— The featured artist of the 61st issue of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine is Australian AWAKE artist Louise Smith. I’m pleased to be able to share my interview with Louise here on Quill and Camera . . .
Q: What got you started in digital photo artistry?
As a young child I liked to draw and do crafty stuff. I would class myself as an introvert which probably stems from having five older sisters, so growing up I didn’t have much of a chance to get a word in! Unfortunately, at school “Art” was not a subject we could elect to take, so I never pursued in it in a formal manner. Over the years I have done the odd short course in painting and drawing but never really took it seriously.
I became interested in photography after I purchased a small Nikon point and shoot camera just for taking family holiday snaps . My Father was a keen photographer so I may have inherited my love of photography from him. When my husband and I relocated to a small coastal town on the east coast of Queensland, I wrote down three things I wanted to do. Top of the list was to join the local camera club, which I did and it was great. I had recently upgraded to a Canon DSLR camera at that time and was itching to learn how to use it. I enjoyed many an outing with the group and it was great to have a theme each month to capture for the competition. After a few years though the rules and regulations of photography competitions started to get a bit restrictive and I was looking for something more.
Then about two years ago, a photographer that I was following online was promoting the Photoshop Artistry course by Sebastian Michaels. Once I had scrolled halfway down the page I knew I had to purchase it. It was exactly what I had been looking for! As I’d mainly used Lightroom to edit my photos before, learning how to use Photoshop confronted me with a fresh learning curve. But I’ve been loving it, and it keeps my mind active.
(If you’re interested — number 2 on my list, after joining the camera club, was learning to surf. But yeah, that never happened, LOL. And I can’t remember what the third thing was!)
Q: What inspires your art work?
Inspiration comes from everywhere. The extensive content available to us in the many courses that Sebastian has on offer is amazing. Just one element from there can conjure up many ideas.
The wonderful work produced by all the artists on the AWAKE and KAIZEN Facebook pages is also a great inspiration. And I also love to look through Pinterest for ideas.
I guess I am influenced by Renaissance art the most. (I would dearly love to learn how to paint like that!) I also love the work of fine art photographers Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk and Alexia Sinclair. Plus of course Brooke Shaden, who has been an inspiration to so many with her approach to fine art photography.
I also have many, many photos I have taken over the years, and these can always spark ideas. I’ve been privileged to travel to some interesting, photogenic places in this world. One day I’ll sort through all those photos and make lots of art with them.
Photography remains a great inspiration in general. I always like to have a camera with me when I’m out and about, whether that be my Nikon Z6 or simply my iPhone. I’m always on the lookout for images to use, not only as the subject of a piece but as textures or elements I might bring into my images.
Q: What does living the artistic life mean to you?
Freedom! Escape! When I sit down in front of my computer the hours just melt away until I’m jolted from my reverie by family asking when dinner will be ready!
I enjoy drawing, which I can do now on my iPad, and I enjoy photography, and I really love working in Photoshop, combing all of these things to create a picture that never existed before until I bring it to life. That’s so satisfying to me. I love it.
Q: How do you approach your work? Any particular process you follow?
Sometimes I start with one of my own photos, either as a main subject or simply as a background image that speaks to me. But really, there is no set process I follow. As with many artists, what I have in mind when I begin a piece … soon veers off into something totally different. And seems I am always layering in elements (though often deleting them just as quickly when they don’t ‘fit’).
I do like to tell a story with my images. Yet I find it difficult to be wild and free with the sort of images I create. I’m just not very ‘flowery’ — in the sense that I probably don’t embellish them quite as much as I could. This might be something I need to work on to take them to another level.
Some images can all come together within a couple of hours. Other times I might need to revisit a piece over a few days. But I think you always ‘know’ when it’s a winner.
Q: Do you ever run into dry spells? And if so, what do you do to get past them?
Oh, yes! It can sometimes take a week or two for me to come up with an idea for an artistic piece I’m really excited about creating.
Just going about our day to day lives, with work and family commitments, can disrupt the creative process.
So during those times I’ll look up ideas on Pinterest or immerse myself in admiring the quality work produced on the various artistic Facebook and Instagram pages I follow. Or I might take out some books from the local library on artists to research and explore.
I don’t like to stay away from my computer for too long. Though if I’m in the middle of a piece and it’s not going as I had hope I’ll leave it for a day or two, switching to something else. It helps having the time to think about what other elements can be added that might enhance the story you’re trying to tell. Sometimes when you come back to it, just adding one more thing you’ve thought of can make all the difference, and before you know it, a story appears and you run with it. (Granted, other times you just hit delete!)
Q: What’s your next step as an artist?
I’ve done a couple of model shoots recently which went well in that I managed to use a couple of photos for some of my artwork. It was very basic so what I would love to do in the future is set up the whole photo shoot on a larger scale — wardrobe, makeup, hair, setting, the works. Really tell a story, and create a series of pieces from each shoot, exploring a specific theme.
I can see a certain style starting to emerge with my work … I just need to develop it further. But then on the other hand, perhaps I’ll dive into something totally different. For instance, I am also drawn to collage imagery. (There are a couple of artists on instagram —Frank Moth and Samuel Eller — that I really like.) So maybe a bit of experimenting with that type of style might be on the cards.
But on a day to day basis, I just want to create art. Art that means something to me.
Q: Do you have a favorite piece of artwork, and if so, why is it special to you?
I have quite a few favorites. The main one is featured on the cover of the 61st edition of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine. It’s titled “Going Under.” Being chosen as a featured artist was both a huge surprise and an honour in itself. Another favorite is titled “Cinderella,” which I created using all my own photos for the first time, literally the whole scene — elements, textures, model, and background. While I was overseas in Europe and the UK at the end of last year we were lucky enough to visit some spectacular castles and buildings. That rich history is something we don’t have a lot of here in Australia, so while everyone was taking the obligatory holiday snaps (which I took too) I was also taking photos of staircases and merry-go-rounds and huge windows with the light coming in and all manner of weird and wonderful things, because I was already envisioning using them at some stage in my compositions. Then I had the opportunity to have a young family friend model for me, posing in situations and poses that I knew I could work into the pictures I had taken during our travels. Having all of that come together in one piece was meaningful to me.
Q: Any advice for other aspiring digital artists?
My advice on a technical level would be to be aware of the way the light is falling in your images and place the shadows accordingly. That counts for so much. Also try to unify the various elements you are using so they match — meaning the same graininess or blurriness as the background or other elements around them so that they blend in realistically.
I also recommend investing in a simple cardboard colour wheel. That can be so helpful in working out complimentary colours to use in your images.
But ultimately, just have a go at it! It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about you or your art. If you love it then do it.
And be sure to share your work, without worrying what others will or won’t say. I remember the first time I posted an image in the AWAKE group. It was a photo of a butterfly with I think a texture over it and a border around the outside. I was so happy that I’d learn’t how to move one photo onto another and blend it in. What a great day that was! I remember I was so nervous about posting it … but at the end of the day, honestly, you can’t worry about what others will think. There are worse things in this world than posting an image that doesn’t get a lot of “likes”! Simply creating a bit of art by doing something you enjoy doing is worth it, in and of itself, if only for your own enjoyment (or sanity!) And really … who knows where it will take you?