fantasy.

These journeys led me forget my everyday woes for a few minutes and let me experience something new. Similar to a dream in which you can fly and after which you still have that exhilarating feeling until noon when you realised that I have experienced something incredibly special. Something that was kind of weird. But weird in a good sense.

DrewKat-Scape 2021, 50×70 cm, acrylics on canvas

The painting above is a good example of intuitive art. I simply followed a feeling and emotions in a certain situation. The choice of colors came naturally to me. I do hope that you like it.

I cannot help but to recognise that art galleries are often in the most interesting buildings, mostly they are deserted, and you can find such inner peace. Someone once said to me that he compares museums to cathedrals, he was not wrong there.

Thank you. 

Photography and I

“It’s important for you to spend your time photographing things that matter to you. You need to understand the things that have meaning to you, and not what others think is important for you.” ~ Steve McCurry

“For me, photography is a therapy’.  I can now say this quite clearly. All of my photos and the process behind them, that moment that compels me to capture a moment in time, all of this impacts me like a therapy, and that would not even be a lie.

This medium of art, in addition to the honesty that is made possible by photography, is extremely important to me. This is one reason why I view photography as a kind of therapy that advances my personal development.

 I often face the same problem of expressing what matters most to me. It seems unclear how to put into words what I want to express and convey information satisfactorily. Quite frankly, I sometimes may not even know how exactly I feel about a certain situation.

Over the years I have learned to communicate differently, but above all to reflect. The first point of contact for important events in my daily life is often my camera. It is my camera that offers me endless possibilities to express myself.

It is my camera that  opens up new perspectives for me. Some things cannot and should not be expressed in words, and some photos do not have to be written in words but feelings.

The following photos I aimed to represent beauty and melancholy at the same time. I would like to learn how you see my photos.

You can use your photography practice as a tool to curate and reframe the world around you. Photography can be a place to reflect your values, thoughts, and desires, and to manifest the kind of world you want to see. In short, you can choose what you focus on and what you leave out of the frame.

My first steps

“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

When I started experimenting with abstract art I did not know where to start. ‘How do you put something you feel onto canvas? How?’ 

I found myself experimenting with different paints such as watercolours, gouache, oil and of course acrylic paint. For some reason, I found that I was most comfortable working with acrylics. Now that I had found my medium I had to find my way to express what I wanted to say on the canvas. 

As I began to venture into the world of Abstractionism I quickly learned that there are so many tools one can use. Obviously, the paint brush is my primary means. But how about other tools? Why not use some rather unusual tools like cling film, nail brushes, your hands, the leftovers of a kitchen paper roll or even a comb. I found that the methods of which I can express my thoughts onto canvas is really limited only by the imagination. 

Kākāriki 2019, 30×40 cm, acrylic on canvas

This piece is „Kākāriki“ and it was created in 2019.

The methods I employed to create „Kākāriki“ was firstly to prepare the background with a coat of ivory black. It is rather risky as black tends to absorb the vibrancy of other colours. Secondly, I used different shades of green and a lemon yellow.

The effects in this painting were created with a comb by gently brushing it through the wet paint. The method was as simple as that – a comb. The inspiration of this piece was sourced through photos of my trip to New Zealand. The word „Kākāriki“ originates from the Maori language and translates to Green. 

Today, when I look at this piece, happy memories come to mind. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on „Kākāriki“

Thank you.

Kat

Transition onto the Canvas

The beginning is perhaps more difficult than anything else, but keep heart, it will turn out all right.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

No Name 2019, Acryl on Paper

Photography became my therapy, but even that was not enough. I needed more than waiting for that moment to capture an image, I needed to create my own. In frustration I took up a brush, dipped it in paint and applied my thoughts onto paper. It was at this point, this moment, when my journey into the Art I love began.

For your viewing, I am sharing that first acrylic painting with you.