Carmine Magazine: What drives you to create? Also, what inspires you and your work?
Jinx in the Sky with Diamonds: I’m not a person who talks much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t make my own thoughts about things. I’d rather say I think too much and often in strange, complicated ways, that words can’t express. So I have the need to paint to express my feelings and thoughts about life. Dreams are very inspiring to me. I have the ability to remember my dreams very detailed and if a dream is especially interesting I write it down in a dream diary that I keep beside my bed. I love reading it from time to time because it is so very surreal and otherworldly. Other sources of inspiration are: The underwater world (mostly because being under water triggers lucid dreaming for me when I’m asleep), mythology, music, fairytales…

CM: Were you formally trained in art or self taught? Do you think it has
helped you or hindered you?
JitSwD: For the most part I’m self taught but I studied art at school until graduation at age 19. It wasn’t all there is to know but it helped me enough to get interested in Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and many other great artists of the Surrealist movement, which I discovered to be my sort of direction.

CM: What mediums do you work in the most? Do you have a particular brand that you love working with? Why do you use them?
JitSwD: Watercolours and gouache, mainly because they dry quickly and you can achieve great effects with them. I use coloured pencils for details and occasionally ink and even tea for background effects.

CM: At what point did you realize that creating was going to be a large
part of your life?
JitSwD: As a kid drawing was always something I was very good at, but I’ve only really started painting a lot since I moved from Austria – where I grew up – to New Zealand in 2006. That brought a huge change for me, new people, new language, new life, new dreams & nightmares that
needed to be digested and because I had quite a bit of time I decided to paint more and then I got more ambitious as I saw myself get better through practicing. And now that’s all I want to do.

CM: If there was one style of art that you could take up, what would it be?
JitSwD: I’d like to illustrate children’s books. I love borrowing them from the library to discover new illustrators. The way you can make a story your own by creating the images fascinates me. I’d also love to write my own stories but I find it quite difficult to do. So I started a project where I only came up with single pages of imaginary stories and illustrated them. Only one page for each story
so it inspires each reader to create their own story of the before and after. You can view examples of it here.

CM: How do you deal with creator’s (or writer’s) block?
JitSwD: It is hard for me to run out of inspiration since I write down every idea I get. Things start to pile up and I can always choose to work on something from that pile. While inspiration is usually there I sometimes lack the motivation to actually sit down and do it. Sometimes I can make myself start working which in turn makes me feel more creative again, but often I need do something other than painting for a day.

CM: How do you prepare for art shows where your work will be shown?
JitSwD: I haven’t had the opportunity to do a show yet.

CM: How do you define you style? Does it represent an inner you or
something completely different?
JitSwD: It reflects a lot of things that fascinate me in a way and how I feel at times, that’s probably why I like painting people (especially women since I am one) because I can identify myself with them. My art also shows my love for growing things – I paint plants growing out of the strangest
places. I too want to grow and move on, to get new branches. I like painting animals, often for their symbolic meaning. Last year I went through a snail phase (I felt isolated and slow).

CM: What kind of environment do you need to create in?
JitSwD: I like listening to music that suits the theme of my art. Other than that I like it if the room is warm, which is often hard to achieve in New Zealand’s poorly insulated houses. My productivity sinks with the temperature.

CM: What does your workspace look like? (Pictures or a description
work for this one)
JitSwD:


CM: What was your worst experience with art? And the best?
JitSwD: I haven’t had any really awful experiences with art, I just don’t understand why some really (in my opinion unskilled ) art can sell for 100000s of dollars while lots of really good artists remain unnoticed, but I guess beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, as with everything.
Good experiences are when I see my paintings hang in other peoples houses. That always makes me feel special.

CM: What movies, books, music, etc get your creative juices flowing the most?
JitSwD: Movies: Valerie and her week of wonders, Tideland, The science of sleep
Music: The legendary pink dots, múm, Kate Bush, Hair (the musical), Frank Zappa
Books: Anything by Haruki Murakami and I love “The history of luminous motion” by Scott Bradfield

CM: Do you think the internet, technology, media, etcetera are helping
or destroying the art world?
Without the internet most people wouldn’t have the chance to discover many new artists around the world. In the past years I have found heaps of amazing art online and my own artwork gets shown to a
broader audience because of the www.
One downside is of course that people could easily copy your art and pass it off as their own.

CM: Aside from art what do you do with your time? Is there anything
else that drives you or that you’re passionate about?
JitSwD: I have always loved photography, so I spend a lot of time snapping pictures. I recently bought my first digital SLR camera! I also enjoy playing the guitar (I used to have a band), and a bit of gardening.

CM: Do you have any upcoming shows, events, releases, etc. you would like our readers to know about?
JitSwD: I recently opened a shop for cards, prints and even t-shirts (also kidswear) : See it here!
Thanks for looking!

Places to find Jinx in the Sky with Diamonds on the web:
Official Website
Theirea on Livejournal
Jinxxx Shop on Redbubble