#perthcreativenetwork

Allow me a moment to introduce myself my name is .... Wayne Herring Read Wayne's interview here!

Part One Part Two

Ø  Where is your happy place? Definitely the beach. I love water. I love the reflections on the sea bed and the colours. I’m also happy with a good book and a coffee, or a coffee and great company. I could sit for hours on a secluded beach just taking in the world around and pondering. I love to ponder, don’t you?  

Ø  What are you addicted to? See above. Coffee, coffee coffee.  

Ø  What gives your art meaning? Surprisingly, emotion. There is so much emotion that goes into my paintings. Under all my acrylic pieces is a painted work or poem about something I’ve encountered or felt. Appreciation also gives my art meaning. Knowing that someone else can see and appreciate my creations just gives me a warm fuzzy. You know the type.....

Allow me a moment to introduce myself... My name is: Wayne Herring What is your artistic discipline? There are a few. Ive always been creative and studied design at university with an honours degree in set design for theatre. I’m a self taught artist and tend to stick to acrylic and watercolour though pastels and oils also feature. I’m fairly new to watercolours and love the fluidity of it. Switching between acrylic and watercolour has its challenges as they both require very different application techniques.    

Ø  What was your first job? My very first job was a newspaper round but then moved to working in a bakery at the early hours of the morning to pay my way through university. I’m definitely not an early morning person!  

Ø  What are some of your technical/artistic/personal “rules” that you never break? Honesty and integrity have always remained my personal values. When it comes to my art, Ive always been of the opinion that one must create work for fun, learning and expression and not for the dollar value. It gives me some sense of happiness whenever I gift or sell a painting knowing that a part of me has a good home and is appreciated for what it is.

Ø  What are some things you’ve had to unlearn? Wow. Lots. Ive really had to learn how to let go of things. That’s quite a challenge when someone such as me becomes attached to ideas, ideals, art and people. Learning to let go of who I thought I was, society’s ideals and people’s expectations. I’m my art Ive had to unlearn perfection and perceived perfection. Learning to stop adding when you thinks it’s done.  

Ø  What is next? Where are you heading with your work?  I’m just starting... what is next? Well I think I’d love to explore more. Explore more self expression. I’m just learning that I do have a style and that I need to let people appreciate it. For years I always thought that I wasn’t good enough to sell and always had in my mind that “I will never be as good as them”. In actuality I’m heading in a direction of creating and refining my brand. I’m currently developing a Kimberley series in the north west of Western Australia.    

Ø  Where do the majority of your paid jobs come?

Mostly from word of mouth or from social media, being that i live in a rural town word of mouth is more common. I'm fortunate to have lots of lovely friends and clients that are willing to spread the love even more thickly than I spread peanut butter, which is despicably thick.  

Ø  Who is your role model, and why?

As high profile role models go probably Baddie Winkle ....you have to look her up to understand just how few fucks she gives. Unapologetically herself. Badass. But in that same breath, anyone who has found in themselves the freedom to be comfortable and happy in being themselves through and through confidently, all of those people are my role models. Its not an easy thing to do. We are all pigeon-holed in one way or another and its so inspiring to see people letting all that shit go. I strive to be like those people.  

 Ø  What are some of your technical/artistic/personal “rules” that you never break?

I always like to know how to do something technically before I break it otherwise what is the point, for example I like to be able to paint a face realistically before I do some strange abstraction to it so that the product is a forceful departure from the normal rather than simply a happy accident, it forces me to think critically about what I am really trying to say. I also have this thing about never using black, I feel like there are more creative ways to show the shadowy side of life, it also is a little mantra just for myself about not taking things to a dark place, I have spent too much time there already, there is nothing you can’t say with colour…. Except maybe “this is what the colour black looks like”

Ø  What is next? Where are you heading with your work?

I am at a bit of a cross roads as I recently finished a series I’ve been working on for a number of years on female strength and sharing. I want to do another soon with a deeper message but I’m not sure where I will begin, it’s still percolating. For now I am enjoying not having a specific area to explore and I’m just practicing, doing smaller form and tone and depth studies and having fun being a little looser.

Ø  What are you addicted to?

Allow me a moment to introduce myself... My name is: Chloe Wilder What is your artistic discipline? Oil painting and avoiding getting up in the morning, I’m very artful in that respect  

Ø  What gets you fired up? I get fired up in an angry way every time I read an article that entails feminine repression of any kind of which my male partner lovingly bears the brunt of my inequality rage despite the fact that he himself is a raging feminist. And I get fired up in an arty way every time I go to Melbourne and see all the works of beautiful friends and colleagues and how they have developed and progressed and particularly fired up after storing lots of energy from the cheap dumplings I eat exclusively whilst there like a bear preparing for a cold hard winter.   

Ø  When have you been most satisfied in your career? Right now. As soon as I stopped trying to do things that I thought people would like, my own style came through and it’s never been as true as it is now, I get to see myself improving with every new work and it's thrilling to be able to surprise myself and be expressive without concern.   

Ø  What is the most significant project or accomplishment that you’ve achieved in your career? Simply getting to this point. It’s such a hard thing to be motivated to create every day that each day feels like an achievement. Ooo and working recently with the lovely Jack Francheschini @jackfran not only did he invite me to be part of an exhibition but he taught me a lot about painting on the street and it was a joy to work with such a wonderful artist and human.