Thank you for your understanding, and I look forward to sharing the new artwork with you in my next exhibition.

Evangeline Cachinero_Frida Kahlo ©Tracy Naughton

Evangeline Cachinero_Dali ©Tracy Naughton

The purpose of these photographs is not to get an exact likeness of the original, but to explore notions of grandeur, and how it is that an artist becomes ‘great’. I’m no different than mosts artists; I want to be great.

The shoot was both humbling and empowering. Humbling because it reminds me that I’m only a beginner and I have a long way to go in my practice before I’ve done what I set out to do. It was also empowering because in order to be able to model for the photos I had to adapt strong personalities. Frida had a regal confidence yet fragile. Dali was clever, quick and a little maniacal, and Picasso had a sense of confidence that can only come from knowing  he was great. Walking in their shoes reminded me of my own strength and character.“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Picasso experimented with light paintings in which he used a small light source to make a sketch in the air while photographing with a slow shudder setting. Of course I didn’t want to replicate his sketches; instead I wanted the feeling of a confident and decisive sketch.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Picasso was taught by his artist father, and by the time he was eleven he could paint like a master. However part of his life’s journey was to let go of pretenses and re-learn that quick, confident stroke that usually comes with being a child. For me, those sort of wild strokes are second nature and my journey is to learn to control those reactionary impulses. It’s like a crazy beast that needs taming. Some people like a crazy beast. I happen to strive for perfect balance. The light paintings are about as impulsive as you can get, so I felt right at home.

I figure I’ll let you Google the originals, just to keep things interesting.

Evangeline Cachinero_Pablo Picasso ©Tracy Naughton

Evangeline Cachinero_Pablo Picasso ©Tracy Naughton

Evangeline Cachinero_Pablo Picasso ©Tracy Naughton

The photographs will be on display at the RIDE exhibition in March. Do come along to show and support your Sunshine Coast artists! The coast has been providing some great shows mixing music and and food and this is one that celebrates the emergence of a real arts scene on the coast.

March 17th, 2012 – Ground Zero Gallery ‘RIDE’
An event to Celebrate ARTS Music & Culture on The Sunshine Coast
Tickets are available through Backbeat Records in Nambour
$10 for a night out – light food will be provided – licensed event 18+

Loads of people came to see the launch, screening and group exhibition of Artist by Artist. Thanks to all of my friends and family who came to the event. And a special thanks to ABC Open and Creative Generator SEQ for their support.

Cindy Wider was amazing as she spoke on behalf of all the artists. Her story-telling ability is totally profesh, and had me at the edge of my seat with antici….pation. What a woman!

Tracy Naughton from Let me Sea photography was a lifesaver as I scrounged around for a place to buy some flowers for the lovely and hard-working Kim Schoenberger. I’m going to trade an art piece with Kim soon. So excited to have one of her amazing sculptures at home!

On a boo-hoo note, this was also a bit of a goodbye to ABC producer Natalija Brunovs, who was instrumental in helping everyone make the films. From beginning to end! Thank you for all your hard work and especially your friendship. Keep an eye on this amazing woman because she can do stuff. A lot of stuff!

Here are some photos from the night which I totally swiped from the ABC website (don’t sue me!):

Tracry Naughton & me.

The artist by artist team (minus the slackers that didn’t make it

Hammin’ it up.

Ooh, what do we have here? My lovely sister and her handsome Johnny Cash impersonator. What a keeper!

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evangeline

I was her friend long before she ever bought a painting from me. Actually I have to admit that the first time she ever bought a painting from me I was embarrassed. I had never had a friend buy a painting from me before, and I didn’t know how to react. But she seemed so happy to be taking them home that I got over it. Since then, she has collected many of my works. Her house is like my personal gallery and I light up every time I see how well she cares for them. They have a happy home.

I wanted to share with you some pictures of her house. She has a way of decorating that is so precise and thoughtful… She thinks everything through, and it gives meaning to every corner of her house. I’m different. I’m utilitarian by nature so most things in my house are things that are useful, or things I can create with. There are machines, supplies, boxes, instruments, to-do lists, and they’re all piled up or scattered carelessly in corners. I would like to put more love into creating the space but it’s not very high on my priority list. Maybe that’s why I love to visit homes that are loved.

