Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Janet Briggs

Hey guys, happy March already (wow!) hope you're having more sun wherever you are than what I'm having here, if not here's some virtual sunshine for us still stuck in winter with today's TAT =D enjoy Janet's work & interview xoxo

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

I usually find it difficult to talk about myself. I’ll just give you some quick facts. My husband and I have lived in southern California for the past 12 years. Before that we lived and traveled in our RV, mostly around the western half of the United States. I’m 69 years old; I love color and texture and always have. Purple has been my favorite color since I was a little girl but I seldom use it in art. I’m basically a self-taught artist although I've taken many, many online classes. I have a short attention span at times, and will jump from one art project to another. When I work in my art journal I may make one spread and then not return to my journal for months or I might make several spreads all in one day. I’m very sporadic. I would say I’m a mixed media artist…at least that’s the closest I can come to a real definition. I like anything and everything having to do with art.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

My biggest challenge is that I don't want my work to be boring...to look like everything else...and sometimes I think I fall into that trap. It's very difficult to be influenced or inspired by someone else's work and then to make it your own in some way. When I see something I want to try, I ask myself "how can I change this to be more like me"...sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don't.

Another challenge would be space. I have a small 10’ x 10’ studio and it’s jam-packed with stuff. Sometimes when I want to do several pieces of art at one time it’s a challenge. I try to work on smaller things but there are times when I itch to work BIG! 

What inhibits you most from being the artist you want to be?

I think my habit of jumping from one thing to the next inhibits my ability to really learn one thing fully and completely. But there are so many things I'm interested in learning. I hope on the day I die that I'm still learning new things. Also I don't understand all the techie things like Photoshop and digital art. I see so many things I'd like to do with my own art in a digital program but I've tried to understand those programs and it's just Greek to me! I've even taken a couple of classes using Photoshop Elements and still didn't "get it"...so I stick to making art on a canvas or on paper.

What do you love most / least enjoyable about your art?

Most people tell me my art makes them feel happy and I love that. If something I create can bring a smile to someone when they're feeling down that's perfect. I hope I inspire others to make art, too. The least enjoyable part is that sometimes I wonder if I really have a "voice" of my own or am I just doing what everyone else is doing. I'm not sure if I have a style of my own. And that goes back to me wanting to try everything, and jumping from one thing to another. At times I think having a certain style would limit me and I don't want that. 

I love being able to spend the entire day in my studio happily splopping paint around. The time passes so quickly and I enjoy the peace and quiet of being alone with my art...but I do miss being able to make art with other artists. I have not found other artists in the area where I live so I always create alone. I would like to bounce ideas off someone else and would enjoy seeing how other artists work.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

You can find out more about me through my blogs… http://jkbees.blogspot.com (my main blog); http://jkbeesartopia.blogspot.com/ more of a scrapbook of my art; and at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jkbees/ I don’t do Facebook or Instagram and I've yet to figure out how to do a video!

Thank you for sharing your lovely work Janet, I think your words are so relate-able for nearly every online artist I've ever met, but honestly to me it sounds like you don't need to worry so much about finding your own style - how will that happen if you don't try new things? I think we all feel like we must find our own style straight away, but as you say we are all learning all the time, so how would it be possible to even do that? We have to learn and evolve ourselves, and along with that I think our style with evolve with us naturally - I don't believe it's something any of us can force...it'll come when both we, and it, are ready for the merge.

Would you like to be featured on Tell All Tuesday??

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

Much love

Jennibellie