Interview with Artist and Illustrator: ORLA STEVENS
BY SAMANTHA BRERETON
When I started studying art, I discovered an artist that has forever changed my direction and approach to creating. I was completely mesmerised by her use of colour and her range of expressive brushstrokes. Orla stevens, an artist and illustrator, has grown a global community of artists on YouTube and Patreon with a current following of 20,000 artists. Stevens shares different techniques and approaches about exploring playfulness in your art practice and has a variety of both bite-size and in-depth exercises for all creative types.
What I found so fascinating about Stevens videos was the way she worked so abstractly and encouraged others to do the same. Before finding Stevens’ channel I had never considered abstract art as a part of my practice because I was too focused on creating representational work (at the time I did not understand the “point” of abstract art). But the more I watched Stevens’ videos the more I learnt about her process, and it was only a matter of time before I started to branch out into the world of abstraction. As my studies in the arts progressed, Stevens held a guiding influence over my practice.
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to interview an arts practitioner as part of my course work. My mind immediately thought of Stevens and, with some encouragement from friends and teachers, I reached out to Stevens through social media. I was not expecting an answer; after all, Stevens lived an ocean away and was probably busy with her career. But after a couple of days, I received an enthusiastic response and had officially landed myself an interview with the artist I had been looking up to for years.
I resonate with Stevens’ art because we are both inspired by nature and use mixed media in our practices. Stevens likes to work with a variety of materials including acrylic inks, ink-tense blocks, gouache, charcoal, and watercolour pencils. Stevens explains that her chosen materials allow her to focus on being a process led artist. The exploration of mixed media allows her to stay inspired and keep creating. Stevens’ interest in capturing landscapes with an expressive quality allows her to capture the feeling of the places she paints. Stevens’ subject matter has also been influenced by her childhood where she learnt to appreciate spending time outdoors. This evolved into Stevens’ subject matter where a lot of her works are created outdoors, responding to her surroundings.
Stevens has taught me that it is so important as an artist to give yourself the time and space to experiment. Stevens gave herself three years out of university to try everything with her creativity! This freedom allowed her to learn what and how she liked to create. Something I find so captivating about Stevens’ work is the intuition and trust that is embedded within her paintings. Her ability to capture a sense of a place and to trust in her developed artistic instincts to communicate that sense is something I wish to master as my own skills develop.
With a career as successful as Stevens, she has had to learn how to nurture her creativity by implementing a work life balance in her schedule. Stevens explains that making time to rest is a big part of the creative cycle and nurturing your imagination comes down to understanding how you work and what you need. Stevens often works the best with a tight deadline, where short bursts of energy can have the most impact. For myself, I have no qualms in spending a full day busy in the studio, but I am also prone to isolating myself when I am wrapped up in my own art. This is why prioritising self-care and flexibility within my routine allows me to explore my other interests and spend time socialising, which also make me a better artist.
Stevens’ lessons in exploring nature through non-representational forms allowed me to loosen up my own art practice which was suffering from rigidity and the pressure to capture everything exactly. The more I learnt from Stevens’ the more I allowed myself to challenge my artistic eye. Stevens has been the beginning of my journey to appreciating artists such as Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler who are respectable abstract artists of their time.
With these artists influencing my practice, my art has been enhanced with personality and expression. I have found joy in capturing movement and energy through colour and shape by practicing being loose and gestural.
As an artist only just beginning my creative career, I was so grateful to speak to Stevens about her journey to becoming a successful artist. Stevens’ lessons of creativity, curiosity, and play have helped me to develop my own art practice and to build up a rich foundation of knowledge that will help me grow in the future. One piece of advice Stevens gave me is especially important for beginner artists: “find ways for play in your work; the meaning will reveal itself from there.”