Here are some photos from a house that is truly loved…

So.. let’s get naked! Before you get too excited… by that I mean let’s be honest and tell the truth. I’m going to tell it how it is. Those that know me will agree that ‘telling it how it is’ is what I do best.

Q: How will I be able to grow as an artist?

A: Being an artist has as much to do with living as it does with making art. I always say “There are many things that I credit for influencing my art, but the most important thing was giving myself the time to live life in order to have something to make art about.”

Let me tell you, I have lived. I can’t count the amount of broken hearts I’ve had, and the amount of hearts I’ve broken. I don’t remember most of the places I’ve visited, although a few stick in my mind and every once in a while a forgotten memory comes back. I’ve started communes, worked in cocktail bars, lived in a van, worked as a Rennie, lived on a boat, did the island life, the mountain life the single life, the together life, the easy life and the hard life.

I’m just saying… art that comes from your heart and from your experiences comes out easy. You grow as a person, and you will grow as an artist. But in the meantime, the most invaluable thing you can do for yourself as an artist is to find the best local artist you can possibly find. Call them and ask if they could please please please be your mentor. There are some assholes that will say no, but there are also some beautiful artists in their twilight years that are ever so happy to help out a newcomer. It’s a tough industry and they know it. They will help you.

Q: Although I’ve been trained in Art I dont know if I’ve lost my creativity. What’s kept you going when you felt like there was no creativity left in your veins?

Art school is a funny thing. I really loved it (all seven of them), but it really sucked my creativity well dry. My first university was great. University of Nevada Reno, in my hometown was just a place for me to kill a year doing art classes while saving up for bigger and better things. To this day it remains the single most important year of my creative growth. It was a relaxing environment and I was able to explore and play with my art. It was liberating! After that I went to Columbus College of Art & Design (1996-7) and it sucked the fun out of art. It was so… methodical. In retrospect it was probably the wrong art school for me, but you see there was this really cute boy who also went there so I just had to go.

What was the question? Oh yes, loss of creativity. I can’t tell you what to do to get your painting mojo back, but I can tell you what I did after 10 years of feeling that way. First, I bought some supplies. It’s amazing how much of a difference that makes. Secondly, I set up a space. I turned my spare room into a studio even before I knew what I wanted to paint. And thirdly, I put the paint on the palette. I had no idea what I was going to paint, I just knew that I had to go through the motions. I sat there for a long time smelling the oil paints, and finally I made a mark, which led to another & another… After the first painting was done, it was easy. I couldn’t close my eyes without getting a new idea. It was all in that first step. In short, do some paint sniffing and you’ll be fine.

Q: where do you get your inspirations from?

Everywhere! There isn’t a person, an event, a thing that doesn’t inspire me. I’m a part of a larger network and if it weren’t for this network, I couldn’t do what I do. I’m going to open up a big can of ‘hippie’ on you. I just pick up on the vibrations of life and allow inspiration to come get me. Inspiration is like opportunity, and if you leave your window open it never has to knock.

Q: What other artist inspire you? or what art period?

As above, everything. I love the old greats. I mean who doesn’t get completely mesmerized when looking at the huge renaissance paintings, or even the impressionists? I love Picasso, Goya, Duchamp, Warhol, Kahlo, Emin, scheile… And I love new stuff. The cool thing now is that there is so much going on! Everywhere you look there’s an artist doing something amazing and new.

We have so many new materials at our disposal, and so much disposal to make new materials out of. It’s all a big fat beautiful mess. I love the minimalist medium based works. You know the ones, that pick a new material and do something really big that fills up a whole gallery. I find it ridiculous, but amazingly beautiful. And I like the more tongue in cheek street and lowbrow art. A bunch of young punks tearing shit up. I love it! And then we have things like new media art, social media art, illustration as high art, mail art, email art, granny art & fanny art. It’s all there, it’s all engaging, a lot of fun and terribly inspiring.

Q: What is the process you use to create your digital art? do you draw it first and put it in the computer and mess with it? what programs do you use?

I usually chuck some ink around on paper, and then draw around it. Then I scan it and play with it in Photoshop. I  add some vector based stuff brought in from illustrator as well. A lot of the textures I use for backgrounds are from my own paintings, so you get the painted, delicious texture in there. The print industry is really exciting at the moment and I’m keen to discover new ways to print my digital art. Will keep you guys posted.

