March Meme question. :)

[moonvoice]

1. What gives you inspiration for your artwork? Where did the idea for the firebird series come from? Why pencil? Do you use other media as well? What do you find aethetically pleasing in artwork, your own or other people's or in general?


Hmm. Firstly, this is like forty billion questions, give or take. :P

- Everything seems to inspire my artwork, but a lot of the time I force myself to sit down and do it, and the very releasing, freeing act of doing art inspires me to keep going. This is why I think I have a high output, and why I don't need to 'wait' for that right moment to come along. But nature helps, and seeing the art of others, and also other artistic pursuits that aren't art - like movies, books, listening to music etc. Feedback and praise from others inspires me a great deal, since I haven't produced as much art, as when I got my DeviantArt account (except for in highschool, where I was also subject to a constant flow of feedback and/or praise).

* I love firebirds, and phoenixes, and all birds that seem to spontaneously combust into flame for varying reasons. I can't exactly explain this love, but it's pervasive, and it's been with me since I was a little child. Drawing firebirds is one of those things I do for myself, it never occurred to me that other people would be interested (same with dragons). The idea for the firebird series came when I drew Raven as a Firebird, and then as I was drawing him, I started to think of other birds and how they would look as firebirds. Not just the more traditional peacock, but also birds like penguins, herons, fairy wrens etc. I think of stories for them, how they manage to live in their habitats despite catching fire. I like to turn every bird around me into a firebird sometimes, I just can't help it. Lol. All birds are magical to me, in every way.

* I actually prefer pastel and painting, to drawing with pencils, but don't have the room (I don't have a desk, or an easel, or canvas, or paints anymore... *cry*) and when I move I will set up a studio so I can start painting again. My favourite medium is pastels though (chalk, not oil). My least favourite is water colour, because I know so very very little about it.

* I like artwork that isn't 100% realistic, but still very skilled. My favourite movements of art include Futurism, Cubism and Expressionism. I like art that uses either very very strong, or very minimalistic colour, and I appreciate whimsy and magic. I like stylism and tribal art from all cultures, and I appreciate line and curve such as what is found in Japanese traditional art and the work of Monet (who was influenced by this). I like art that is politically challenging. Here is an example of some of my all-time favourites on DeviantArt:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/45880654/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/48278513/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28514643/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44426371/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/19480295/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/33788027/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/19599083/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/42943303/

(I also, as you can probably tell from those, reeeeeeally love the colour red.)

In my own art, I tend to like colour, and vibrancy. Here are some of my favourite pieces of my own:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/33203391/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34021552/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40320409/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40846189/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/49274992/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34021812/



2. What influences do you have on your spiritual life apart from Vilturj shamanism? What effect do they have, if any?


hmm. Heaps. Heh.

Aboriginal lore, legend and a handful of direct teachings heavily influence my spiritual life, since I live in Australia and have no actual urge to go back and live on the Kola Peninsula. So I hungrily devour Aboriginal stories and mythologies, and it's influence is quite huge in my practices. I use clacking sticks for journeying these days more commonly than I drum, most of my animal guides are native Australian animals, and most of the woods / plants I work with on an energy / magical level are native.

I have been pretty heavily influenced by Alexandrian Wicca and some High Ceremonial teachings. I was drawn to Goetic practice for some time, and practiced in a formal Alexandrian Wiccan coven in Perth for about two and a half years. This left its mark on me, and I still have some fairly hard-wired habits, like 'consecrating' items, or working with candle magic (which was not a part of Vilturj or Australian Aboriginal practice), or actually writing down a ritual before I do it as a guideline, or hell, writing down anything at all! Before Wicca, I didn't write down anything that I was taught in Vilturj. Nothing at all. Heh.

I suspect that when I visit Japan, I will be more heavily influenced by Shinto Japanese practice, but at the moment that is more something slowly influencing my spiritual life from the sidelines. And I'm quite influenced by Slavic mythologies and witchcraft. :)

Yeah, I don't hide the fact I'm pretty damned eclectic / hybridised. :)


3. Favourite fantasy novels? Favourite fantasy anything-else?



Novels:

Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy / The Tawny Man series
Ursula le Guin - anything involving Earthsea
Peter S. Beagle - The Last Unicorn
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials trilogy
Sarah Zettel - The Isavalta trilogy (fucking amazing, and not very well known, the fantasy world is focused in a Siberian shamanism influenced mythos, and the neighbouring faction of people are described in ways that show a heavy Japanese / Chinese mythos influence.)
Isobelle Carmody - The Obernewtyn Chronicles, Scatterlings, The Gathering
Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Bitterbynde Trilogy
David Eddings - The Belgariad (it's classic, lol)
Shannah Jay - Chronicles of Tenebrak
Robert Holdstock - Mythago Wood series.

Almost all fairy tales, from any culture. Lol.

Movies:

Anything by Studio Ghibli, especially:
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
My Neighbour Totoro
Howl's Moving Castle
The Cat Returns

and goodness knows the list is pretty endless. The Secret of NIMH and The Last Unicorn come to mind, and The Labyrinth and The Princess Bride. Heh.


You can find the meme here

Comments

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

I like this meme :P

Mmm, avianpyrophilia :) I quite like the idea- not sure that it would have ever occurred to me without seeing your work, but there's just something so alluring about the idea.

When I create artwork, I prefer using pencils. Paint dones't like me much. It's messy, and I had problems with not mixing up enough of a colour and not being able to mix it up quite right again.

I really liked the octopus and the peacock, and the ones with the foxes and the golden heron of yours. Love bright colours, love the level of not-realism.

I should just go through all of the art stuff and write my own post, there's so many things I want to comment on :)

Believe it or not, I've read Eddings' Elenium and Tamuli series but not the Belgariad. Isobelle Carmody is pretty good author, I thought Alyzon Whitestar was pretty interesting in that Alyzon had smell ESP. I want to read the Obernewtyn Chronicles again.

Feel free to ask me the hairiest questions you can think up :)

[goddessofchaos.livejournal.com]

Your own art is beautiful and, yes, vibrant would be the right word for it. They also give me a strong sense of the spiritual and the sacred. I particularly love the last one.

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

I really need to read Sarah Zettel. I saw her books in Dymocks the other day and ooh, the covers are pretty!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Get one get one get one! :D