Inside Designer Minds

Mary Ogle • Artist
evisionArts

I met Mary not very long ago, yet I can’t seem to remember how long it’s actually been. Sometimes it seems like we’ve talked for ages and then there are days when I forget what we talked about yesterday. Regardless, we always have wonderful “ah ha!” moments and sessions of dreamy brainstorming.

Mary has touched many with her fabulous art, thought provoking words and caring insight. She’s delightful to work with and a true motivator. I am confident her honest and kind mentoring skills have opened eyeballs around the globe for years.

What do you create?

I create all sorts of things. My biggest love is figure painting and drawing and painting animals. But I’m always ready to try new things. Right now I’m actually starting preliminary work on a graphic novel.

What medium do you enjoy most?

Digital. Though I do still get an urge to oil paint every once in a while.

How did you get started?

Well I kind of always did this. My mother says I was born with a pencil in my hand. I just can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I’m doing it.

Name three favorite artists/designers/creative:

Egon Schiele – a beautiful drawer, lovely use of line;
Arthur Rackham – he created stunning children book illustrations;
Frida Kahlo – an emotional painter who was never afraid to show her innermost feelings.

What kind of training, schooling or other learning experiences have you gone through that have helped you get to where you are now?

Life. I did go to art school – Art Center College of Design and Rhode Island School of Design. It had its advantages and disadvantages. If you want to learn to draw then draw. A lot. All the time. Everything. Especially the human figure. I drew 8 hours a day at times in art school and that training was invaluable.

Do you feel you’re successful?

Yes. Success is a state of mind. I became successful when I commited whole heartedly to following my path no matter where it led me.

What do you like most about what you do?

Freedom! I am not a 9 to 5 kind of girl. I hated being trapped in an office. At least to me it felt like a trap. I love going to the grocery store in the middle of the day – or working in the middle of the night.

What #1 piece advice can you offer to those which might like to “follow in your footsteps”?

Never, ever, ever give up. Perseverance is the key.

What are you most proud of?

Finally learning to believe in myself.

Other comments and ideas you’d like to share:

The world is full of negativity. People will constantly be telling you that you can’t do this or that won’t work. You have the choice whether to listen to them or not. Learn to be an advocate for yourself. Oh and be nice to people.

[tags]artists, mary ogle, evisionarts[/tags]

Kristen N. Fox • Conscious CreatorWebsite: Art of FoxVox

I first ran across Kristen’s work about a year and a half ago and have been in awe ever since. Her talents cross over a wide variety of media, yet her heart can be seen in every piece she creates. Kristen’s work has inspired many and her ability to unbiasedly listen and teach has helped many among myself.

I was elated to finally have the opportunity to meet Kristen just a few week’s ago. Her joyful personality was no surprise; it was nice to finally sit and talk to someone I consider a dear friend and peer in the creative universe.

Today I have the pleasure to share with you the insights of this truly wonderful Designer Mind…

What do you create?

My main focus is Celtic Knotwork and Spiral art, although I draw and paint in watercolors and acrylics too. Of course, creativity tends to spill over and run amuck if you start letting it into any one area, so everyday life tends to get pretty creative too in its own ways.

What medium do you enjoy most?

Anything that involves color! Watercolor for its unpredictability, acrylics for its vibrance, and the computer for its flexibility and that wonderful ‘UNDO’ option.

What title would you give yourself?

I’d probably call myself a Conscious Creator, since that combines my artistic leanings with my metaphysical perspective on life.

How did you get started?

By drawing on the walls in my room when I was a kid. (For some reason, my mother was NOT impressed with my creative genius at the time.) We lived in a ranch house and I wanted to have an upstairs like my grandfather had in his house, so I drew stairs on the wall. Then I quickly hid the drawing behind a toy kitchen set I had in my room because I knew I’d get into trouble. Soon after that my mother got me a pad of newspaper print drawing paper.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Hey – nobody told me I had to grow up!!

