Live Art and Resulting Painting ~ ‘Rise'

New artwork

29 Apr

So another Live Art gig has come and gone. This time I was creating in the heart of Brisbane City, at King George Square, as part of the BrisStyle Indie Twilight Market. Each time I do a live art gig, I feel more and more amazing and there's so many reasons for this.

I love that I get to paint and chat with people at the same time. I have a made a little easel set up, which invites people to chat to me while I paint. Making art can have such an old-school 'elite' stigma to it, so I like to let people know that I'm approachable and that I love a juicy convo! No standing behind the white line in my outdoor gallery! Come in close and get messy. I'll share my tricks of the trade and you share your stories with me. Awesome times!

Another reason why I love making art live is because it's the ultimate act of self trust. It's great to be able to demonstrate to others, as well as myself, that I can be free and playful in my art making and completely open to making 'mistakes' in the process. I love to abolish the preciousness of art making and show people that there is another way to create - and that it feels completely amazing to let go of how art 'should' be.

Finally, I love doing live art, because in all honesty, I love a bit of drama and rebellion! When I notice people stopping to watch me paint - which is most of the evening - I make sure I throw in a few of my special tricks.For some reason, people are fascinated when they see me do fingerpainting.

After raining colourful fingerprints on my canvas and doing a bit of smudge work with my hands, a man stopped to poke a joke at me for fingerpainting, "Don't you EVER use a brush, or do you just like fingerpainting? Ha ha ha!"

Rather than telling him to 'eff off', I showed him the brush I was using in my other hand, and that I've been flipping between the two whenever I felt like it, because it felt amazing to push boundaries; and that I make art however I want! So that put the old fart to shame. Besides, fingerpainting creates delicious texture that can't be replicated with tools or brushes and in my books, it's a completely acceptable way of art making.

Here's the proof. Yum yum!