I think we are all born creative but I just chose to follow the creative life as a career. Although I didn’t start out this brave to pursue it, as a teen I wanted to do lots of creative things but what I thought I could actually achieve in my life was own my own surf shop and when I realised working 7 days a week in retail wasn't going to get me closer to the ocean I needed to rethink my life plan. haha. I floated into corporate banking in my early 20’s, I was made redundant from the bank when I was on maternity leave with my second baby and I used that money to buy an online baby boutique. I rebranded that baby boutique and sold it for three times what I bought it for and that brought back my love and fire for creating again. From there, there has been some universal magic moments to get me to here. I met Alana Gunn from Kukukachu at a Firemans Ball in Port Macquarie and she became my mentor for textile print design, I also went to design school (after being rejected at 19) and studied graphic design, all of this got me back on the tools of drawing and painting again and growing my skills from where I sort of stopped when I moved out of home.

In the last year or so, I have started to transition to doing more work as an artist, selling my original works in homewares store Whitepepper , painting and illustration commissions and at the end of 2019, had the absolute pleasure of doing my first two wall murals. This transition has been a scary step towards being seen and upgrading my worthiness stories, but I am loving the discovery of who I am and exploring what I can create and just the adventure of life that we get to live.  

Creatively, on a typical day I’ll be moving between working in Photoshop with my Wacom tablet or working analog either drawing in pencil or painting in acrylics and oils. Client work varies in my little home studio, at the moment I am working on ebook design and marketing assets for The Cool Career lots of collages and handwritten graphics. I am also doing the design planning for a private residence mural of florals and creating some personal work large scale colourful contemporary paintings for submission to a few magazines and shows. 

Outside in some way, usually at the beach or on the couch reading a book. I love learning and I am currently doing a diploma in art therapy, not to become an art therapist but just to further understand art and how art affects us on a psychological, emotional and spiritual level. Aesthetic Neuroscience fascinates me  Humans, in general, fascinate me and I love to explore us and how that can be applied and of service creatively and unexpectedly. 

I feel that there isn't really one thing, that all moments are important and defining. I asked my friend Kate Webster of To Serve what she thought it was for me (she is my biz bestie and confidant) she said and I agree “its an interesting one as sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are subtle. Often the ones that most impacted your work aren't directly related - ie. alignment that comes from moving to the beach, the embodiment and service that comes with speaking about your journey as part of a panel, the upgrades that come with trying something new in your business - murals, workshops etc.”

If I am to share something that is more recent and prominent for me, to date all my work as an artist has been self-taught until late 2019 I started doing fine art classes under Jessica Le Clerc.  Although I think my art has improved so much over the years and I have done well to get this far, I also recognise since working under Jess that I have had so many limiting beliefs around what I can do and who I am as an artist that I just didn't see or know. The first few weeks, in every class I wanted to cry because I was so out of my comfort zone and I was learning and unlearning bad habits and techniques and pushing myself in areas I had just resolved that I would never be good at or do - like portraits. What it has developed in me as a person, the resilience, the self-discovery the confidence has really surprised me. I’m grateful that my curious heart takes me on these adventures and I continue to learn and grow. 

I’ve always loved collage and early last year I went through a phase of creating digital collages, I created multiple a day for no real reason except I loved it and it felt good in my body to do it. Then my friend Kate from To Serve was getting some digital collages done for her business and I mentioned to her that it was easy to do and I could show her how in Photoshop. When I showed her, she said that it wasn't easy and I should do a workshop for it, so I did. I didn’t plan on doing any more but then other people asked if I would do a workshop near them so I did, I did 5 digital collage workshops last year and also have available through my website Vol.1 and Vol.2 of Digital Collage/ Beginners photoshop online workshops. 

In the process of the year I got better at public speaking and was asked to speak as a guest panelist talking about creativity and intuition for Insight Society. I got to meet some really amazing humans and built a beautiful little community around me, I got more confident in my ability as an artist and got to travel and create. I didn’t plan any of that, it all just unfolded from that heart spark of enjoying and creating digital collages when I wasn't sure what to do next. 

I also love this little poem by Tess Guinery,

This year I’m focusing on getting better at my craft, defining and evolving as an artist. I’ll be doing more murals, commissions, workshops + commercial art projects. My goal is working towards being represented by the likes of Fenton and Fenton and/or Jumbled Online and to work towards having my art in galleries. Lots of practice and curious, playful creating is on my horizon and I will be sharing all the unfolding on my IG @shyanneclarke.