Thursday, May 15, 2014

Interview with an Artist: Audrey Bagley

 This May, I have the pleasure of interviewing artist Audrey Bagley for my continuing segment on inspiration and creativity!


What is your process of inspiration for creating art?

I have dreams where I meet people in other dimensions or worlds that don’t exist and wouldn’t exist had I not seen them in my dreams. When I wake up I know that without visually documenting the worlds I have encountered, the worlds will never be seen.

I mostly draw girls, and although they have different colors of hair and features, I am drawing an experience or thought that came from me, so I imagine everything as a self portrait.  I like to leave questions and open interpretation. I’m always questioning purpose and life.

I don’t believe art should be identical replicas of anything that’s already created, i.e., a copy of a photograph.

My process for Art is to use the pieces of every different puzzle I’ve ever encountered and put those different pieces together into a new form that connects with a feeling. I like to arrange feeling into something expressive and tangible.


Who is an artist that inspires you and why?

Nobuo Uematsu. He is a video game composer for the most beautiful video games I’ve ever played (given I haven't played video games hard core since high school). I used to think I would become a composer because of him. When I did more research on the video games he was involved in creating music for, I later found Yoshitaka Amano, who was the main artist of those games. They were both self taught artists, which really encouraged me in my teens to work hard at what I love. I really thought I was going to work for Squaresoft video games back then, haha.


How do you overcome fallow spells in creativity and regain the courage to create again?

When people say, “Wow you are doing a lot,” or, “You’re on a roll,” I don't let these comments allow me to become too comfortable and settle down. I’m not done yet and I never will be. I always take note, "If I don’t do it, it isn’t going to happen.”

Not too long ago I found myself in a dizzy spell after a few hard blows. Over time I recognized a parallel between my physical well being and my personal energy and willpower to create. I exercise more and take one or two days a week to focus on hanging out with friends. Then the other days I have to say no to everything and get to work.

*View more of Audrey Bagley's fabulous art at:


Monday, May 12, 2014

Conquering Wegitude


Dictionary.com has several illuminating definitions for the word "reject." They include "to discard as useless or unsatisfactory. To cast out or eject; vomit." I must confess my ego/soul has felt the stamp of rejection more times than I care to remember. But maybe I should remember them, for rejection has a twin: reboot, which in computer operating system lingo means,"A boot with the implication that the computer has not been down for long, or that the boot is a bounce intended to clear some state of wedgitude." Or to simplify, "to shut down and restart."

Perhaps the worst and the best thing happened to me the very first time I sent a query out. I got a request from a top notch literary agency. Though the agency ended up rejecting my clumsy manuscript six months later, the experience lit a tiny spark of confidence inside me that I could write something worth telling, just not well enough . . . yet. Fast forward several long years into the future, past multiple manuscripts, revisions and rejections, and I have new, better stories, and the chance to work with my fabulous agent, Natalie Lakosil. But I never would've come to this point if I refused to press the reboot button after each rejection crashed my fragile writer's ego yet again. I have no idea how many times I'll need to press that reboot button before my words find a home, but I've come this far, so only a fool would give up now, right?

Never give into wegitude, fellow scribblers! Never.

References:

"reject." Dictionary.com. Retrieved May 13, 2014 from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reject

"reboot." Dictionary.com. Retrieved May 13, 2014 from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reboot

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mother's Ink


Some of my most vivid memories are of my mom reading The Green Knowe series by L.M. Boston to my sisters and I at night. I can still picture Tolly boating across flood waters over the garden to the manor, the ghost children who haunt its walls, and the tiny pearl ring that was lost in a chimney. Although my dear mother passed away over six years ago, she still breathes through every page of fantasy and adventure that enriched my childhood, and now, adulthood. She taught me to treasure the chance to dive into new perspectives and worlds much different from my own, and always hunger for new ink wonderments.

I am a writer today, because first, I was an avid reader. Thank you, Mom.