My artistic journey
I can’t remember when I wasn’t drawing, painting and stitching. I dabbled in all sorts or arts and crafts through my early years . I remember the pottery classes that were so much fun – going out for an evening and coming home clay spattered clutching a gorgeously glazed platter which I still use years later. I quilted, baked, painted and made paper crafts. I designed childrens clothes and sold at Salamanca Market for a year.
I was good at a lot of things but I wanted to be great at something! All the time I was searching for that one talent that would allow me to express my creativity freely and perfectly.
At the back of my mind was always a memory of a visit to the Metropoliton Museum of Art in New York standing in front of a wonderful small painting lost in admiration at how the artist had achieved such subtle shadows with mere paint. I told my friend ” if I could create something like that I think I would have done something worthwhile with my life”. He bought me a print as a birthday present and it still hangs in my studio reminding me to keep striving to create beauty from raw materials.
Finally that painting inspired me to hone my art skills, to practice daily, to attend workshops, to enter competitions, to accept commissions, and to tackle difficult subjects. As my art journey progressed I won prizes, I took workshops and taught classes. Best of all I learned to really see what I was looking at.
Of course I also learned that I will never be able to perfectly express my creative ideas but that many imperfect paintings eventually lead to a few captured moments that are worth all the struggle and effort.
My inspiration
Creating art is often a response to the intricate, diverse and interconnected natural world around me. I’m moved by the grand vistas but also the smallest details. In an increasingly busy, confusing and complex society art has a way of quieting my mind and allowing me to connect on a more spiritual level to the beauty, harshness and exhilerating variety found on our planet. Almost all my art relates to the natural world…it’s what fuels my creativity, feeds my soul and expresses my gratitude for the world in which I live.
Living in Tasmania I’m constantly inspired by the natural beauty surrounding me and have a real love of the coastal scenery. Water features in a lot in my paintings! Travel to other countries has shown me how diverse the world landscape can be and given me many opportunities to broaden my subject matter.
Painting has taught me to see this wonderful world around me with greater clarity and detail and it is my passion to translate that “seeing” into a tangible piece of art that will capture a moment, reflect a mood and bring pleasure for years to come.
I am an observational artist
Observing has become a part of who I am – I recline in the dentist chair looking up at the colours reflecting off the spotlight and the clouds scudding across the blue sky framed in the skylight above and I observe all the small details and then spent the next 30 minutes, while my dentist drills and fills, imagining how all that detail would translate into a painting! I have never painted that painting outside my mind but it is perfectly formed in my observational artist brain.
I look at skies and clouds, rocks and waves , pots and pans and see colour variations, textures and patterns, light and shade, highlights and subtle hues.
I am also a dabbler!
Of course that hasn’t stopped me dabbling! There’s still room in my life for new ventures. I see something interesting and think ” How is that done” and then off I go and try to work it out. My current obsessions are collagraph printing and ecoprinting on fabric and paper.
The outlet for all this creativity are my Etsy shops LeafAndPrint and LindyWhittonStudio
Am I a full time artist?
I retired from a demanding fulltime professional life as an MRI technologist 4 years ago and I think it’s fair to say that over those years I’ve become a full time artist. I may not be putting pastel to paper or dipping my brush in paint 8 hours a day but I am always looking at life through an artistic lens. My artist brain is always switched on observing, seeing and storing information that will feed back into physical works at some future time. I paint, I tutor, I serve as president of a local art group, and I constantly learn from other artists.
What else do I do ?
When I’m not creating or working I love to travel, take photos , eat good food, and enjoy my family – most probably the same things you enjoy!
Why this blog?
I’ve learned a lot over the years from other artists sharing their thoughts and techniques via tutorials, workshops, books,web videos, and blogs. I’ve had the opportunity to teach classes, lead workshops and do demos at art shows which I’ve really loved. I believe art is about sharing and I want to contribute to that artistic soup out there!
Come and join me on my journey!
Lindy
