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 Cindy,
we know you as a jeweler. When did you become interested in painting?
I've done art since I
was a little girl. I took all the art offered in high school and ran
out so I took drafting, woodshop and plastics design and also
photography. I was the first girl in drafting, woodshop and plastics
design. I then started painting for money in my late 20’s. I did
painting on just about everything for people from trash cans to van
covers.
Did you have any formal training beyond high school or are you self-taught?
I went to college in
St. Petersburg Florida for art and business. I ended up quitting
because I wanted to work on art and jewelry and not all the other stuff
like math and English. I already had that in school and really was
burnt out on it so I quit. Later I studied with different artists and
began to read and get books and teach myself more of what I missed in
college. I missed a lot in painting and the study of the human body for
quitting… Only recently have I started studying Anatomy at the advice
of my friends, Artists, Judy Mastrangelo and Sheila Wolk.
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Native Princess Wonderland |
Toadstool Princess |
Sorceress of Magic Light |
What was your evolution?
I am not sure what
you mean here but I will try. I started out doing drawings. Then later
people started asking me to paint on things like antique saws and milk
cans so I began working in acrylics. Since I also was a silversmith
sometimes my area of work took me to what I could make money at.
Sometimes it was jewelry and sometimes it was art. After having my son
I stopped painting. He got into my oil based paint when he was 2 and we
had to take him to the hospital. So I stopped painting until last
year. It had been 18 years since I painted. In May it will be 1 year
since I started painting
again
and I have painted
over 20 paintings. I have worked lots in colored pencils and some
people have asked me to teach them. I hope this tells a little. Since
I went to college to finish my jewelry degree and things got bad with
the economy I picked up the paint brush again to paint my son a
painting. Also I felt it was better since my work was getting licensed
by big companies. I felt I could give the public more.
What medium/s do you use in your painting?
I am a colored pencil
artist working in Prisma Professional Colored Pencils and I am a Acrylic
Painter on Canvas of 24 x 30 with highlights of minerals and Paint Shop
Pro X2 for final highlighting. I love Windsor & Newton Heavy Body
Acrylics so I can adjust with water. Recently I have been adding
Mystical Memories Makeup, Creative Minerals Line (sparkle Fairy Makeup)
that I have licensed with to do my paintings. Funny as lots of
people may think I am nuts but the makeup is all natural and in the old
days they used minerals. This technique has brought a flare to my
work to highlight areas just as a Metallic would to other paintings.
When the picture put on the computer you pick
up that wonderful show of colors that really give it a one-of-a-kind,
original look.
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| Mask
of the Medicine Woman |
PYNKY |
Lucid
Dreams of the Panther |
What are your latest projects?
My latest projects
are quite fun. They are becoming very popular. I call my new series
the “Little Artist World Community” Tribute Paintings. They are
paintings of well known Fantasy/Fairy Artists that I turn in to a
character for my community. I make posters of them with the picture
that I used to paint their likenesses and do a detailed area and the
full version. It makes a really cool picture and poster of that artist
that I picked. They then tell me their comments and I add them to the
website. I name the art of course and sell prints and cards of the art
and do not use
their name for any sales. This is something that is fun
for me and I work with some of the most famous Fairy and Fantasy Artists
in the World. The latest painting was of Josephine Wall called “Mother
of Fantasy” in which she is. She is most of us, hero in painting. I
have quite a line up coming up with Amy Brown, Linda Ravenscroft- also
from England, and the USA’s Haunting Fairy Artist, Jessica Galbreth was
just added to the list. It is really fun and I think that the artists
love that someone is doing something for them for once.
I also have some
wonderful products that are out that I have designed and one of them is
called “Fairy Catchers.” They are little Porcelain Art Ornaments with
Swarovski Crystals hanging from them to catch the sun...sending
beautiful rainbows on your walls. Of course I have lots of painting to
do to keep up with my Licensing Companies of Worlds Gift Company –
Pacific Trading Company, 3D Rose, Mystical Memories Makup/Bath and
MORE. So it all keeps me busy.
Are you still doing jewelry as well?
I still am designing
jewelry and trying to make designs that stay under $30.00 to stay in
line with this terrible economy. I am really trying to stay in the
$20.00 range and doing some more whimsical designs. I have had to spilt
the art from the jewelry and we opened the new ART web site at Christmas
with
www.theywhisperart.com and we still
have the big jewelry site at
www.peacefulartjewelrydesignllc.com.
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Medicine Spider Witch |
Gateway of the Woodland Phoenix |
Bubbles and Butterflies |
What is your attraction to fantasy art?
My attraction to
Fantasy is what it is- Fantasy. The world is so full of terrible
things. I have had my share of tragedies with all the deaths in my
family. Fantasy took me to a place that was safe and happy. I love to
just stay there. It is something that you can make beautiful or ugly in
a beautiful way. It is something that speaks of ideas, hopes and dreams
all in one. It was my youth and it is limitless with what you can
paint to make you feel that you are there while you are doing that
painting. It is the ULTIMATE IMAGINATION. That is what art is,
Imagination right?
I know you have a website, but do you also do shows, or how are you
marketing your work?
Right now I am not
doing shows due to my health. I am a disabled American Indian Artist.
Soon I am up for a surgery if all goes well, and I may get out of the
wheel chair when going to shows and walk. The last big show I did I
took the wheel chair to was Faerie Con 07 in Philly. I said from that
day I was going to do all I could to get the surgery so I could come
back walking and not in pain and have fun with my fellow artists again.
What are your plans for your artwork?
I plan on continuing
to get better and better, developing my own series of art that speaks
something loud and different. I want it to say something original.
I want to try to do something different in hopes of getting more
licensing and attention. It is not easy to get into doing the right
thing in the art industry for a good amount of money. It is very hard
to survive. I guess I want to continue to be happy and make a
difference in the art world. I also want to do things that make me
proud. I want to continue to design also. I have been designing for
years- whether it is jewelry or art products, I always hope to have the
next design that sweeps the nation. Tee Hee…. I want to leave a good
legacy if I can to my only child David.
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Keeper of the Black Pearl |
Prayer Fairy |
With the economy the way it is, do you have any advice for those
starving artists out there?
No not really. My
best advice is do not give up. Always keep working as long as you can
afford to buy the materials to work. In this economy I would say that
having a second income would be the best thing to help until people
start spending again. I hate to say that but art is more of a luxury
and so is jewelry so I am in the wrong business at the moment to be
giving advice. I don't plan on giving up myself. I have too many
materials to work with that I can keep up, but my best advice is not to
be afraid and ask if you do not know the answer to a question for
getting your name out there. Being shy will not get you anywhere. I do
pray that all of the people will start recycling and taking care of our
earth so we all will continue to have beautiful things to paint.
REMEMBER THAT PRACTICE DOES MAKE YOU BETTER!!!
To view more of Cindy's
beautiful
artwork, please visit her websites:
www.theywhisperart.com
and
www.peacefulartjewelrydesignllc.com.
All works
are copyright. Permission to use these images in any way must be
obtained from the artist.
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