Lucie: Emerging Artist On How A Photograph Inspired Her Favourite Piece of Art
“Art is something that you use to communicate what you can't express through any other medium”
Lucie talks to Jovis about her art as a medium and how mixed media works together and communicates as a form of language.
© Lucie: Painting
© Katie Sivier: Photograph
Can you tell me a little bit about who you are, your background in terms of your art, and how you got started?
When I was little, I used to love doing little paintings and drawings all the time. I used to do little copies of the paintings that hung on the walls, around the house, everything, and then I kind of drifted away from that a little bit. Then I started doing gymnastics, dancing, horse riding and some piano so I didn't have as much time to do art. But then recently while during the lockdown, I couldn't go to my gymnastics and dance anymore so I picked up art again.
I found some oil paints in the cupboard and I then started doing paintings of celebrities that my mum and I like, and stuff like that. And I was like, oh my goodness, this is so much fun. I'd only really drawn before and I hadn't really done painting. So I thought painting was so much quicker because you don't have to do all these little details and you can just plop the paint on and it's there already and then also opened up a whole new scope of colour that you have to think about. So, I got into colour theory and watched videos on colour theory and what you had to mix together to make the different colours. So it really came from lockdown, and ever since then. I've been obsessed with it.
Can you tell me how you came about using Steve Barnard’s (one of our photographers) images to create the painting on your ballet pointe shoes?
My mum is part of the Urban Photographers Club, as is Steve – the group have a facebook and instagram page where they share their photos, and mum came across these fantastic images which Steve had posted, and she knew I would love them. The photographs have their own story but what is so fantastic is that it is all real – a moment that actually happened and it was captured so well by Steve. In recording those moments they live on forever, and with a statement that I believe currently has an ever-growing relevance, I felt compelled to spread that statement further because the main concept behind the piece was issues of gender segregation in the tradition-focused world of ballet. There is no physical or anatomical barrier for any gender to be able to use pointe shoes. One of the restrictions faced by those wanting to wear pointe shoes is the limited availability of larger sizes.
Mum asked Steve if I could use his photographs in an art piece, to which he very kindly agreed, and even sent some more photographs of the dancer that he hadn’t yet posted.
© Lucie: Painting
© Katie Sivier: Photograph
What does what is your art mean to you? How does it make you feel?
Well, I always say that kind of defines itself in a way. So art is what art is. I always think that if you could define art in words, then there wouldn't be any need for art in itself. So like, how writing is art and singing is art and dancing is art. For example, dancing is what you use to communicate something that you can't say in words. And then maybe art is something that you use to communicate what you can't express through dance. So I think it's almost like another language in itself. The way to communicate with people.
What is your favourite subject to paint?
I really love horses and dancers. I think it's kind of a theme I find really interesting - the juxtaposition between strength and stamina, and then that against kind of elegance and grace. This is why I find I think dancers and horses have that strength, but also that composure and elegance about them. I think it's all about emotion really, for me, and I guess that's why I kind of seek human connections in art as well. I love doing portraiture. I love to paint portraits because you get that emotional expression instantly. So any art that gives any emotion of any hue, either humour or sadness or happiness is something that resonates with me. So portraits almost have that instant facial expression that gives you an emotion always. I love that.
How would you describe your artistic style?
Well, I always think I haven't quite found my style yet. So this is something I get annoyed with myself about quite often because I can't seem to stick to one thing. I kind of flit around and I love trying new things. So I think that it's a journey almost, I think it's a journey where either you have to do that exploration first to find a style or you find your style throughout that journey of exploration. It kind of builds itself along the way and it's never finished. It's never a finished style. Really. It just keeps developing. But through that I have found things that I love the most. So I love oil painting. I've also recently found a love for ink, and adding bleach to lighten areas. I also tried pyrography the other day, the burning into wood, and I found that really interesting as well, how it's acting similarly to a pen but through heat as well. So I think it's quite difficult to recognise a style in yourself because it's a bit like how you can't notice your own accent almost because it feels normal to you. It's a bit like your style can only be seen by other people because it's an expression of yourself.
© Lucie: Painting
© Katie Sivier: Photograph
What motivates you to create?
