CARMINE MAGAZINE

Carmine Magazine: What drives you to create? Also, what inspires you and your work?
Ellara Woodlock: Cleverness, true originality, courage and humour, that is what I love in art, and what inspires me. My life and the lives of others are where I get inspiration as well, I’m quite drawn to memory, psychology, social issues. I think my desire to create comes from the need to speak about things that I can’t articulate, and to make the unreal and intangible a reality.

CM: Were you formally trained in art or self taught? Do you think it has helped you or hindered you?
EW: I’m a little of both. I was a fairly competent drawer when I decided to go to university, and I think university helped refine my technique. I’m still learning though, I’m never really at peace with my abilities.

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?
EW: I mostly work in pencils, ink, and watercolour and acrylic paint, occasionally digital as well. I’m not terribly loyal to brands, but for sketching I love O’bon pencils. I’ve never had one break and they’re made from recycled paper which is nice, plus they are fun to sharpen.

CM: At what point did you realize that creating was going to be a large part of your life?
EW: As far as I remember creating always has been fairly central in my life, in one form or another. But it was about 4 years ago that I began to really dedicate myself and became serious about learning how to draw and paint. It was somewhat unintentional, I simply wanted to learn how to draw with a rather perfunctory and mechanical desire, but I found I loved doing it, and that there was a world I wanted to create, or maybe a world inside me to let out, or maybe a world to let in. In any case, I discovered a world, and in it I am captain, stowaway, sightseer and explorer.

CM: If there was one style of art that you could take up, what would it be?
EW: Probably music, I can play piano a little but at some point decided to focus on the visual arts so it’s a neglected skill. I fully expect us to be reunited some day.

CM: How do you deal with creator’s (or writer’s) block?
EW: The blockages usually develop from self-doubt, too-high-expectations, and/or comparing myself to others. Those times are utterly crippling, and the only way I’ve been able to deal with it is to maybe read a bit of Keri Smith, and create my way out of the angst. I never really feel un-blocked though; I always seem to be working against those forces.

CM: How do you prepare for art shows where your work will be shown?
EW: Unfortunately, it seems that I’m quite cocky and smug up until about two weeks before the deadline when I completely lost confidence in myself and become riddled with doubt and panic. Asides from being unattractive, it’s irritatingly predictable.

CM: How do you define you style? Does it represent an inner you or something completely different?
EW: In my drawings I am reaching for a style that mingles comic book with vintage childrens illustration, and stills from early Disney animations, though I use these as peripheral guides rather than a direct goal. My style is me, it’s what happens when I pick up a pencil, I can’t really define it with more certainty than that. My art comes from memories, fantasies, fears, humiliations – sometimes mine, sometimes others, sometimes an imagined me, or an imagined other. They are mostly mysteries even to me.

CM: What kind of environment do you need to create in?
EW: Neat and uncluttered preferably, but I don’t always have that luxury. Having total privacy is mandatory, I feel wretched when there are witnesses to my artistic failures.

CM: What does your workspace look like? (Pictures or a description work for this one)
EW: I usually line up my pencils/ink/paints/etc on my desk, and then if I’m working on something large I’ll work on the ground, if it’s small I’ll work on my lap. It’s kind of ramshackle but for the moment it works for me.

CM: What was your worst experience with art? And the best?
EW: Worst would be my first year at university. It was such a huge letdown. I wasn’t expecting it to be a place where I’d be expected to conform and fit in. I had thought art school would be a place where being something of a societal misfit would be welcomed, but for the most part, everyone is quite conventional, and the extroverts reign (with a couple of lovely exceptions).
The best experiences are when people are interested and supportive of my art, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, it’s always a shock and delight.

CM: What movies, books, music, etc get your creative juices flowing the most?
EW: My favourite writers are Virginia Woolf, Janet Frame, and Anne Sexton – all wonderful ladies who inspire me endlessly. For music I love Rasputina, Shannon Wright, Mary Timony, Radiohead, Mum, Smog – that’s the gang that gets played most on my playlist. I’m not much of a movie person, occasionally one will appeal to me, but I rarely make time to watch them.

CM: Do you think the internet, technology, media, etcetera are helping or destroying the art world?
EW: I don’t think they would ever destroy the art world. Plagiarism and stealing is probably the biggest art issue on the internet, but that’s always existed in art. I think technology has been great for artists, I have found many artists I love that I never would have found without the internet, and it’s great for artists to find support and community. Many artists thrive with no internet presence at all, so we do have lots of choices. I think I do fall on the pro-technology side though.

CM: Aside from art what do you do with your time? Is there anything else that drives you or that you’re passionate about?
EW: I am very close with my family, and I love music and reading. Other than that I like being in nature, studing clouds, birdwatching, astronomy. I am passionate about animal rights too. In my spare time I solve mysteries in my time machine, have been courting Willy Wonka, and govern a small army of were-ponies.

CM: Do you have any upcoming shows, events, releases, etc. you would like our readers to know about?
EW: I have my first official group show in August, it will be in Melbourne I will post information in my journal and on my website once I have all the details.
(Note: I was supposed to have this interview posted in July, but it got lost in my inbox. Her show went very well.)

For more information on Ellara Woodlock, please check out these links:
EllaraWoodlock.com
Hospitalfresh on Flickr
Clockmilk on Livejournal
Palewhite on DeviantART