Le voyage créatif

I had the most wonderful loungy late morning today. After a great evening with friends last night, a friend came over for breakfast this morning bringing with him “The September Issue”. So we put our feet up, was intrigued by the world of Anna Wintour and snacked on fruit and chocolate.

Needles to say it was a fabulous morning.

And that continues with the Sunday special I have prepared for you. The illustrator I am about to introduce to you has a moving simplicity to her drawings and paintings. Sometimes I just have to agree with Vouge´s Anna, less is more.

There are such tender and moving stories expressed in her work, and the fact that most her illustrations are made on psalm-book pages from the mid 19th century adds a tangible touch of history to it.

With no further ado, lets just take a look at what I am talking about.

Tell me a bit about where you live and what your work is?

I live in a small village called Årnes. It’s located just outside Oslo (the capitol of Norway). I live there with my daughter Pernille, who’s 10 years old, my partner and 2 cats. On a daily basis I work as a fulltime artist / Illustrator / sketcher. I work freelance and run my own business.

At the moment my work is sold on Etsy.com

Tell us about Årnes, where you live?

Årnes is in the countryside located by the river Glomma. It has a lot of beautiful nature, and wonderful opportunities to go for walks in the, which I often do.

When I hike around I always carry with me my camera and take lots of pictures. Some of the pictures I take is uploaded to my photo-blog.

From where do you draw inspiration?

Much of my inspiration comes from nature, old fairy-tales, movies, old books and magazines, other artist, family and friends, bloggers, cartoons, music and my dreams.

Where do you find motifs for your illustrations?

Everywhere.  My illustrations are put together of all that inspires me, and interests me there and then.

How did you come up with the idea to illustrate on pages from old books?

By pure accident actually…: ) I love to visit flea- and second hand markets. One time I was lucky enough to stumble upon a whole pile of old hymn and prayer books from the 1850-1900 hundreds. The books were in terrible condition, but oh so beautiful that I just had to buy them and use them in my art.

Do you have a studio or atelie? Tell us about your workspace?

I have made a small office and workspace out of a corner in my apartment. The dream is to one day get my very own room/atelie to work in.

Would you like to share some of your future projects with us?

At the moment I don’t have any other projects besides finding a roomier place to work from, with opportunities to work with and paint bigger paintings and Illustrations. This is something I have desired for quite some time now.

What made you open up your Etsy shop?

It all actually started when I traded ATC (Artist trading cards) with other artists from all over the world on Flicker.com.

After a while my cards became so popular that I was asked to create Illustrations in bigger formats. An American friend suggested I open up and Etsy shop. The summer of 2007 my shop was up☺

Can one buy your illustrations elsewhere?

Yes, on artfire.com

I have plans to open my very own online store here in Norway by the end of 2010

Do you have a favorite store or place you would like to share with us?

Ahh… there are so many. I hardly know whom to choose☺

I love Liza Corbett’s artwork.

And Betsy Walton.

And Italian Vincenzo Rizzo’s portraits.

I can spend hours just looking at all the wonderful images and inspiration on Flickr.com.

Isn´t her work just mesmerizing?

Want to have a sneak peak into her workspace?

Annette sent a snapshot of her desk. Dont you just love to see an artist at work and how different their workspace are?

There is such lightness to her illustrations, such optimism without losing the sense of depth. I am so looking forward to seeing more of her work and hope she finds a roomy studio so we can enjoy her work in bigger formats as well.

Good luck with opening up your online store in 2010 Annette!

Illustrations by: Annette Mangseth

Interview by : MMF