"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web."Pablo Picasso

 After my creative block last week I thought I had to write something good about inpspiration again (since that was the original intent of this blog ;-)) . First of all, two lovely illustrators  gave me some great and heartfelt advice:  Elizabeth Stanton (please check out her work on her Penspaper Studio Blog, it is gorgeous) and TJ Lubrano (her illustrations on her blog A Look in a Creative Mind, are also lovely). 

What they showed me is that you cannot force your creativity to come out. Elizabeth wrote "It will come back when it is ready" and I think that is very true. Sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes it takes a couple of days, but it will definitely come back. (Mine actually did, and then I felt like I was even more creative than before). 

The second thing that happened to me was that my first gift from an artist arrived yesterday!!! It is a beautiful print by  by Liam Stevens, an illustrator I interviewed a while ago. He makes amazing paper cuts, once he actually created an animation video completely made of papercuts, I think that took him about three months in total! The print he sent me is also amazing, I can't wait to frame it and put it up on my wall! I couldn't believe it when he asked me which of his prints I would like to have (I actually had a hard time deciding, they were both so pretty!!!) 

I think I figured out what keeps creatives going: and that is the heartfelt and supportive advice from other creatives, who know 100 % what you are going through. That's what did it for me, I guess. 

And lastly, something Vincent Van Gogh once said: "In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."

Craving Creativity: Why my new website is practically empty / Where is my inspiration currently residing? / Any creative ideas to offer?

Update, April 1rst: the reader who gives the best inspiration advice will get featured on my blog, comment below! 


I've been working on my thesis for some weeks now - the deadline is approaching SO fast, even writing down the word deadline just made me shiver. Turning the pages of a book seems to have become the greatest social interaction I've been getting lately. (Does watching TV in the evening count too?)

In the beginning my thoughts were only wandering off occasionally (to my blog mostly, I was sooo creative in the beginning, my Addiction to Creativity has diminished)  my thoughts, and my creativity, have decided to take a vacation. How do you get it back? 

I took a short break today to work on my new website for TYT (okay, I admit, it lasted longer than I intended to)  and somehow, the site is still almost empty, even after working on it. Isn't that weird? Shouldn't it have been full of inspiration and ideas, almost bursting with creativity? 

Not only is my mind blank, but also my website. I already had this amazing "I launched my new website post" planned but I'm still centuries away from that now. Light-years.

These are the moments where I'd love to be able to illustrate or draw or have any artistic talent, then I could at least fill my site with beautiful illustrations. I actually did some doodling, but after a while I  was even shocked by my non-existant artistic talent. I couldn't even identify what I had been drawing in the first place. A friend of mine once told me anyone could learn to draw, but I think with some people it is just hopeless. (like me, I guess). 

So now I've decided to ask my readers: What would you like to see on my website (it will become a creative collaboration platform one day, hopefully ;-) ) Is there anything you have always wished to see on a page dedicated to art? 

Or: Are there any illustrators who'd love to sketch something for my site? I will offer you lots of credit, that's for sure.

I was even thinking about doing a small competition, the one with the best idea will get a full feature on tradeyourtalent and more (that will be a surprise, of course :-) ) 

For now: I hope my inspiration will be back from vacation tomorrow. I hope. Otherwise it is going to get into REAL trouble for abandoning me like that ;-)

I almost forgot: a big hello to my thirtieth follower, Dana Carey, check out her beautiful illustrations on her blog http://danacarey.blogspot.com/

Susanna

Charlotte Hoyle, fashion illustrator "Take these things on the chin and believe in yourself"

                                                                 Charlotte Hoyle

I recently stumbled upon these beautiful illustrations by Charlotte Hoyle. I think her style is really unique, I had a really hard time chosing my favorites for this blog post. Charlotte is an illustrator and artist from Surrey with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Promotion and Illustration. With tradeyourtalent she speaks about her favorite fashion themes and why she likes to draw celebrities. 

What are your favorite themes to work with? 

Charlotte: Definitely fashion, beauty and the macabre. For example I can't see myself creating children's illustration. I like to play around with the ideals of fashion try and give it a dynamic edge, but also I'm really inspired by gothic and weird artwork. I created a series of anatomy fashion illustrations for my graduation show but I haven't done work like that in a while. I'm working towards creating imagery with the same theme but at the moment I'm happy drawing anything fashion related. It's fun to play around with shapes and colour's but also to capture the essence of a garment.

You often illustrate celebrities from a different angle. What inspires you to these illustrations? 

Charlotte: I grew up absorbed in popular culture, celebrities, reality tv, music videos...etc which all question the idea of beauty and promote unrealistic ideas of what beauty is. Celebrities have to be seen to be perfect all the time, drawing them brings out a different reality. I think true beauty is being a bit ugly. I'd love to draw a celebrity from real life, I think that would be interesting. Someone like Lady Gaga or Cheryl Cole, two extremes I know but I think they really use make-up and styling to promote a false ideal of themselves, just in very different ways. Drawing them would strip all that away. 

