JUNE ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - Meet Eveline Wallace

This month's

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

shines on artist,

Eveline Wallace

interviewed by EC's contributing editor, A.M. Offenwanger.

I first met Eveline Wallace when my local library had a show of her art.
I was taking a poetry class, and spend a long time staring at a large painting of a three-masted ship sailing across sky-blue waves on the top half of an arch-shaped canvas. It was only after I had written my poem about the ship that I realized that what I had taken for vaguely abstract rocks along the right side of the painting was, in fact, a map of the California coastline.

That blend of abstract and concrete, of perfectly obvious and delightfully unexpected, is what characterizes Eveline’s work—even characterizes Eveline herself. At a “Meet the Artist” day I got to know her in person—a small lady with snow-white hair that sported one vibrant purple streak. Lately, that streak was pink, and when I went over to her house to interview her for Enchanted Conversation Magazine, her hair had gone all dark. Unexpected—just like her art.

“I like anything that’s different,” Eveline said.

“What inspired you to become an artist?” I asked, and she had to think about it for a while.

“It’s an inner urge,” she said then, “a desire to create. I had it from when I was little. We used to play in the hawthorn tree in the rain, and the red blossoms would fall in the puddle, and I would make them into little boats—they were all little Ophelias going down the river…”

We laughed at that, because over her mantelpiece hangs a copy of Waterhouse’s “The Lady of Shalott,” drifting down the river.

But when I asked her about her favourite artists, her answer brought up someone closer to our own times. Kay Nielsen, she said, and when I admitted I was unfamiliar with his work, she brought out some books to show me.

“Illustrations from fairy story and children’s books—illustrations really, that’s what inspired me,” she says. “Artists that are metaphysical, art that has people in it. People—people are the big thing. The deeper meanings of life, work that has a mood that pulls you in. Anything that’s different, like Kandinsky.”

“Do you have a favorite medium to work in?” I asked.

She does: egg tempera. The real egg tempera, the one you mix yourself with raw pigments and  egg yolk. Different indeed.

Eveline also likes to work in coloured inks, and sometimes acrylic, on top of modelling paste. But not oils—they take too long to dry. “I work fast as it’s happening; it changes as I’m doing it. It sort of creates itself; I see things and I start to paint something, then I see some people in there and put them in.”

I wondered if she uses models for her figures.

“I do it out of my head. It’s imagination.” Sometimes she paints a portrait of a specific person, and she will use existing images to copy for that, but she prefers working from what she sees in her mind. “It gives you a different dimension or a different feeling when it’s from your imagination.”

Her painted stories show the unexpected, yet familiar. A Thumbelina-like fairy floats asleep in a bubble amidst rose buds, guarded by a peacock; a turban-clad charioteer steers his invisible equipage through the night; a Civil War soldier dreams on a park bench, serenaded by ghostly musicians. There are elves and dwarfs and spirits; and a masked Death in velvet and lace leads a bridal maiden to a new life.

“You are actually painting your inner self,” she says. “I like the mysterious, the spiritual—”

“Like an inner world,” I suggested.

“Yes, that’s it! I like the inner world, the inner sensorium, as they call it. I can get that from painting. Whatever comes, comes, and it feels always good.”

Check out Eveline's enchanting art

Betrothal

Death and the Maiden

The Charioteer

Sprite in a Bubble

Ghostly Mazurka

The Soldier

Eveline Wallace lives in Oyama, British Columbia, Canada.
You can find her on Facebook,

at her blog at Sentire Eveline,

or email her at ewallace30@LIVE.CA

Interview and photos of Eveline's art by A.M. Offenwanger

Check out LARRY'S BOOKS HERE

MAY ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - Meet Michael Mitchell Jr.

This month's
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
shines on artist/illustrator,

Michael Mitchell Jr.

Michael is an artist, writer, and musician whose work includes illustrations for books, comic strips, and roleplaying games. He has been exploring imaginative worlds and developing character designs for most of his life, and his passion for storytelling drives every aspect of his art and writing.

Find out more about him in his interview below, and share your thoughts about his art in the Comments section. We'd love to hear from you!

Hi Michael. What inspired you to become an artist?

I’ve always loved sci-fi and fantasy stories, whether it was movies, illustrated books, or comic books. At an early age, I wanted to be a cartoonist. Comic book artists such as Carl Barks, who drew and wrote Disney’s Uncle Scrooge, really inspired me. I spent way too many hours learning how to draw those ducks! The Star Wars movies and toys, early Disney films, and Saturday morning cartoons were all major inspirations to my developing imagination.

I discovered that drawing was a way I could escape, tell stories, and express myself. I was thrilled with the idea that I could bring my own characters to life on the page. That excitement has never left me!

What is your favorite medium to work in?
I feel the most confident with a pencil in my hand. I think many artists start with pencils, as they are easily accessible, and we all doodle in our notebooks during school. All of my art begins with a pencil sketch, and then I move into colored pencils or inks. I’m currently illustrating a book primarily using colored pencils (and a few acrylic paints).

I’ve been incorporating more digital tools in my work (for coloring & inking), but I still begin every idea with an HB pencil in a notebook before I scan it into the computer.

Who has influenced you as an artist and why?
My parents encouraged reading in our home, so our house was filled with wonderful books and illustrations. The art of John R. Neill (Baum’s Oz books) and Pauline Baynes (Lewis’s Narnia series) are both major influences. Richard Scarry, Arthur Rackham, and Charles Vess are some other favorites. I love all the details, textures, and characters in their work.

My mom Sharyn was also an amazing artist with an incredible imagination and a gift for storytelling. One of my earliest memories was the two of us building a miniature zoo together (with cardboard, construction paper, and plastic animals). Our awesome menagerie filled the kitchen table! She always encouraged me to pursue the arts and to keep drawing and creating.

