Interview With 1stAngel

Jill Tattersall

Welcome to the Artists Blog

1stAngel: When did you first become interested in art?

When I was a child in East Africa and someone showed me how to do lino cuts. After that I was hooked and always did stuff on my own.

1stAngel: What style of art do you use most?

Semi-abstract: there’s usually a starting-point in nature, even if it’s on a microscopic or macroscopic scale. But I get bored with literal representation, although it’s a necessary discipline now and then. Colour is a dominant element – it influences me in everything.

Exquisite Corpse

1stAngel: Has your style changed from when you first began as an artist?

Yes, it’s much looser and more experimental. I have the courage now to take risks, make mistakes, go down blind alleys. ( Paradoxically it seems to mean fewer outright failures.)

1stAngel: What medium do you use?

Mixed media. Luckily for me this is fashionable at present, but I have always hated to be tied down to one medium. For each idea, I have to find the best ways and materials to carry it out.

1stAngel: What made you choose that medium?

Terminal indecision, probably.

Folded Books

1stAngel: Do your ideas come from life or imagination?

Anything and everything: what I see, hear, read – it all goes into a melting pot.

1stAngel: How do you choose your images and colours?

I think I sort of pre-programme my brain with ideas and thoughts, and at a certain moment the images and colours drift or pop (it depends) into my head. Then I’m ready to go….

Graffitti Tree

1stAngel: Who is your favourite artist?

Indecision again – don’t know where to start. Perhaps whoever did the cave paintings in Cougnac or les Eyzies, France.

1stAngel: What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?

This is the first time I’ve been asked this question and I honestly don’t know. The most recent, unless I’m dissatisfied with it?

The Trivial Round

1stAngel: How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?

It varies hugely: some pieces seem to do themselves while others hang around for months. The best pieces involve a mixture of careful thinking and planning, and then a bold letting-go and going with the moment.

1stAngel: How well do you take criticism?

It takes quite a lot of courage just to put works on public show! I welcome constructive criticism, but I admit I’d probably never have the guts to show again if my work was totally panned.

The Wild Beasts

1stAngel: What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?

(I run the occasional workshop on this.) I take lots of cheap paints and papers and everything I can think of and unthinkingly make lots of patterns, textures and colours. Which leads to some collage…and then I’m sucked in. Also, I always try to have unfinished work when I come to the end of a big project, so there’s something to pick up when I’m ready.

Garden Pieces – Recycled Mat
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1stAngel: How do you know something is ‘finished’?

This is the hardest bit, whether you are painting, writing, whatever…when is enough enough and just right?

I don’t know!

1stAngel: Have you had exhibits in galleries?

Yes, I have a solo exhibition in a small municipal gallery at the moment, and pieces in the Brighton Open Houses, part of the Festival. There seems a steady trickle of offers, though you also have to go out hunting for opportunities. I’m not so good at this.

Tideline

1stAngel: Have you any exhibits in galleries planned for the future?

Yes, though I’m not planning far ahead as we intend to move to Brighton soon. I’ve a solo show of my outdoor pieces (with recycled materials) in June, in a fantastic Lincolnshire garden, and events keep popping up for the summer and autumn. But offers are always welcome….

1stAngel: What are your plans for the future?

Where I live now there are few opportunities and people don’t spend money on art. I look forward to more contact with other artists; I’d like to show in some larger galleries; do fewer, bigger, pieces. Keep experimenting!

To The Woods

Thank you very much for the interview Jill. Your work is very unique and it has been a real pleasure to meet you

You can see these and other pieces of Jill’s work at www.jilltattersall.co.uk