A tiny piece of Heaven and Hell

Today was spent painting with acrylics at the Fine Art studio 3. Heaven; a creative environment, conversations with interesting people, freedom to be messy without restrictions. Hell; devil is in the detail. Perfection is something to aim for, but it is never possible. The eye will never be satisfied.

I arrived at the studio at ten in the morning. To my happy surprise I saw many of my friends at the Fine Art creating their individual, very different pieces. The athmosphere seemed very relax and everyone was happy to share the space. Couple of hours later Matt joined me.

What I wanted to create was some illustrations with acrylic paint, under the theme isolation/solitude. I find this theme interesting, always present and controversial. Isolation/solitude can be a state of mind or something you choose. A person might seek for loneliness or you can end up being alone, something that, at our society nowadays have become more and more obvious. There is also different layers in this theme. A person who lives in solitude, might want to get free from the stress full everyday life and the obligations it demands. Or it might be a state inside your head, feeling lonely, alone in the middle of others. I find the theme interesting, definitely personal and something to find a balance with. How much time should be spent alone? What is healthy?

In my paintings I am creating the atmosphere of isolation and solitude by using a lot of empty space, positionating the characters in the corners of the canvas and playing with proportions.

During the day many topics where discussed between Matt and myself. Not surprisingly illustration, being a hot subject. We where discussing what defines someone`s style. Is a person consiously thinking about making an image look like his or her style? How a persons style develops and how much influence other artists styles have on you.

I think style is something that definately develops and changes with your practise and experience. While looking at a lot of artists, getting knowleble of differant styles you automaticly draw inspiration from them, but I do disagree on the argument Matt raised, that you consiously change your style and lines to imitate the ones you find appealing. I think the development of ones style is a gradual change.

This is of course me talking by the experience I have in my own development. Looking back at my illustrations I can definately see change, or call it development of my voice. In my work I have cut back colour, mainly using just black and white and making lines minimalistic. This is because I think all excess is unnecessary. I want to be able to express myself with as little as possible, providing the viewer all that is necessary to "decode my message". Because thats what it is, when ever I draw something. I am trying to tell the viewer something, without words. My style is no more a consious decision it simply is the way I see the world around me.