Interview with the artist - Christina of Plantie Bee's

One of the things I love about the internet is that I get to meet interesting people. Talented people. Lovely people.

One of them is Christina. I'm really happy about having met her and her paintings through our European guild blog. She's a painter, but I think she can tell you about that a lot better herself.

Circe - Keeper of the Golden Fleece

Tell us a little about who you are and where you come from.

Well! My name is Christina, and I was born in the little suburb town of Gaithersburg, Maryland. I grew up with the typical artist story: I drew all the time! It was always what I loved doing and what I had a passion for. I got more detentions in school for drawing on my desk than for anything else ;). When I was a Senior in high school I took AP Studio Art and worked all year on my portfolio and applied to several art schools. However, despite being accepted into all of them my family couldn't afford to send me. I was pretty devastated, and shortly after my 18th birthday I moved to Berlin, Germany for "life experience" as I called it and completely stopped drawing. From there I moved to England, and several years later have landed myself in Sweden! My fiancé knew my passion for art and pushed me back into painting.

Everything you see now is a result of that! Relearning, experiencing, finding a style, and finding my vision :)

Christina and her latest work in progress at the time of the interview - I already know I love it!

What's your craft/art and how did you get to do it in the first place?

Right now I am an acrylic painter! Though that wasn't always the case. I was once a master of color pencils in my earlier years and had no grasp of wet mediums whatsoever. The summer I was 17 I spent months using up all the acrylics I had been giving as gifts, practicing portraits. That's where I got my base idea of shading and blending with them. Everything has been one big trial and error since then, constantly learning!

I think this is one of the most asked questions - where does your inspiration come from?

I have always had an obsession with beauty and beautiful things. Someone once told me that as an artist the way for us to feel like we own something, is to paint it. That's where my inspiration comes from - the things I find beautiful and appeasing to the senses coupled with whatever meaning/message/feeling embodies it.

Tell us a fun thing about yourself.

Oh boo, I'm actually quite boring. My fiancé wants me to tell you that I have the drinking tolerance of a grown man, but I think that might be too much fun. For me, maybe that I have been a terrible MMO addict in the past and love playing a healer in most games :P That's more nerdy fun.

Do you do other crafts, if yes, what?

I do a bit of knitting! I made a decision that for my New Year's Resolution every year, instead of taking a habit away from myself, I'd teach myself something new. When I was a teenager, that was knitting, it's very relaxing ^^

Which one of your pieces is your absolute favorite? Which one was the hardest to make and why?

My favorite would have to probably be my recent piece "Song for Spring - Canary" because it is what set me off in a more mature style, helping me learn skin shading, hands, portraiture. I really love having it around, it makes me smile. The hardest one ... lol, that's difficult to say. I always complain about a project in length at some point. It's a tie between "Winter Guardian" (which was a digital piece (remark of the interviewer: the first painting of Christina's that I fell in love with)) and "Snow Dance: Red Crowned Crane" as her face was like a never ending punishment to get right :P

Aedhen: Winter Guardian

Is there someone whom you admire and who inspires you?

Yes! The painter Jasmine Becket-Griffith. During the early stages of me getting back into art I found her randomly on Etsy. Her acrylic paintings are truly fantastic, but it's more than just her ability to paint profound and unique characters ... It is her complete business which she has started up and built on her own as an independent artist. She's incredibly inspiring to me in all ways!

If you had free choice of one supply you need for your craft/art, what would it be?

Lol, well, I always need paint, but that seems too easy, so I'll be more specific. A large bottle of titanium white. Even if it's the blackest of paintings somehow I always use up globs of it and it's the color I've had to replace the most.

Do you sell online, if yes, where can we find you?

I sure do! You can find my paintings on Zazzle here - Plantie Bee's

And I am currently making plans with my art supplier in Malmö for giclee prints for my Etsy shop, so stay tuned!

You'll find me here - Plantie Bee's.

Is there anything you feel you need or want to tell the world outside now?

I am really happy with where my art has come from and to where it is going. I hope people out there like my paintings and will follow my progress and be there to support me on this grand journey :)

I could always use the company, hehe.

Thank you so much for the interview, Christina. I know I'll be there to follow you!