Q&A!

I asked everyone on my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to submit questions they'd like me to answer, art related or not. Here are the lovely questions and my little interview :) Thank you to everyone who submitted questions! I'll be sure to do this again in the future!

You have sincere, powerful art works. What do you “treat” with the help of art, I wonder. Thank you! My artwork can be a form of therapy for me as I’m able to express my thoughts, emotions and ideas with my work. I paint for myself, as I paint what I’m interested in but every now and then I hear that my art has related to someone else’s experiences. So in these cases I suppose my art helps others.

Hey great art page. Do you do all this on your own?

Yes I do J All the work I post online including illustrations, videos, paintings, watercolours and drawings are created by me.

Can you draw customizable art?

Yes I’m happy to do commissions! Email me at vblancoart@gmail.com with your information. I’ll paint or draw really anything, love related or not. Most recently I made a panther painting, something I don’t usually do! I’ve also done portraits, helmet designs, storyboard and concept artwork in the past.

I would love to hear your story.. how you got inspired to do such paintings? Who motivated you to do such paintings? What are your inspirations and do you have people sit for your preliminary sketches and concepts?

As these two questions are quite similar, I’ll answer it in one.

My artwork explores the intimacy, passion and even struggles within relationships. I’m inspired by personal moments, the people around me, pictures and films. I wrote a whole blog on my inspiration, you can read it here :) I motivate myself to create work. Whichever embrace that interests me, I try my best to depict with paint.

I’ve had people sit for sketches and concepts in the past but this happens very rarely. I would love to paint more from life but a model would need to be very open minded. I’ve also used photos of myself as reference images. I mainly use them to help with proportion and creating an outline of the figures, then freely paint and glance at the reference a few times to capture the lighting. It can be challenging taking a flat, lifeless photo and turning it into something real and emotional.

Which artist do you currently look up to and help inspire your creative style? I’m always checking out Elly Smallwood’s new work. I love her use of colour and expressive style. Brian Kirhagis is another who has helped inspire my work. Like mine, his work explores love and romance and I’m always curious to see what embrace or expression he’ll paint next. Something small, but I also love his artwork titles. They feel so personal and naming a piece is something I’ve always struggled with. It can get difficult naming a piece that has a similar feel to and older piece. But I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it now, I title them based on how I feel or what I say.

What age did you start drawing and do you have a particular style of art? And do you have any advice for people struggling with artists block like myself?

I started drawing ever since I could hold a crayon in my hand! I made a blog post on my childhood art, you can see my 4 year old drawings here :) I took it more seriously in high school and then received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at York University. My mediums are watercolour, acrylic and graphite and I’d say my style is both expressive and abstract.

I’ve been lucky to find a subject matter that I’m passionate about and one that has so many directions to explore so I’m rarely ever experiencing artist block. I’d say look towards any activity or interest that you are passionate about. The best work is created when you can clearly see the emotion in the piece and that’s only present when the artist is interested in his or her own work. Inspiration can come from anywhere, whether it be a walk on the street, a conversation or a film. Inspiration can come from anywhere, my painting “Candy” was inspired by a conversation about strip clubs! From those paintings came my intimate work.