Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Catherine Parkinson

Hi guys it's Tell All Tuesday...actually on Tuesday woohoo!!

This week we have an awesome textile artist & her work is rather mesmerizing, so sit back & enjoy the inspiration =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Catherine Parkinson. I live on just over an acre of land next to a dairy farm on the edge of Te Awamutu, a beautiful area of New Zealand. I live there with my husband and 3 of my 5 children. I am a textile artist and photographer. I paint and use other surface design techniques on fabric and then I heavily quilt onto the surface. I am inspired by patterning and the natural world around me.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
Time and health. Having a large family makes my time very limited. I have to structure my time very wisely to be able to get time in my studio. I try to work while the children are at school and in small chunks of time when the children are home. I have had a few health problems over the past few years too. The reason I started quilting was to help me heal from an illness. One of my children has quite a few health issues so I spend quite a bit of time at the doctors with him. I work when I can and I try to plan my time well so each moment is spent the best way it can be.

What do you love most / least enjoyable about your art?
I love the whole design and making process, from the drawing and painting, right through to the quilting. Seeing my art come to life from a thought in my mind is wonderful. I don’t like the finishing off part as my mind is already working on my next piece of work. I also love being able to see the world through the lens of my camera and capturing light effectively and portraying an idea with a camera. I find editing can be a bit time consuming but the effect is worth it.

What do you most wish your art to achieve?
Bring light into other people lives. There is so much negativity in our lives I want to make the world a more positive place. I would also love to have my art financially support our family.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?
Yup!! To quote finding Nemo ‘just keep swimming’. Basically I just get back into the studio and keep going. I also am learning to accept where I am and what is going on in my life. I get out equipment I love and I play or I pick up an old unfinished project and force myself to finish it and pretty soon my ‘Mojo’ returns.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?
You can follow me at my blog or you can like me on facebook

Thank you so much for sharing Catherine, it was fun to have a textile artist on here I loved seeing your work. The part of your interview that most resonated with me was sooooooo 'I don’t like the finishing off part as my mind is already working on my next piece of work', I was like 'is she using my mouth to speak here?' lol I am SO in that process right now with couple projects....still once they are done YIPPIE I get the freedom of a new project...until that ends up the same way, but we don't see that, not just yet anyway - I see us with our new projects like new mums in a way, and I guess we are actually birthing stuff here, looking at all the lovely good stuff and ignoring the pain till it comes - and usually it too is worth it in the end ;)

Do you want to be a featured TAT artist??

To be featured email me or find all the details here =)

Much love