Artist Interview - Rhiannon Stone

Rhiannon Stone is a mixed-media artist, photography enthusiast, blogger and all-round Awesome Person. 

Her blog is Pierced Beauty where she writes about her journey to becoming an artist and the assorted things that make life beautiful. 

I asked her some hard hitting questions!

If you woke up tomorrow as an animal, what would you be? 
A leopard. They are just such amazing and elegant animals plus I love all kinds of cats. Big cats, wild cats, domestic cats. That and I love everything leopard print (which I'm sure Alana can confirm!)

Describe your Art: 
This is a hard one. I don't feel like I have found my 'style' yet so its hard to describe but I think I would say my art as honest and full of emotion.

I create art that has feeling, and is relatable. I love using words (which is why art journaling is a perfect fit for me) and creating something beautiful. I love using colour, despite tending to wear black most of the time.

What are your favourite materials to Art* with? 
I have two big passions; art journaling & painting as well as photography.

For art journaling and painting my favourite materials would be gesso, watercolours, acrylics, bubble wrap, sponges, indian ink, sakura gelly rollers and all sorts of collected images. Most are from free promotional magazines you can pick up at coffee shops, or sewing patterns from Opp shops (about $0.50 each!). I love collecting clothes tags, receipts, lace, pretty packaging and old books.

 For my photography, I'm currently saving for a new camera (Canon 600D + 18-135mm lens) but in the meantime my partner is nice enough to let me use his camera (Canon 550D + 18-135mm lens). I love being able to play around with the photos in Photoshop afterwards to create new effects or looks.
There are a lot of wonderful bloggers/artists out there that share Photoshop actions they have created which is quite fun to try (check out Alex Beadon & Carrie from WishWishWish as a starting point)

Where do you get inspiration from? 
I am a sucker for websites like Pinterest and I spend hours looking through my favourite set of blogs. I do make a point to focus on what is around me everyday (instead of what is on a screen in front of me) as well though. A small flower growing through a cracked footpath, a particularly colourful sunset, even just spending the day with friends. Look for every day things in your life that you love. It doesn't have to be something huge, it can be as small as the pattern on your coffee.

Do you sell your art/do commissions? (and if yes, where and what's the process?) 
At this stage I don't do commissions (although it is something I would like to do eventually). I am however working on resurrecting my Etsy shop and hope to be open within the next 2 months. If you would like to be kept up to date with all the happenings head to my Facebook page or blog for the latest updates.

Where do you hang-out online? 
I am all over the interwebs! Primarily over on my blog (www.rhiannonstone.blogspot.com) but you can find me at all these other places:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/piercedbeautydesigns
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rhiannon_e_stone
Pinterest: pinterest.com/piercedbeauty
Tumblr: pierced-beauty.tumblr.com
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/piercedbeauty

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring artsy people? 
Keep learning and keep trying new things. I still consider myself to be relatively new to the art scene so I am continuously looking for new techniques and ideas. If I ever get stuck for motivation I find a tutorial for a new technique and give it a go. The absolute biggest thing to remember though is that absolutely no one starts out amazing. I have done a lot of art journal pages that I don't like but from that I learn things that I do like.


 *Yes - I'm using "art" as a verb.