— The featured artist of the 63rd issue of Living the Photo Artistic Life magazine is Australia-based AWAKE artist Meaghan Pryor. It’s wonderful to be able to share my interview with Meaghan here on Quill and Camera . . .
Q: So what got you started in digital photo artistry?
I have always been creative, whether it be with textiles and sewing, or writing, or making jewelry. I was involved in so many crafts. However I was always disappointed that I couldn’t draw or paint. I would spend hours on Deviant Art looking at the incredible works there. I loved exploring professional stock images and then following the comments by artists who would share their creations using the stock. I was blown away by the transformations. And while I loved this type of art the most, I still felt this was beyond my grasp.
And then I clicked an ad on Facebook for “Wield Photoshop Like an Artist” … which led me to Photoshop Artistry and the private AWAKE Group. Life hasn’t been the same since.
Twelve months ago I would’ve never pictured this amazing life I have now.
Q: What inspires your art work?
I suppose I am inspired mostly by my need to express whatever strange things are happening in my thoughts and emotions. But really, everything around me can provide the spark. Especially tutorials — the AWAKE and KAIZEN advanced courses and our private Facebook groups filled with amazingly talented artists. Even jumping over to Pinterest and searching for random art.
The world is truly filled with inspiration when you are open to looking beyond the surface of all the people, places, and objects most take for granted.
Q: What does living a photo artistic life mean to you?
Living the Photo Artistic Life, for me, is more than creating, it is a way of being. Not only have I discovered this incredible love of everything Photoshop, I have also changed how I see the world, and more importantly myself.
I have found, while still a perfectionist at heart, I can now allow myself the freedom of mistakes, errors, imperfections . . . I have learned how all these ingredients can actually lead to an amazing piece of art.
Thinking this way breaks down that wall of what I might normally feel needs to be “perfect” and instead just go with the flow. This has taken away so much internal pressure in so many aspects of my life.
Q: How do you approach my work? Any particular process you follow?
When I sit down to create, I open a blank canvas, and if I don’t have some idea of what I want to create from the start (and this is a regular occurrence) I open up Lightroom and simply start scrolling through my stash of images.
While scrolling I tend to let all thoughts and judgements disappear from my mind and just see what naturally comes to me. I find if I consciously push myself into a certain direction then ideas don’t come easily. So I just let my emotions and random thoughts guide me to a starting point. And once I have that starting point, creativity and imagination take hold and I just let it flow from there. Then, as I work, I simply seek to engage new techniques and approaches I haven’t mastered yet or have been wanting to try.
Q: What’s your next step as an artist?
I would really love to be selling my art. The idea of someone loving what I do so much that they would display it in their own personal space — that’s exciting. However, I learned quickly that this being my main goal suffocates my inspiration and muse. So really at the moment I just want to learn as much as I can and if opportunities present themselves then I will grab hold of them happily.
As it turns out, I recently sold my first commission and a book cover. All in the space of a week. Which was so exciting. Book cover design definitely interests me. I love the idea of taking someone else’s story and putting together an image that gives a potential reader a glimpse of it, and in just that one image grabbing a reader’s attention and making the story enticing.
Q: Any advice for aspiring digital artists?
I think the best advice I could give is to let go of any preconceptions of what you think your art should be and explore everything in front of you. For instance, don’t discount a tutorial because it may not appear to fit your style — you can still learn so much from another’s techniques and point of view, and then bring those to your canvases to explore in your own style.
Another important thing I have learned in this journey is something that can’t really be learned from any particular tutorials or lessons: Whatever you create — whatever you put on the canvas — is a part of you. And no one but you can teach you who you are. So take all the amazing things you can learn along the way, sure, but then also always take some part of yourself and put that in your art. Do that and what you create will be truly original, because it will contain part of YOU!
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You can explore more of Meaghan’s extraordinary artwork on her website at https://theartinspires.com