Name three favorite artists/designers/creatives:

Lori Rase-Hall (rasehallstudios.com) for her fabulously zany and uber colorful watercolor paintings and energetic approach to life.

Bradley W. Schenck (webomator.com) for his masterful alchemy with Celtic Art and 3-D computer graphics, as well as his retro-futuristic art and story-telling humor.

And then after that I’d have to list a plethora of creative artists and designers, excellent friends, that I interact with almost everyday online in various venues – graphic designers, web designers, artists, photographers, musicians – the list just goes on, and I appreciate them all on so many different levels.

What kind of training, schooling or other learning experiences have you gone through that have helped you get to where you are now?

I took two years of art classes in my freshman and sophomore years in high school but then shifted more to a left-brained approach and went more into computer programming. (I think Geometry class combined my love of art/spacial structure with logic.) In college, I started as a computer science major and then switched, again after two years, into a more creative angle, at least relatively speaking, and got my B.S. in Technical Communications with a minor in Computer Science. I spent over five years writing software user manuals by day and doing art/writing fiction at night.

Then after all that, it was relatively easy to learn html coding, to write reasonably good instructions or explanations, and to create decent web designs. Although I created art in my spare time, I didn’t really get back into it more seriously until a number of years ago. So now I do ALL of this – always have some kind of project to work on if the one in front of me needs to be set aside for a while. If my painting needs to dry I can draw Celtic art while watching a movie. I can scan my images into the computer that I can then sell online on products in my shop (artoffoxvox.com). If I’m in a technical mood, I can redesign my weblog (foxvox.org) for the umpteenth time or add helpful scripts to our other websites. I have a few potential books on the backburner as well, for when I get into the ‘need to write’ mood. So it seems that all the diverse skills sort of meld and blend in various ways.

Do you feel you’re successful?

Well, I tend to consider success more of a dynamic feeling place than a destination. To me, success feels like I’m in the creative flow, which is constantly my goal no matter what I’m doing. It’s sort of like meditation – if you stop focusing on your breathing and go off on a thought tangent in your head, you don’t spend time berating yourself for not being successful with meditation, you just direct yourself back to your breathing. So, long way around, I’d have to say yes, as I’m remembering more and more to stay in the creative flow, and it’s getting easier and easier to jump back if I find myself derailed at any point. This applies to creating art as well as things like washing dishes.

What do you like most about what you do?

Being able to follow creative impulses, even if I’m not sure where they’re going to lead. It’s hard to do that if you’re in a structured 9 to 5 job with people who don’t necessarily understand how productive creativity really is because all the steps involved aren’t necessarily quantifiable.

What #1 piece advice can you offer to those which might like to “follow in your footsteps”?

Trust your creative impulses and intuitions even if you don’t understand them at first – that’s the nature of creativity. The rational mind is great for looking at what is, but trust yourself and your creative flow to find out what COULD BE. And just do art – art isn’t a matter of what’s ‘good’ and what’s not, or who’s got talen – it’s just a matter of ARE YOU DOING IT.

What are you most proud of?

Committing myself to be the person I always knew I was and could be, despite typical societal pressures and perceived limitations. And this to, is an ongoing challenge.

Other comments and ideas you’d like to share:

I’d like to stress the importance of having people in your life that support creativity and risk-taking – not in a reckless way, but in a way that allows more of yourself to shine through. People who understand the process without needing rational explanations and who will challenge you to stretch yourself simply by being the best THEY can be – there’s nothing more inspiring than being connected with other creative people, no matter what field they’re in!

Where to find to Find Art of Fox Vox:

Website: Art of FoxVox

Holiday Shop: Celtic Christmas

Photo Gallery: flickr

Fine Art Prints: ImageKind

Fox Vox Blog

FoxVox at DeviantArt

[tags] art, artist, celtic, foxvox, painting, watercolor, photography[/tags]