Q: Is there any advice you could give me? (I want to be a graphic designer and hopefully i’ll get in a university for 2012).

Sure. Make art for yourself, even when you’re in school. Also while you’re in school find the best of the best in graphic design in your area and ask for work experience. Even if you’re only doing 5 hours a week it’s a foot in the door. A lot of people end up without a job at the end of Uni all because they didn’t think about what comes after. Uni is the perfect time and place to make your connections. Get that work experience, find a mentor, and work hard.

Start keeping a scrap book or folder with all of your favorite designers. If they do something you like, figure out how they do it. Copy them until you learn it, then move on to something else. That way you will build up your knowledge of techniques and will be able to develop your own style easily.

And while you’re at Uni… don’t ever ever drink cherry flavored liqueur. Ever. Especially if you’re a little gassy. It will be really embarrassing for you when you throw up red vomit in front of everyone, your best friend will have to clean it up and you will never live it down. It’s just best you don’t.

Wow, I’m so excited right now I can barely contain myself. Let’s be honest, I’m not even trying to contain myself!

This morning I woke up to a handful of emails saying ‘congrats’, ‘good job’, ‘love your work’ and the like. All because of Frankie. Oh, Frankie, I love you. Frankie Magazine is one of the most awesome, funky magazines in Australia and they have featured yours truly in their latest issue. In case you’re running out right now to get yourself a copy, I’m on page 46.

So a big huge, humoungous thank you needs to go out to the ladies at Frankie, the writer Daniel Evans and the gorgeous photographer that came to photograph me in my studio. I’m so embarrassed right now that I don’t remember her name because I swear her business card is somewhere around my dirty desk. When I find it I just have to give her a shoutout because she was awesome.

And a special thanks to Kimberly Mather, who one day was kind enough to post my link on the Frankie Facebook page, leading them to pick up my story.

Yay!

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evangeline

I wanted to show you some of the things I really like. Some of the things that inspire me and influence me in a big way. I enjoy looking forward into the future a lot more than I like looking backwards, and it’s because of this that I rarely talk about my influences. But it’s time to pay tribute to really cool stuff. There’s so much of it!

One of the things that really interests me is folk art, and naive art. The art happens when people aren’t worried about the art scene. Stuff done by people in farms in the middle of nowhere who have never been to art school, never heard of the big guns and don’t really care to learn about them, for that matter. Folk art is one of the humblest, most lovely art. There is something so honest in it that you just don’t find in the cities. It’s the mother of all visual story-telling.

I really dig American folk art and also the movements that glorify it. Here are a couple of searches for you so you can see what I’m talking about:

American folk art

Naive Art

It’s been a huge influence for me over the years, and I wanted to share it with you. Some of the work I did in New Orleans was heavily influenced by this. I also did similar work in Brisbane. For a long time I couldn’t make anything other than folk-influenced art. I wanted to be humble and good. Maybe I even wanted to be a monk, and making folk art made me feel one step closer to goodness. Thankfully, now that I’m grown up and corrupt I can make whatever the hell I want. I’ll talk about my long-term battle with that later on.

In Brisbane I used to paint little business cards and post cards and leave them around the city. I couldn’t afford to have anything printed, and I liked the idea of having them sitting next to corporate business cards. They just had my name and phone number on the back, but I never got any phone calls. I wasn’t even selling anything – I just wanted to see what they would do. I wonder what happened to them… They’re probably in the bin!

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evangeline

Last night was the opening night of White Canvas Select, a group exhibition at white canvas gallery in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. I was lucky enough to have a beautiful group of friends come with me and show support.

Danny Guinsberg had a solo exhibition in one of the rooms, showing some beautiful prints on wood. My friend Duncan was lucky enough to win the door prize for Guinsberg’s show, winning a portrait done in this same style. What a lucky score!

The exhibition is up until July 5, so come down anytime and have a look. There are some great works by others artists. My work is hanging next to my friend and one of my favorite artists Mel Brigg, a local Sunshine Coast artist originally from South Africa.

I’ll be in the gallery tomorrow, Saturday June 25 from 11-4pm, so if you’re around come in and say hello!

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evangeline