Artists at Work: Why Do You Create?

Artsy Shark presents artists at work in the studio or on location, doing what they love. We asked them, “Why do you create?”

 

Chris Brandley: I am inspired when the sun begins to set, and the lighting deepens to a rich, warm glow. Even the most mundane objects become the star of the show.

Bryan Nelson: I have always had a love for wood. This love has driven me to explore the treasures that Mother Nature has hidden in the trees…

Christine O’Connor: Having always been captivated by faces and figures, I like to create strong images capturing mood or personality by boldly moving the paint, passionate in my creative journey.

Diane Tessman: My hats are one of a kind, inspired by vintage wear. Many are repurposed from old sweaters, jackets, etc., and created with love and positive energy.

Gulnar Sacoor: After my long and varied professional career, I decided to pursue a path in the art field doing what pleased me much and thus honoring who I am. Since then my training has been and is a ”work in progress”.

Susan Beallor-Snyder: My manila rope sculptures are the physical manifestation of my emotions. I am inspired by my personal life as well as the world around me.

Alice Harrison: Working in layers, technically, intellectually and spiritually I create images and sensations of movement, color, harmony and joy. Much of my work is inspired by the various materials I have collected, as well as by traditional materials in my studio.

Sarah Stokes: What inspires me? To communicate an open heart in its unique and intuitional way. It’s the joy of expressing myself through colour and mark making with a sense of playful adventure and discovery.

Linda Harrison-Parsons: My work is inspired by nature, wildlife, and travel. Documenting those things that I see today but may be gone tomorrow.

Britta Dietsche: I am a Swiss artist and love working in my studio, collecting new motifs and ideas to create my collages. 

Anne Hartwell: Caring about people drives my need to create. When I create something of beauty with meaning for those grieving, it provides them opportunities for a constructively healthy, healing pathway.  

Garry McMichael:  Less is more. I’m taking my art back to the basics,  creating simple still-lifes with the emphasis on values and a limited palette of grays and earth tones.

Monique Kendikian-Sarkessian: Artists translate our world via human experience and passions. I believe that art should transmit life to its viewer and it is my aim to create illuminating transcendent works.

Leanne Byrom: I’m inspired to create art that engages and truly touches people, something that triggers an emotional response and a sense of “being there”.

Sheryl Hughes: I spend hours at wetlands, zoos and scuba diving taking photos which inspire my paintings. I enjoy painting eyes that bring paintings to life as you look into the animal’s soul.

Deborah Webster: The colors in the Gulf of Mexico are my greatest inspiration. Teal, aqua, turquoise. Ten shades of blue and sky everywhere. Water patterns with translucent blues and greens are a testament to the beauty that surrounds me at water’s edge.

Elizabeth Weber: I paint how my Heart experiences the world, and those experiences leave marks. These emotional footprints are like color postcards collected by my Soul. I paint the postcard left behind.

Rod Seeley: I’m inspired to create “Stylized Digital Fractal” art because it is unique and you never no know what the end result is going to be until it “Wows You”!

Paige Hirsch: I am a mixed-media artist.  I love paper and try to incorporate it into at least 90% of all of my mixed-media paintings and collages.  It lets me achieve a look that I cannot create by paint alone. 

Rachel Biggs: I don’t know if it really counts as a technique exactly, but I try to create art that makes people happy when they see it. That’s my goal. 🙂

Heather Burns: I like to use free expressive gestural marks in my painting taking nature, colour, light and narrative as starting points. Collaborative work with other artists and poets also features strongly.

Katie MacMahon: I use bold colors because color impacts the nervous system directly, offering viewers a way to connect emotionally with my work as well as intellectually.

Lorraine Brown: I love to share life’s moments and treasures through painting in watercolour. The medium’s ability to create unique and unexpected results with risks and surprises is a never ending inspiration.

Lucinda Leveille: There is nothing more exciting in this world than having a blank canvas inviting me to fill it with something wonderful.

Pam Little: I am attracted to the light in a landscape, whether the alpenglow on the mountains outside our home, or the in vistas of Yellowstone National Park.

Vickie Martin: I love making art in the studio with my trusty blowtorch and gunpowder at the ready for some texture.

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