Hello Em! Tell me a bit about your background.
I grew up on the Mornington Peninsula and was always drawing through childhood and school. I went straight into full time work after high school. I had applied to a few fine art courses, but I decided against it at the time. No one in my family had been to university, so I remember it not feeling like a big deal to not go. I do remember distinct moments over the years of feeling strongly that I wanted to be an artist, but I didn’t have the confidence to take that desire seriously until much later.
Welcome Home
There wasn’t an exact moment where I made the decision to work as an artist. It was more of a series of events that led to it happening pretty organically.
I lost my job during the first lockdown and had a lot of crisis moments not knowing what to do next. I picked up work as an organic veggie delivery driver, then a retail worker when we had a gap between lockdowns, then did 2 semesters in a Bachelor of psychology during another lockdown, and my last role was freelance event management work across two different companies.
During that time I had started to pick up more commission painting work, and when I had enough to keep me busy for the two months ahead I just thought, I’m going to focus my attention on that, and when I need to I’ll do more freelance work.
The way everything unfolded made it a lot easier to make that leap, because the instability of the work I had been doing no longer seemed very different from the instability of work as an artist.
It’s still early days but I hope I can keep working for myself and keep developing as an artist.
It Was Nice to Have The Company
Sharing
A Nice Place, Weightless
Your paintings are stunning! Like a modern and inviting twist on fauvism... Who were / are your biggest artistic influences?
Thank you so much! That is so kind.
Earlier on, Lisa Brice, Jenny Saville and John Kacere. When I started to develop an interest in painting and in exploring what was out there, those are three that stand out in my mind, even though their styles are very different from my own. They gave me the sense that paintings exist on this open-ended spectrum and can be anything, and probably represent the first artists whose work I felt I really saw and was interested in.
Chloe Wise and Toyin Oji Odutola are the two that have been more recent influences over the last few years.
Do your other interests in your life influence your art?
Reading is a big influence. One of my favourite writers is Ottessa Moshfegh, when I read her books it feels very visual, the way the scenes and characters play out in my mind. I think that experience pulls me more toward wanting to tell stories through my work, to create other worlds. People, objects and settings in day to day life and movies also influence my work - noticing the way someone’s skin creases around their elbow or different shades of green in a certain patch of grass can influence what I’m working on at the time, or spark ideas for new paintings.
Explain your interest in food / still life.
Food is a universal human experience, and I think how we present and consume food is interesting to play with in a painting. We all eat but sometimes we are sad and we eat alone and it’s messy, or because we are sad maybe we go to extra lengths to create this decadent experience for ourselves.
We could be preparing a dinner party and the careful arrangement of plates and glasses feels anticipatory, while at other times it feels a little like dread. Multiple realities are possible, in a painting and in life, so I like the idea that I can use food and the setting as these anchor points to hint at what the story might be.
Favourite colour / tone of paint?
I have just discovered Phthalo Green, and I am very into it. A favourite for now.
Background colour is Phthalo Green
Managing a work-life balance is still very new. So far I have learnt that I work better when I start earlier in the morning, and that if I catch up with someone in the morning there is a high chance I won’t get anything done after. I also know I will very rarely exercise after a day in the studio. So I’m trying to tailor my week around exercise first thing in the morning, studio straight after, home by the afternoon, and then I know for the most part I have evenings free for time with friends or time to myself. It’s super simple but blocking out my time like that has been helpful in having that regular time to create.
Image courtesy of sundaysalon.com
Do you have techniques for overcoming creative blocks?
Just to take a break. If it’s specific to something I’m working on and I’m stuck on where to go next then I usually take a photo and I’ll stare just at it when I’m home – something about having space from the physical piece seems to help. Sometimes I think those blocks come up because the painting needs something that I’ve decided will be too difficult – so to me it can seem like a little push to say, take that time to reset, then follow that weird or difficult idea you have or you won’t be able to move past this block. If it’s more general and I just don’t feel inspired to create then I know I need to take a proper break, be with friends, cook, take long walks and relax.
An Invitation at @ma____house
Advice for young artists: