My ‘Inspired By’ posts began as a way to explore what makes me tick as an artist, what I’m drawn to, what makes my heart sing, what I might want to try out in terms of marks or colour combinations or compositions. They are also a way for me to share the work of artists whose work I love. I don’t advocate copying other artists instead of making our own work, however inspiring they are to us, but I do believe that we can learn from each other on our solitary artist journeys. This website is dedicated to the philosophy that you have a significant and unique offering inside you, waiting to be released. I created a course to help you with this very thing, which you can find by clicking here. May you be inspired to bring forth what’s within you!

Beverley Hawksley is a Canadian artist introduced to me by Pauline, who sent me the video below {which I have now watched about five times.}:

I’m not sure what I find so compelling about this little film; something about Beverley perhaps, the gentle and considered way she talks, her expressions, the sense that she is a deep thinking, soulful artist while still very grounded and straightforward. Some of the things she says make total sense to me beyond the words she uses.

I often find that hearing an artist speak about their work, or watching them in action, stirs the part of me that is the part of all of us, the creative spirit. It’s a recognition, that’s the best way I can describe it. {I feel I’m not quite using my words clearly today!}

Beverley talks about the dialogues she has with her paintings, the feeling of the work, and my favourite part of all, her observation that everything we create is a self portrait. Think about that for a minute! We are creating ourselves in every moment, with everything we do. It makes me think about the kind of self portrait I’m painting {each day and in general}, and I love these analogies that apply to art and life. I talk about that in my book; actually it’s one of the basic premises of it.

In her own words:

Stories are important to me… the ones we are immediately aware of and the ones that come through excavation.

Primarily a figurative painter, I like to work large scale and would describe my figures as being in a “state” rather than a “location”.

I think perhaps it’s this idea, the painting of a state of being, that I love. There’s a feeling in that that I would love to capture in my own work.

Beverley describes herself as a ‘maker of things’; she makes 3D art as well as paintings. The paintings are my favourite element of her work so I chose some of my favourites for this post; you can see a greater range of her work on her website.