What is it like being an illustrator/artist in the fashion world? 

Charlotte:You get a lot of knock-backs but its really worth sticking to your guns and keeping at it. My work has developed immensely over the past two years and thats because I continued to draw and focus on my goals. Someone at a high profile magazine told me to never draw celebrities, I think I have proved them wrong, but only because I stuck at it. You have to take these things on the chin and believe in yourself.

 If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be and why? 

Charlotte: My dream would be James Jean. I'm obsessed with him. I pretty much check his blog everyday. He isn't a fashion illustrator per-say (he created the faerie illustrations for Prada) but he is awe-inspiring. Literally blows my mind, both his concepts and techniques. When I think of my career I just focus on getting to his standard one day. 

                                                                      Charlotte Hoyle

                                                                    Charlotte Hoyle

                                                                    Charlotte Hoyle 

                                                                  Charlotte Hoyle

More of Charlotte's lovely illustrations @

www.charlottehoyle.com

www.charlottesnotes.com

Charlotte's facebook page

Twitter: @CharlottesNotes

What I'm wondering about on Monday: Artists and Self-Promotion

This weekend left me wondering about artists and self-promotion. I read a shocking article about graduates of liberal arts classes in Germany. The article says, that ONLY five percent of these graduates can live off their own artwork or sculptures. I don't really  know where they got this number from (I really hope that it was a mistake), but they were definitely right in proposing that young artists should take courses in self-promotion throughout their studies. 

Or should they?  I guess thinking of self-promotion is something some artists greatly disapprove of, because they don't feel it is part of what an artist should do. But where does self-promotion begin, where does it end? And this is what I came up with after some serious brainstorming ;-) : 

Do's and Don'ts 

1) Don´t: Obviously it is not necessary to literally WEAR your own artwork PRINTED on your pants and tshirt ( I saw a guy on Sunday who looked like a colorful painting in motion) 

2) Do: Blog about your progress. I love to read about how artists develop their work and what inspires them. 

3) Don't: give up. Even if you don't get millions of twitter followers like Justin Bieber does, 3 real fans can be of the same greatness. 

4) Do: Show your inspiration and creativity to the world. I've discovered so many great artists through social media, artists I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. 

5) Don't: be shy! A facebook page is sometimes helpful! If you don't like facebook, you can still blog or create your own website, there are so many possibilities! 

6) Do: Connect! there are so many great artists out there who love to collaborate with you. 

More do's or don'ts on self-promotion,  what are your experiences? Feel free to comment below! 

Have a great Monday, 

Susanna

Blog Art Exhibition: Mariano Cegna, Argentina

Mariano Cegna

Atardecer/ oleo sobre tela
100 cm x 80cm

Mariano Cegna

Aves rojas llegando
Acrilico sobre tela

60cm x 90 cm

Mariano Cegna

Caos sobre gris sobre caos
50cm x 60 cm 

Técnica Mixta sobre tela

Mariano Cegna

 Contrastes de la tarde
Acrílico sobre tela

40cm x 40cm

Mariano Cegna  

Deconstrucción total
T.Mixta sobre tela

40cm x 40cm

 Mariano Cegna

Decosntrucción total 2
T. Mixta sobre tela

40cm x 40 cm

Mariano Cegna

Primitivo/ oleo sobre cartulina

1 metro x 80 cm

Interview with Mariano Cegna

Where do you get your inspiration?  

Mariano: To create my paintings I am inspired by nature and the different ways of perceiving the world and people that art gives to us. I think the creative process should result in the departure from reality and also take a part  of the  real world which is significant for the artist.

What is it like being an artist in Argentina?  

Mariano: Being an artist in Argentina may be complicated by the lack of attention given to the arts but it is also comforting to know that Argentina has great talent and great people doing great things. I feel that in my country some are not closely linked to the world on the theme of arts I think it's a gradual process that will change over time. 

When did you start painting?  

Mariano: I'm self taught, Iam 35 years old and started painting 15 years ago, learning is a slow process and takes many years of work and study.

What are the major hemes in your work? 

Mariano: The topics I discuss in my paintings are varied from nature and landscapes to abstraction and the human figure, more important than the subject seems to me the plastic approach that makes the observer have diferent sensations. You can paint a still life from a revolutionary approach or paint in a traditional manner, the difference between the two situations  interests me and too the constant search for new forms of expression. The idea is to convey to the viewer feelings whatever the subject of painting from figurative painting or abstractions .My work currently fluctuates between abstraction and figuration and the gradual and progressive deconstruction of the image.

Mariano's Facebook page