The Quick Q & A editorial in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine is a much loved regular feature, in which we ask 6 artists the same 4 questions. In the March 2024 Issue 44, these were the Quick Q & A questions:
- How do you approach the challenge of staying motivated and inspired in your art practice, and what strategies do you use to keep your creativity flowing?
- Can you talk about the role of storytelling and narrative in your work?
- What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspects of your work?
- What advice do you have for aspiring artists who are just starting out?
We feel that the artists’ responses provide such a valuable insight for our community of artists that we wanted to share one Quick Q & A response from each issue with you, going forward. The March 2024 Issue 44 print issue is sold out, but you can download the digital magazine via our webstore to read more. To ensure you never miss an issue again, you can also subscribe to Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and have each issue sent straight to your door each quarter.
Excerpt from Issue 44 // March 2024 Quick Q & A editorial: Takuya Mitani, Alexis Trice, Kaetlyn Able, Marie-Eve Proteau, Alexandra Lukaschewitz, and Christina Ridgeway all respond to the below Quick Q & A:
Quick Q & A: How do you approach the challenge of staying motivated and inspired in your art practice, and what strategies do you use to keep your creativity flowing?
“Fantastic thoughts far removed from the everyday and realism in the everyday, I try to find a balance between innovative ideas that surprise me and homage to the classics, and I try to keep a balance between these two elements in my work. However, I am careful not to strike too good a balance, nor to make my paintings too cohesive and boring. I am also particularly fond of and study Surrealism and Lowbrow Art paintings. I would like to include more elements of Japanese painting, other Asian cultures, mythology, and Buddhism in my work. In real life, painters tend to spend most of their time in their studios, but I try to find time to visit galleries to see paintings and get real stimulation.”
“I’ve been motivated and drawn to art-making since childhood. Motivation has never been the problem. The real effort and work is remaining disciplined. I believe there is a misconception that creative ideas make themselves apparent out of nowhere, but it’s my experience that the best ideas only emerge when I pause following a major brainstorm, and allow myself to be present, and my mind clear. Changing my environment by being in nature, or at the very least, stepping away from my workspace helps stimulate new pathways of thought and feeling. I also find it useful to jot down blips of ideas whenever they arise and find that they can resonate and become fully baked when I stumble across them later on.”
“I’m drawn to the creatures and plants who share my home here in the American Rocky Mountains. I love being outdoors, in gardens and on trails, and always come home with a bone-deep need to draw and paint what I’ve observed. If I’m feeling stuck in my practice, I head outside to get things flowing again. My process is quite labour-intensive, so it’s also important for me to always be working from a place of curiosity. My flow state feels like an extremely absorbing investigation. When I start to feel restless and inattentive, I know I’ve fallen out of it, and it’s time to set that particular piece aside for a bit. I only work on it again when my curiosity leads me to it.”
“I feel that everything is in perpetual movement and my artistic flow is a sinuous and surprising avenue. As a hypersensitive person, I absorb a lot of traces of inspiration from an infinity of diverse small things. Every element can become the start of a reflection; a vivid colour, a subtle fragrance, a glimpse of a gloomy sky. It can become overwhelming to select what will qualify in the race of being part of a first sketch. I like to write down those parcels of inspiration for those days where it’s more challenging to find motivation. In such periods, I can always collect ideas from my little notebooks, put my favourite record on, and reflect on how this artistic liberty is a precious gift.”
“The anticipation of seeing the creatures of my imagination come to life is one of my strongest motivators. While the process is long, keeping the final form in sight drives my commitment to each piece. At moments when progress feels glacial, or the end seems impossibly distant, it is important for me to escape the studio, creating a much-needed distance by excursions into nature with my dog Mabel.
Regular breaks are essential, allowing me to return to the studio with fresh eyes and sometimes with a new angle I hadn’t anticipated. To feed my creativity and imagination I immerse myself in activities often unconnected to art – visiting old museums, flea markets, antique bookstores, or going mudlarking.”
“This can often be a challenge, especially coming out of a big project as I am doing now. I think it’s important to give yourself mental breaks. For me, that’s getting out into nature, making ugly sketches, and focusing on other things for a time so that the inspiration comes to me, rather than me having to seek it out. I think one of the most important things is allowing myself to create for fun. Even if it isn’t polished or it’ll never be a full-blown painting. Getting all the ideas or feelings out then refining it into something more later. I believe it’s important to not put too much pressure on yourself because it can really suck the creativity out of you.”
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