Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Miranda Banks

Tell All Tuesday time,

though I'm sad to say Tell All Tuesday is in jeopardy! To keep the inspiration going I need some more fabulous to come forward and shine their light (or wave their paintbrush, whichever) to be featured just see the details at the bottom - it's easy as pie. But we do still have today's interview for feed our greedy guts with, so please feast on, enjoy =D

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Miranda Banks and I am going on 23 in the next few weeks and a busy girl at that. I literally have so many things going on right now that I am surprised I can keep up with it all in the mess I can't seem to contain. I've graduated and have an Art Major with a English Minor. I work part time at a funeral home so that I can support all of my art endeavors right now. I have started a YouTube channel and am quite faithful with it! I have started a blog and am growing in faithfulness to it. I have shared on my blog and channel all that is art within me. I am a oil painter and mixed media artist as well as a writer on the side. My paintings are at least right now consisting of several styles all put together such as cubism, surrealism, traditional and collage. My favorite subject matters are varied but as of now it is mainly people and landscapes. I have been trying so hard to find a connection between the two because I always seem to want to put them together. I absolutely LOVE a western landscape of any kind with deep contrasting colors of orange and blue. With people, I tend to draw a women because one, I know their body types very well and I LOVE painting women's clothes. Painting fabrics and textiles really heighten the excitement of painting for me. I would paint more men but their clothes bore me in a painting aspect, plus when I do paint or draw them on occasion, I tend to fall in love with them and stare at the painting and wish they would come alive...nough said.
I use oils and I am in a happy marriage with them right now and I will never betray them ever, but of course watercolors...I'll consider them as my child to be because I want to get a new set as soon as possible!
Now for mixed media, I am a newbie and actually picked up the art of art journaling this past summer thanks to Jennibellie! Her channel really started it all for me! She made me want to make my own videos and my very first journal page ever was shot on camera. I am so traditional and vintage and retro and classic it is not even funny. Everything I do within my art journaling reflects that style. I collage a lot and I paint and doodle a lot on my pages. I have always loved journaling and writing and to combine art and writing in a book is quite close to heaven for me. I am still learning new techniques and love the whole idea of opening a book with tons of things to look at. I work best when their are tons of visuals around me!

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
My biggest challenge is dealing with the critic in my head which distinctly is my art teacher from art school. He was harsh at times and I always wanted to please him so whenever I want to paint it becomes hard for me to shut out my teachers voice. This goes for art journaling as well, I can hear him telling me that I am wasting my time in art journaling and that it is a cheap kind of art using pre made products such as stamps, stencils, texture makers etc. to make something that looks like child's play and well...cheap. I have never talked to him about it and I really can't due to the fact that he has moved away but he is still stuck in my head. So even when I create something I may like it but I worry about his opinion even though he is long gone from my life. So I have grown to overcome it thanks to an art teacher I had in middle school who has rented a studio next to mine and has showered me in compliments that has boosted my confidence in painting AND art journaling. She is an art journaler as well and even teaches it in her classes with some of her students. I still worked with my art journaling and kept doing it even though I heard my art teacher critic in my head downing me but, working with my middle school art teacher helps my art teacher critic suddenly drift away from my mind! 

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?
Heck yes do I lose my mojo, there are days where I just watch YouTube videos of other art journalers for hours and just beg and hope to squeeze out at least one idea. I've even created an inspiration board that is covering my entire wall in my studio and sometimes that doesn't even help! I'll take a break and leave what I'm doing and not think about it and then go to it the next day and still I have no idea what to do.
What I have found helpful to bring back the mojo is to work with someone, feed off of someone else's creativity. Watch their process and ask them questions about their work. That has happened to me recently and I went to my studio and ideas just kept pouring in. Stepping away from your own thoughts and line of vision and watching and listening to someone else's process of creating is a help that is indescribably fulfilling!
But if you don't have someone to work with, what also helps me is I take a few pieces of imagery and I determine what I like most about those images and from there I doodle from them or collage with them. I'll go shopping at Antique Stores and I find little pieces of inspiration since I tend to get excited over the old stuff. I'll see what's on Pinterest and Tumblr just to find some new images to spark some ideas. I still watch YouTube videos and eventually I do get some ideas. Sometimes when I rearrange my studio I look at things differently and am eager to work in a new space I spent time organizing or rearranging. Never ever turn down a chance to visit an art museum.

But most of all I have really found some great help with Jennibellie's Inspiration Station. Her Inspiration Station helped me get out of my first real funk of no inspiration for a week. I never really thought of putting all inspiration in a single journal and that helped! A LOT!

What is your heart’s greatest desire for your life as an artist
My Dad always said that whatever I do, I do it for The Lord. It is very important to me that I give my talents back to The Lord. I was graciously given the gift of being an artist and the least I can do is honor God in my work. Now that doesn't mean my subject matters all have to be of the Madonna and Child or of just Christ...I believe that God is with us in everything we do so I like to portray in my paintings the grandness of his involvement in all our lives in big and small ways. So my greatest desire is in the end, I want God to be please with what I create and to me that is the best "Best In Show" award anyone can receive!

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?
Oh my goodness, several places really...go to my YouTube channel called "Clare Plantation" where I mainly showcase anything art journaling related! Go to my blog on blogger which is called "Clare Plantation" as well and I post everything I create with a little more behind the scenes info about it. Go to my Etsy Shop called "ClareARTly" and all of what I create is up for sale there. Go to my Facebook page "Clare Plantation" and while you are there go check out The Documented Life Project Group by "Art to the 5th" where I post my pages for that group. Join the group yourself if you are so inclined! Go to my Google + page Clare Plantation and while you are there go check out some of my posts on the Colorful Playground. You can join that group as well if you are so inclined. I would love to hear from you and what you think of my work and how I can do better! I worked really hard to keep these things up and running and all I need is you!

Thank you so much for sharing, I resonated highly with what you said about your art teacher...I think many of us will, unfortunately. Mine was never harsh with me, but he never encouraged either, which I think can be just as damaging sometimes (as it doesn't give you that fire-in-the-belly-someone-to-prove-wrong thing, as outright put-downs often can) and in my case led me to completely give up art. I didn't even take it for school level (which although I don't believe in having regrets in life) if you were going to force me to give you one, that would obviously have been one of mine...and it's all down to that person you happen to get sitting in that teachers chair! 

As I said at the beginning I NEED FEATURED ARTISTS! So why not join the gang??

Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)

Much love

Jennibellie