Well, there are so many things that motivate me to create really because I love listening to music. Sometimes it's seeing other people's work at exhibitions. I come home from an exhibition and am inspired by the paintings that I’ve seen there. Sometimes it's scrolling through other people's work on Instagram or social media. And I also like taking inspiration from books as well because I love philosophy books. And it kind of puts you in that mindset, where you can think about things differently and it gives you a load of ideas to create. But what inspired me for this piece was just seeing Steve's photograph. It just made me think about the concept of male dancers in the industry and the segregation between genders and costumes, and even dance steps. And so it was just his photograph that had its own story already.
Who or what are your biggest artistic influences?
I'd say that my favourite artist is probably Edgar Degas because I love his scratchy lines and the chaotic nature of his paintings, and he paints dancers, which is something that I'm drawn to as well. I think he just has a really intelligent awareness of, of moves and how to capture a snapshot of a person and movement. I also love the kind of contemporary artists that do emotionalism as well. I think it is just about emotion. There's an artist called Andre Desjardins . He does these really big portraits, and he uses graphite where he does these bigger movements across the paper. I think it's just his process that's really beautiful. He then ends up with these people in the portraits who aren't particularly exaggerated in their expression, but there's still so much emotion through his brush marks on the paper.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find that the inspiration is similar to everything that motivates me. I love going to see exhibitions and galleries and seeing how art has changed over time because when I go to the National Gallery, there are all these old great masters of painting, and then how those have changed compared to going to a gallery like the Tate Modern, for instance, where there are lots of new contemporary ideas and how the meaning of art's changed over that time as well. There's also a lot of inspiration currently, from my classmates at school, just seeing all these emerging artists, it's almost giving a kind of futuristic peek into what art is going to be like in 10 years.
How do you feel when you paint or create your art?
Painting usually makes me feel pretty relaxed and calm unless it starts going wrong and then it gets a bit more stressful but mostly, it's exciting because it's almost like you're bringing something new into the world that there wasn't there before. So it's a bit like maybe I liken it to being a midwife as you're bringing new life into the world. You don't know what it's going to be like, and it's just exciting.
Tell me about your most proud accomplishment which is art related.
Well one of them is doing this. I haven't been in a feature before, but there's also one, which was last year when I was in the Otter Vale art exhibition. It was my first exhibition and I was thrilled because I won the mixed media prize for my pieces which also ended up being sold. That was the first time that someone wanted to buy my work. It was kind of my first recognition and I was so excited.
© Lucie: Painting
© Katie Sivier: Photograph
What were the art pieces that you sold?
Well, there was one portrait of Sir Martin Luther King and the other one was a portrait of a dancer from my contemporary dance group that I go to.
Tell me about something related to art you want to learn?
Wow, there's so much that I really want to learn and to learn things that I don't know even exists and I feel like I will learn mainly through practice and experimentation and then guidance from professionals as well. But one of the things I've always wanted to learn how to do is bronze casting sculptures. I think they look so regal and I feel like making something out of something so strong, like metal, can give that same juxtaposition from strength against elegance. I love the Renaissance period and it reminds me of that. I'd love to do some bronze sculpture work.
What is your favourite artistic book? Because you mentioned that you love books, especially philosophy books. Why is that and what is the latest book you have acquired?
I have to say my favourite book would be “Why Your Five Year Old Could NOT Do That by Susan Hodge. It's my favourite because it's about why contemporary art is the way it is. I used to be a bit stuck on things and I couldn't quite understand some of the modern art and the meanings behind it. It explains some of the most famous pieces of modern art that don't necessarily have the most obvious meaning behind them. But yeah, it really helped me to kind of broaden my idea of what art is. My most recent book that I've got is a book on how to do cold wax painting. It's a painting technique where you mix wax in with the paint, and it gives this impasto texture. My mum got me that one for Christmas, so that was really nice.
What are you aiming towards in your artistic future?
I would love to get to the point where people would want to buy my artwork. If I could make a living from that, it would absolutely be the ultimate goal. But, along the way, I'd love to do more exhibitions, travel and see art in other cultures, perhaps maybe even enter some competitions, that sort of thing. Just to build up my experiences, awareness and portfolio. In the long term, I was thinking I might go into the art therapy industry. So I can help other people heal through expressing their own feelings.
Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your art?
I would just like to thank Steve as well, for that photograph, because that was a favourite. That's my favourite piece that I've done. I really enjoyed the process of it. The photograph already had its own story, so I just put that into context. That was kind of like a team effort. I really liked that collaboration and I'd love to do more like that.