FEATURED ARTIST

ROSA PERRY

REMBRANDT

LIGHTHOUSE

LONDON VILLAGE

RUINS

ANOTHER DIMENSION

CAROUSEL

SOAR

BRANWEN

Meet your artist Robyn Lakeman

Melbourne, VIC Australia

Website : https://rosa-perry.myportfolio.com/ https://www.flickr.com/people/rosa_perry/

I live in Springfield Lakes, Queensland.

I’ve always been creative since childhood but it took me many years to listen to my creative soul and do something about it. It was when I became disillusioned by my career path that I finally listened to my intuition . . . and art rushed back into my life, so I made the transition from a career professional to building a life I love as an artist and I never looked back.

How did you become interested/get started in Photo Artistry?

My passion was photography but my poor DSLR camera mostly sat in my cupboard at home. Work was so time consuming; I hardly used my camera at all. So, I eventually decided to simply use the camera that was always on me: my iPhone. I started capturing images on the go with my iPhone, and those were fun, but I wanted to combine my other artistic skills with my photographs and the only way I could do that was with a scanner and a software editing program.

It was then I discovered Photoshop. And what a learning curve that was! I did it though. I worked at it, and eventually I could weave some magic in Photoshop, combining my photos with various scanned images — usually bits and pieces of old books, magazines, my calligraphy and sketches.

I loved the outcome of textured photos but wanted to take what I learned to the next level. And that’s when I came across Sebastian Michaels’ Creative Black & White Photo Artistry course, which was my first serious editing and artistry training course. That then led to Photoshop Artistry and the wonderful AWAKE Group.

What inspires you or gives you inspiration to create your art?

I am predominantly inspired by nature.

Nature has a way of creating unique colour combinations which are just beautiful and amazing. I love the colours of the sky, the light of the sun, the glow of the moon and stars, the colours of the earth, all living nature – it’s a never-ending harmonious spectrum.

Animals also mean a great deal to my creativity and hold a special place in my heart, so they’re often depicted in my work.

Do you have a certain approach to creating your art?

My approach differs from one piece to the next. Sometimes I see an image in my mind, which I quickly capture as a note or sketch and I’ll end up planning out a composition from there and begin collecting my materials.

Other times I simply start with a blank layer in Photoshop and experiment with creating a background to get things started and then, so often it seems . . . the magic just happens. I begin combining images, and almost always the magic turns up all on its own.

I think overall, the most important thing in my creative process comes near the beginning, where I’m working out the idea for each composition, hoping to convey a story.