ARTISTS' TAKEOVERS | MAY 2020 | DegreeArt.com The Original Online Art Gallery

ARTISTS' TAKEOVERS | MAY 2020

Meet the artists that have taken over our Instagram every Thursday in the past month! Showcasing exclusive interviews with Victoria Heald, and Nadia Attura.

 
VICTORIA HEALD
 
 
 
1) Walk me through a typical day in the studio for you?
 
VH: My typical day always starts with a dog walk. I have a Miniature Schnauzer called Bodie and I always feel restless until I've got outside for a walk with her and had some fresh air. Then I usually make a cup of tea and decide which picture I want to work on that day. I think it's really important to go with how you're feeling and what you really want to work on at that moment, otherwise you're forcing yourself to work on a certain piece because you feel like you should, not because you really want to. Usually if you force the work, it never ends up as you wanted and you have to start that painting session over again! Most days in the studio I usually work on a painting in the morning because I like to be fresh and focused as it's very concentrated work, then in the afternoon I might continue painting, prepare a new canvas or start a new drawing.  
 
2) What is something viewers might not know about your work? 
 
VH: A lot of people don't realise that I paint in oils directly onto the gold background and build up the painting in thin layers, refining the detail as I go. This can take weeks and sometimes months because the last layer of paint has to dry before starting the next one. Sometimes people think that I perfectly finish one section of the canvas and then move onto the next section, but in fact the entire figure is there from the start and it is a slow process of adding thin layers of paint and detail over a long period of time.  
 
3) What is the most challenging part of your process as an artist and what is most rewarding?
 
VH: Working in oils is both the most challenging and most rewarding part of my practice! Sometimes oils can be very frustrating because you do not get instant definition as you do with acrylic, you need to build the picture up in layers and can only add in details right at the end. Once you reach this moment though, it's so rewarding and fun because of the depth of colour and texture from all of those many layers of paint.  
 
4) Is there any advice you have for artists/creators during this difficult time?
 
VH: It's so important with studios closed and artists working from home in isolation for us all to stay engaged and in touch with one another and the artistic community. Artists are great innovators and there are already loads of amazing ways artists are supporting each other on social media at this difficult time. I'm trying to stay in touch with my artist friends to ask how their practice is going and talk about paintings and projects we all have going on at the moment.
 
 
NADIA ATTURA
 
 
1) Walk me through a typical day in the studio for you?
 
NA: Walk me through a typical day in the studio for you? I make coffee, have a stretch stare, look out of the window or go in the garden to see how it has grown or changed overnight. I like to have some nature before I begin. I check through Instagram, research and catch up with social media, answer all emails and fulfill orders. It’s a very admin morning. I try to do all this in the morning so that by late morning I can begin to create, it is my reward. If I do it the other way round then the admin becomes a real block for me and takes twice as long. I work on several pieces at the same time, a botanical, a collage, a still, a landscape and I move between them all. Picking up inspiration from each of them. When I get blocked with one I move to the next. For me it is important not to get bored or frustrated, this way of working keeps things fresh. It is exciting to see how they develop, I never know which will complete first. I try to convey my feelings at the time with my work. Sometimes this can work with a single image, as a single photograph, other times, I collage together my photographs to create a sort of 3 dimensional representation of multiple views, like what would happen in nature, when you look up and down and behind. So you have a feeling of walking through a landscape.  
 
2) What is something viewers might not know about your work? 
 
NA: What is something viewers might not know about your work? My dream was to be a National Geographic photographer. I was offered work in central Africa photographing birds and lives of the people in the area for a conservation project. But I could not do it. I have a massive phobia of snakes. It is really debilitating. It has held me back often. So I decided to do something about it and confront my fears. I read books, did hypnosis and set myself a mission. To live with them. I took myself out to Italy to be with snake handlers and document their tradition of living in harmony with nature. It was fascinating and beautiful, it helped me enormously. Am I still scared of snakes, hell yes but it does not stop me from being in nature and doing what I love.  
 
3) What is the most challenging part of your process as an artist and what is most rewarding?
 
NA: What is the most challenging part of your process as an artist and what is most rewarding? There is a rush you get when all your energy is focused, when everything falls into place, it’s almost as though you are no longer thinking but feeling, feeling your way through your work, it’s like letting go; that mark feels good, this colour is perfect, the composition is balanced and you are excited to see where this art adrenalin will take you. It is something intuitive, I cannot get this after an hour of work I need to be submerged in my work completely. The most challenging for me is always time, and now in the Pandemic the lack of it. I have a 5 year old daughter, so my day is split and I am unable to work as much as I did before the pandemic. 
 
4) Is there any advice you have for artists/creators during this difficult time?
 
NA: Is there any advice you have for artists/creators during this difficult time? I would say you are not alone, be kind to yourself and this is not forever. Inspiration comes from all sorts of sources, details in nature, magazines, a song.

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