Jennibellie Studio: Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Karen Taylor

Hi guys

it's six mins to twelve as I type this so I'm posting and running while it'll still be a TAT and before my exhausted eyes shut on me =) enjoy

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Karen Taylor. I live in Wellington, New Zealand. Home to Hobbitses and other vertically challenged bloggers. I am into Art Journalling and Guerilla Art. I have made hundreds of art journal pages. If you like that kind of thing, stay close by. I've got lots of ideas I want to show you. Especially if you like a bit of *ugly* in your work :P I would like people to have a unique art encounter. I've made a lot of 'Do This Art Idea,' cards. Like:

Do a drawing (e.g. doodle)
Do some writing (e.g. fill in this speech bubble)
Make something (e.g. with sellotape and paper)

I leave them to get found in supermarkets, libraries, airports, car parking ticket machines, train stations, bus stops, museums.
Friends leave them places for me, too.

Here is one of my Guerilla Art Cards. Card # 7

And this is the back of Card # 7

I leave them to get found in supermarkets, libraries, airports, car parking ticket machines, train stations, bus stops, museums...

Friends leave them places for me, too. I think they like leaving them around as much as I do.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
I nearly didn't say because it seems everyone has a gorgeous studio or a dedicated work space. However, it is "Tell All Tuesday." So let's just 'emojin' that I work at my kitchen table. And that I struggle to keep control of stuff on a shelf and floor. I try to keep tidy so I don't suffer CHAOS. (Can't Have People Over Syndrome - acronym by Peter Walsh)

What is your greatest personal achievement either in your art, or because of it?
It would have to be the 2 high school art courses I took by correspondence in 2012. My artist models among others were Jean-Michel Basquiat and Robert Rauschenberg. Below is an excerpt taken from a post on my blog: "What I learned from going back to High School ... at 41!" Who's got a story they'd rather not share? OK I'll go first..I. Am an Art Failure. A.F. I wanted an 'A'. I got an 'F'. So I tried again. Went back to high school ... when I was 41! High School Art, then Uni come get me, kind of thing. I'd need a portfolio, said Uni, for Fine Arts. (There's that F.A. again is that a joke?!) I signed up for Painting. Was Printing hard, I asked. You know, from home..? Pbbt. Kitchen bench, stuff! they said. (Tick!) Where do I sign, I said. So in 2012 I did Year 13 Painting and Printmaking. Half a fulltime students workload. And what did I learn? In no particular order of psychological trauma -

No matter how much you suck, there are artist models for you
Don't tell the people you live with how much housework you won't be doing. By the time they notice, you've got assignments to hand in, OK?!?
Don't wag. You'll only have to do it again when you've got a mortgage
Pencil sketching is like eating your greens. No wonder kids wag
Think your boss is scary? Try drawing some still-life's then showing the teacher
Inspiration is a fickle mistress. At 41 you don't have a lot of time left. RTFQ then start
You will do things you never imagined like breaking your own parenting rules on the fly (*no children harmed physically*)
You will look at a lot of in-your-face nudity and talk about it with your teacher. Even at 41, it's awkward
Life isn't a marathon. It's a series of sprints. Or a year working at your kitchen bench

What advice would you offer to any perspective new artist?
Life is too short not to make the art that you have inside you. It has been lovely to see the stream of words from the heart that "Encouraging Words For Newbies" on Jennibellies ning site has brought about. You guys rock. Just Make It. I don't give a toss if you're a grandmother that has made a space in the garden shed out back to do your art or like me you're happy as a pig in mud working while parenting from your kitchen table at night. Turn that kitchen table into an art table today, if you haven't already. It would make my day to hear if you, too, make art in your dining/lounge area. If lots of people talk about it, then new people will believe they can make a start, too. Come over to my blog and leave me a comment about what people think of your colourful kitchen table.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?
artshecried.blogspot.com is my blog. It is only 3 months old and I am learning that it is true; we are shite at leaving comments for each other :P It's cool, I get it. I often don't leave comments so I don't have to deal with captcha's and providing specified blog login's that I am not signed up to. But sometimes I do, and I enjoy pushing through that to let the person know I've come by and had a squizz.
Please come to my blog and say hi. Leave the name of your site so I can come and find you. I would love to be part of a community that supports each other. @karentaylor1001 on Twitter. ARTSHECRIED on instagram.

Thank you Jennibellie, and thank you lovely "Jennibelliettes" for all the love and art conversation over the years. You make Blogging fun X

Thank you Karen for sharing your fab art....and the acronym, unfortunately I am ALWAYS in a state of CHAOS, but I think that stems from the general fact I hate cleaning (hey I guess I can't blame everything of art!) but art is teaching me to accept such faults, like with my process, it's just my way to see through the clutter to the creativity bursting beneath lol

I'm still looking for TATers!!

See your name in lights ---- or on a blog header, same thing!

Do you want to join the TAT ranks??