— The featured artist of Issue 38 of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine, AWAKE artist Ali Oppy (based in New Zealand), is one of our most exciting talents, with an absolutely enchanting style. It’s great to finally get to interview her here on Quill and Camera . . .
Q. What got you started in photo artistry?
I’ve always enjoyed creating art, and I have tried many different art forms. One of my most enjoyable was creating paintings using spray paint to the accompanying sound of upbeat music in front of a live audience.
After many years of doing this, however, I decided it was time to move to something new.
I soon discovered the digital world and fell in love with Photoshop.
With no digital art skills, I started to create using Photoshop and a few other editing programs. And after many hours spent watching tutorials and many dedicated hours spent practicing, I started creating fantasy artwork in what I hoped might become my own style — limited only by my imagination.
Looking for my own artistic name was something I wanted from early on, and it ultimately came to me through the sadness of my father passing away. At my father’s funeral a sparrow flew in and stayed for the whole time of the service to the end and then flew away. This was how the creation of my artistic name ‘Mystic Sparrow’ came about.
When I first started, I created work in a variety of styles, from fantasy to surreal, trying to discover my own unique style. I now love to create what I think of as “Fantasy Female Portraits.” My world of mystical and magical fantasy art seems to carry a touch of mystery, which I think further brings my “Mystery Sparrow” to life in my art. (In fact, I incorporate a small sparrow within all of my images, sometimes obvious sometimes not so obvious.)
Q. Do you have a specific process you follow when you work?
I start with a general idea of what I want to attempt, and pick out my model … Then I build the background … And bringing those together, I begin layering in other images. Everything else grows from there.
I just keep adding different images, and most times what I have in mind never quite ends up the way I expected. I will add an image … and what do ya know … another idea occurs to me … so I run with that one until I am happy with how it looks. Add another image, and off I am again, chasing down another idea that struck me.
When creating my images I often get so lost in the process, I feel I end up in the world of fantasy. The outside world ceases to exist.
I usually have about four different compositions on the go at any one time so when I get stuck and don’t know what to do next, I leave that image and move to another. Later on I will come back to my original piece with fresh eyes. In the end, it probably takes me on average about 40 hours to complete any one piece of art.
Q. What is it that inspires your artwork?
Many artists now inspire my creativity. As do fantasy movies, like Maleficent (my all time favorite). I also surf the internet for fantasy artwork to see what sparks my imagination. My most loved artist is the painter Jim Warren with his fantasy and surreal type art. He is a great inspiration.
Q. What does “living the photo artistic life” mean to you?
For me, I think it’s that I now see life itself as an artistic creation … one that I can enhance and carry further within my fantasy world — a world of pure creativity, without boundaries.
Q. What’s your next step as an artist?
My artistic journey so far has seen my art published in the “Artists Down Under” magazine [featuring the AWAKE artists of Australia and New Zealand] as well as “Fine Art Photography from Around the World” magazine. Most exciting of all was being featured in the April 2018 edition of “Living The Photo Artistic Life” magazine, and having one of my images on the cover, was something I thought was going to only be a dream.
From here . . . I hope to be able to one day have my artwork in a gallery, where I can possibly even develop a following, where people will say “Oh, I know this artist! Her work is so creative and unique!” That would be exciting.
Q. Any advice or tips for other aspiring artists?
Set your own goals, create for your own satisfaction, and enjoy every artistic creation you create. Decide from the start to leave your mark as an artist for the universe to enjoy.
We are all our own unique creators, each of us living our own artistic life. So most of all, just love what you do and have fun doing it.