Interview
Solveig
Solveig was born in Sydney, Australia. From a young age, she knew she was an artist. Her artistic pursuit won her a scholarship to the National Art School in Sydney, where she graduated with a diploma in painting and sculpture. Indulging in the total artist’s experience, Solveig lived the peak of the psychedelic era with lectures by Martin Sharp, John Olsen, Ken Reinhard - elite artists of the time.
Solveig’s style developed as she became infatuated with colour, and she was heavily influenced by the Impressionists and post Impressionists. Instead of dabs of colour, she chose to work in shapes.
Later, Solveig became a psychologist and a hypnotherapist, gaining insights into the human condition. A stream of creative expression burst forth, and her Healing Journey Series was born.
Having painted many works over the years, painting became a subconscious undertaking; her process from beginning to end a meditation. Her artwork has taken her to Hong Kong to the Asia Contemporary Art Show, and she has appeared in a few segments on Colour in Your Life. Solveig is an unstoppable creative force since, living a joyful life. Every day, she commits herself to being an artist and practicing her craft.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My name is Solveig. I grew up in urban Sydney, Australia, in the post-war fifties and sixties. It was a very positive era in Australia, and I had freedom and self-expression. My regular access to wild nature through camping and hiking was a foundation of my life’s work.
After school, through a scholarship, I achieved a diploma in painting and sculpture with honours at the National Art School, NSW. I had rubbed shoulders with the leading Aussie artists of the psychedelic era and felt right at home in this collective tribe of misfits and sensitives.
When my sons were young, I left the city to escape the concrete and crowds and moved to a rural, coastal paradise. I have lived the ‘artist’s life’ here, mirroring the best of co-creation with nature. I am amused by the thought that I am a healthy Gauguin living her Tahitian era. My love of nature goes beyond the norm into an intimate and reverential relationship.”
What inspires you most?
“Being ‘inspired’ inspires me the most. All my paintings begin with an inspiration. It is the flash of colour, the contrast of light, a feeling triggered that captures me and sets me in creative motion. I am motivated from the beginning to create the details that communicate the initial ‘inspiration’ to the audience. When I get there, I am delighted to give that work as a gift to the world.
I am also inspired by the triumphs of the human spirit, and the rage against the dying of the Light. We are in alchemical times transmuting to a higher vibrational reality, and I’m definitely along for the ride.”
“Nature is my muse and I worship Her. I sketch and paint in situ, trying to capture what I can see. I have no desire to ‘interpret’, because the way nature puts scenes together is perfect. It just requires my ‘frame’. Shape, colour, contrast, balance, line and texture are all there, waiting for me to represent them.”
How would you describe your work?
“I am a Representational Artist. I describe my work as Graphic Impressionism. My style developed over decades. I have reinvented Impressionist Colour Theory and techniques to be graphic shapes instead of brushstrokes, inset with complementary coloured shapes. This suggests form and depth, as well as an energetic effect that happens when the eye moves between two colours rather than one.
My style focuses on the elements of shape and colour, applied in layers, inset into the shapes of the previous layer. I paint the way light falls on form, the shadows, the highlights and the middle ground. There are no bones or underworking. I simply paint the surface where light is dancing at that time. When I see something that inspires me, I am aware of more than just the physical. I also see the emotional and vibrational colours and effects. When I paint that ‘inspiration’, I am also attempting to capture its full impact.”
Which artists influence you most?
“The artists who most moved me were the Impressionists and Post Impressionists. Their departure from the traditional and the mainstream freed artists from the yoke of working for the church or an elite patron. They were able to pursue their own inner psychological responses to life and subject matter.
Monet’s Waterlily series showcased a colour theory and technique that captured light and mood and movement, with coloured brushstrokes representing form at a distance. Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Monet all gave me permission to be unique and adventurous in my work by developing a confident style that achieves the effect I want. Van Gogh’s emotive style showed the fine line that he walked between madness and genius. He saw the energies that animate life and interconnect throughout the universe. I, too, see those weaving threads of energy dancing and celebrating life.”
What is your creative process like?
“My creative process begins each morning with the rituals that maintain sustainability, and once done, leave me available to the artists’ life; a relaxed and carefree zone that allows me to be mindful and present. As my day unfolds, I notice many things that pique my interest - a colour, a mood, a texture, a story. I capture all these experiences on my iPhone. With the shots, I can relive the ‘inspirations’ at home, in my studio.
Often I find that something that attracted me will develop as a form of thought, and be a metaphor of a larger meaning. Once I have mentally designed my visual composition, I work out the base layer colours. These base colours are often opposite to the top layer colours, creating an edge that suggests depth and height without shading or toning. A painting may comprise of 3 to 4 layers of inset colours before the final layer, which discerns the highlights. Each work grows from the ground up, layer by layer, and each shape is independent and inset with colour.”
“The joyful labour of painting is like a meditation. My mind is free to wander, while my hands and subconscious mind create the vision I intended.”
What process, materials, techniques, etc do you use to create your work?
“I begin with a primed white ‘virgin’ board or canvas. It sits on my easel, daring me to make a mark. I project the components of my subject matter onto the standing board, using acrylic paint to produce the coloured shapes that will be the outer edge of each inset colour layer. This initial layer is a sketchy capture with a square-headed brush.
The second layer insets a different colour into each of layer one’s shapes. The third layer builds the depth and opacity of the paint, accentuating edges and forms. The fourth layer is the surface light, all the details where light plays on form, highlighting the peaks and deepening the shadows. The brushwork for layers 2 to 4 is finer and more precise, making sure I maintain the shapes laid down. In layer 1, I use a range of Rigger brushes.
I live with each finished work for a couple of days to tweak any details that show themselves out. Then I varnish with matte acrylic varnish using a roller. I use matte because I want a feeling of being able walk into the painting and be there. Gloss or Satin varnish create reflection that interferes with the invitation to enter.”
What’s your favourite artwork and why?
“My favourite painting is Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. I love his energetic capture of a broiling night sky. It is alive with universal flow and passion. It breathes and heaves with colour confrontations and sculpted paintwork. It excites me and invites me into a sacred dance. It is Van Gogh’s beautiful, tragic mind externalised. I love this painting because of its energetics. I too, want to capture the energy of my subject matter and to enliven it to elicit a response from the viewer of being touched, moved or inspired.”
What is the Artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“My role as an artist is to be a mirror to the society I find myself in. To reflect, for good or for bad, the impact society is having on the empathic and creative sensitivities of all of us.
Artists express the 3D world on a 2D surface, but represent 3D with tricks and illusions and artifice. They are not bound by shared reality and can craft conjurings from deep subconscious imaginings. They are the ‘canaries in our coal mines’, sensing the reality beyond the norm, vulnerable and sensitive, yet heroic in their pursuit of self expression.
I see artists evolving as expanders of reality: thought provokers, button pressers, questioners, brutally honest observers. For us all to evolve, limits must be pushed and new ground created. This will involve healing and celebration for artists and audiences. We are stepping into a new era of human expression, free from the past’s pantomimes. Artists will reflect the new modern era and shamanically mirror the possibilities.”
Website: www.solveig.com.au
Instagram: @solveigoriginals
