Name: Sandra Ford aka Trixiefishstabber
Sign: Of The Times
Age: 44
Where can we find you (blogs, websites etc... list them all;):
http://www.etsy.com/shop/trixiefishstabber
http://trixiefishstabber.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trixie-Fishstabbers-Underworld/
http://www.artfire.com/users/trixiefishstabber
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trixiefishstabber/
www.zibbet.com/Trixiefishstabber
What are your favorite medium/s to work in:
I am very comfortable with graphite, color pencil, and acrylics. But I also really get into carving wood, bending wire, weaving dog hair. My nemesis medium seems to be oils. I have a nice collection of oils with all the accouterments and have been too cowardly to try them. Yet.
Who or What are you most inspired by right... NOW?:
This may sound odd, right now I am inspired by death, dying, loss, and love. My dearest friend, Annabella. She is a gentle old dog who I have had the honor to know for 14 years and she is dying. Drawing eases the pain for me, not as escapism necessarily. Drawing offers a quiet solitude to explore how deep my relationship with others penetrates and to consider what that means.
What is the FIRST word that comes to mind when you hear the word BIRDS (don't worry, let it pop in- then spit it out;):
love
What was your first "real" job:
I began an internship with a humane society when my son was small, it turned into a dozen year career and I turned into an executive director. Caring deeply for the lives of thousands upon thousands of helpless animals was a daily heart break, hard, hard physical work, rewarding at times, but mostly like shoveling sand. I gave it my best and gracefully bowed out before I totally burned out.
Do you have a favorite piece, or lots of favorites?
Nope, once I am finished with a piece it is like a divorce, I know that the intimacy was there but I am not sure I understand the relationship anymore. I like to hide my drawings and 'find' them months later. In rediscovery I usually think; I did that?
You paint and draw a lot of horns and birds, what is it about thees elements that gets your creative juices flowing?
I wish I knew what creative juices are, I would go turn on the spigot right this minute! The elements of my work that you mention are simply a part of my love of anthropomorphic underworlds. I just tap into that place in my brains (or where ever) and the drawings slowly seep out of me. Mostly, for me, creativity is ethereal and prone to whim.
What do you LOVE to make most at the moment?:
I love to spin the threads of possibility.
Best advice for overcoming a creative block?
Doing something physical, especially out doors in the fresh air and hopefully, sunshine. Creativity uses up a certain energy and you have to replenish it from something opposite, to get your balance back, at least, it works for me.
Is it the process of creating a piece that most intrigues you, or the end result?
The process is wonderful, I get to unleash imagination and immerse myself in a subconscious dream world, sometimes that dream is lovely and smooth and sometimes it is like an argument. The end result is a trinket compared to the process.
Describe what it is like for you when you are in the 'zone',when you are in your most creative moment?
It is a subconscious realm I get into, where creativity just happens without much conscious effort. Almost as if I get to tap into a universal consciousness, my real life peels away into a fog and I experience something I can only describe as serene bliss. Like a little kid playing with small plastic animals in the dirt. I guess that is the core of what motivates me to keep on keeping on.
Is there anything else you want to tell us about? Lets have it!
Yeah, Thank you for the interview, it's great to be back amongst artists and makers again.
Thank you Sandra, we really enjoyed meeting you!
Happy Monday!
~ liza