What else would you like to add for our readers...
I have an M.Div. and an M.A. in English, which has informed my creative writing and art, and I’ve been a college instructor for the past decade. I’m in the process of finishing my first illustrated children’s book this year, which is an original fairy tale and will be available on my website. It’s an all-ages story about identity and finding one’s place in life. Music is another passion of mine, and I’ve been a musician and songwriter for over twenty years.

I’m also available for art commissions or collaborations,

so feel free to contact me at michaelmitchellart@gmail.com

or visit my website: michaelmitchelljr.com

Check out Michael's enchanting art:

Afternoon Rain

Trees are Friends

Alice in Wonderland

Frog Warrior

Lady of the Woods

Mouse Bard

Winter Forest Companions

Follow Michael on Twitter @MitchellJrArt 

and Instagram.com/MitchellJrArt

Read Michael's story from our "Of Frost & Firelight" Issue

HERE

APRIL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - Meet Brian Malachy Quinn

This month's Artist Spotlight shines on artist/illustrator, Brian Malachy Quinn.

Brian's art has been featured on the covers of Electric Spec Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Helios Quarterly, and NewMyths, among others.

He uses a variety of mediums such as watercolor, pen and ink, block prints and etchings to bring forth his unique and beautiful art.

Find out more about Brian in his interview below, and share your thoughts about his art in the Comments section. 
Hi Brian. What inspired you to become an artist?
Reading has always been important in my family so there have always been many books in my house and the artwork in illustrated ones enraptured me before I was even able to read them. Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham and Beatrix Potter were amongst my favorites as a young child and I would spend my days trying to reproduce them. As I gained knowledge of composition, color palette and perspective and improved my skills with the various media, I achieved better and better results with time and effort and started doing original pieces.

Do you have a favorite genre to illustrate for and why?

I originally went into illustrating to do art for children’s literature, so it is always enjoyable doing watercolors of bears or rabbits with human characteristics but I have come to love doing work for speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy and horror) publications.  Sometimes the more bizarre the image I create the more satisfying it is to me.

Who has influenced you as an artist and why?

Definitely, the three illustrators mentioned above but also my mother who is very creative. We were always doing arts and crafts and seemed to have a never-ending supply of art materials. I also gained my passion for trying new media and techniques from this period, which she encouraged. All my illustrations that I have sold in the last year for speculative fiction magazines and anthologies use a mixed media technique where I start with a watercolor/pen and ink for each figure, foreground and background then scan into computer and combine and process digitally in Photoshop. A couple years ago, I also started doing etchings and block prints and dream of one day having my own press.

What else would you like to add for our readers:

I have a Master’s Degree in Physics and MBA in Finance and I have sold four short stories to date, author of a supplemental book for college astronomy courses and ghostwriter of a book on wealth management. I am currently finishing an illustrated book on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity for middle grade students (looking for an agent!) and have started writing a novel, a psychological thriller about a small college in a once sleepy Midwest town (I have been a college lecturer for eight years and spent far too many years in grad school!).

Check out some of Brian's enchanting art below:

MOUSE KING - Quinn

MOTHER GOOSE - Quinn

SEA GOD - Quinn

BEAR - Quinn

MERMAID - Quinn

EX NIHILO - Quinn

RAVEN BLACK - Quinn

THE ILLUSION OF BEAUTY - Quinn

THE SPIRIT OF DURGA - Quinn

See more of Brian's work at his website HERE

Artist Spotlight - Meet Paul Nixon

This month’s Artist Spotlight shines on Irish born, multi-talented artist, Paul Nixon.

Divas, Elementals, Fairies, Elves, Wee Folk, Sidhe, Ghosts, Witches, and Dryads are brought to life through Paul’s art as a skilled woodcarver, sculptor, and photographer.

Check out his enchanting work below, and find out more about Paul, in his own words:

As a young child, I would often stay with my grandparents who lived in a thatched cottage in the Sligo Mountains in Ireland. My grandmother believed in the fairy-world, and her stories, sometimes fearful, left a powerful impression with me. Buried close by is the grave of William Butler Yeats, a renowned Irish poet, story collector, and writer. Yeats spent much time collecting fairy stories from around this mountain range that, he too, left an impression with me.

20 years ago, my wife Francesca and I left New York to start a new life together in Greensboro, North Carolina. About 17 years ago, in an effort to make my wife's aunt Mary a gift of a walking stick, I discovered that I could carve wood. This discovery soon changed my life in a profound way.

I evolved into a self taught artist whose work quickly expanded into other mediums and became recognizable here in this region. I have created several bronze public monuments as well as creating works for churches and bishops throughout the United States. My favorite of all was being able to carve and sculpt fairies from my grandmothers world. I saw a means of bringing to life her stories and her inspirations in a very unique way.

All of the images here were hand-carved in Cedar wood. In fact they all exist on the same tree which is a sculpture in itself which I titled: Watchers in the Wood. My next evolution is in photography which, I believe you will agree, brings more mystery and life to my characters. My website; Home will attest to my broad range of skills and will also provide you with many more of my whimsical characters in my whimsical photography.

As an artist/sculptor I have been accused of being a bit of a chameleon, with my subject matter and style running the gamut from Contemporary/Abstract to Classical Renaissance.

I am a deep rooted visionary that is talented in all mediums which include wood, bronze, resins, cements, glass and photography. I like to feel that I am in a constant state of discovery, savoring the excitement of exploration and experimentation. My work is what I am
and what I know. To live without fear, to be open, present and aware. My passion is to inspire, design, and produce art that stirs the emotion and have a positive impact on the viewer.

See more of Paul's work at his website:

Paul Nixon Art
Check out his VIDEO
and
Follow him on Twitter @paulnixonart