— Spring this year brought us “AWAKE” artist Cathrine Blan from England, our featured artist in Issue No. 26 of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine. Her work is exquisite, and her interview was a delight …
Q. What got you started in digital photo artistry?
I can’t ever remember a time when I was not interested in art. From a very early age it has been an integral part of my life. My earliest and biggest influences were my father and uncle who were both artists and came from an artistic background themselves. Both (but especially my father) encouraged me to create art, and I remember being bought my first easel and oil paints at a very early age. Our house was full of art books, which I used spend hours looking at. We also used to travel regularly and visits art museums all over Europe. I remember when I was just a young teen standing awestruck in front of Botticelli’s Venus in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. That piece affected me deeply.
It is these early experiences which most influence my art today, however it was not until my own daughter went to university to become a designer that I discovered the joy of Photoshop. I had to buy the program for her to use in her university course but I soon became addicted to this wonderful piece of software myself, and it opened a whole new world for me. I found myself able to do things that I could not do with paint and pen alone.
Then one day a link popped up on my Facebook page for a Photoshop Artistry course … and this changed everything. I was now able to learn techniques that I never even new existed and my Photoshop and art skills really began to blossom. And not only that, I also became a member of a wonderful community of artists, some of which have been and continue to be an incredible influence on me.
Q. What inspires your work?
My art is heavily influence by my early experiences and all the art and beautiful paintings I saw as a child, but also by my love of nature. I was raised in the beautiful county of Yorkshire in the UK, where I could explore the many moorlands and woodlands there. I was always collecting things and bringing them home — leaves, branches, twigs, plants, and bugs … anything I could find. And I still do to this, although today they are in the form of photographs rather than the physical items themselves.
I have always had a deep connection to nature and this often features heavily in my art. My art is also influence by the many books I used to read as a child. My parents would take all of us children to the library each week and we would pick six books apiece. I just loved those books and read avidly, titles such as The Secret Garden, The Railway Children, Anne of Green Gables, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and many more. If you look closely, you’ll see the influence of these books coming through in my art. More recently I am constantly inspired by the wonderful art that I view everyday online. There are some amazing digital photo-artists out there (many, many in our “AWAKE” group) who constantly knock my socks off with their sheer brilliance and artistic abilities.
Q. What does living an artistic life mean to you?
Living the photo-artistic life means living a true and authentic life and being able to know who I am and not being afraid to express my truth. It means not having to follow anyone else’s path, only my own. It means being able to freely express who I am, what I love, and what I believe without restriction. It means living a fulfilled life and being able to see the beauty and magic in the everyday mundane world. The photo-artistic life is an exciting journey with many twists and turns and new avenues to be explored. It’s wonderful, liberating, and beautiful. And it’s a life shared with others like myself who understand my passion for art and who “get me.”
Q. How do you generally approach your work?
The creative process for me is a very fluid one with no set rules to follow. It usually starts with a small spark of an idea that pops into my head while daydreaming (I am a constant daydreamer; always have been). Sometimes I find myself inspired by an image that I have stumbled across, and that sets the process going. But once I start working, the whole thing takes on a life of its own. I work fast, pulling images textures and elements on to the page, moving them around and trying different blend modes and effects until something just clicks … and from then on things just seem to flow. So I just go with it and see where it takes me. Once the overall idea has manifested, I then start to tweak it and add the detail. I am a stickler for even the smallest detail. Then when I feel I’ve finished I will leave it for a few days and only then come back and look at it again to see how I feel about it after a little distance. It’s surprising what things you will notice a few days later that you missed before.
I use some stock photos in my work, but I also take a lot of my own photos. I try wherever possible to make my own textures, brushes, and extracted elements made from images I have either photographed or painted myself. Many of the textures and brushes I use are all hand-painted. I do still love to paint in the traditional way and then incorporate that into my digital pieces.
Q. What do you see as the next step you wish to take with your work?
Honestly, my next step is to just continue to do what I do, just for the love of it. For me it’s the journey not the destination that is important. It’s a way of living, and I have no Idea where it will take me, but that’s what is so exciting. It’s like going into the unknown, living a story which is playing itself out, and I don’t know the ending. I will continue to push myself and put in the work and continue to explore new techniques and ideas and follow opportunities as they arise and see what manifests. I also love to design content. I find it very therapeutic doing extractions and designing backgrounds textures and overlays, and I have a huge amount of it which is just sitting on my drives, so I may even consider going into content design at some time in the future. It seems a shame to have it all just sitting there when others could make use of it.
Q. Any advice or tips for other artists eager to improve?
Just be your authentic self, do what you love, don’t judge yourself by other’s standards, follow your own path without fear or restriction, and create from the heart. Turn up, put in the work, and don’t be afraid to be different and try new techniques. This is your journey not someone else’s. Enjoy it. And above all, have fun!