Chelsea Gen

Hi! I'm a South African artist and I'm glad you've come along for the ride!

[chelseagenart]

I need to stop asking these questions that I don't want to think about. Sigh...but I am here and so I must put myself through the torture that I wish to put others through.

I like good amounts of detail in other people's art, although I find the process of actually adding a lot of detail into my own art to be a grueling one. But ohhh that payoff. Mmm. I also love really good blending and use of colour.

I also enjoy a lot of drama and meaning.

Funny enough, I also really really love serenity and peaceful scenes. I recently sketched a woman napping and I love it to absolute pieces. Making more stuff like that will be an awesome experience.

So, what are things in your art that you love?

[chelseagenart]

I have a commission to do thats very out of my comfort zone and I have no idea where to start. It's been a week and I haven't started yet. I am panicking on the inside

[chelseagenart]

Damn I love tumblr, this place really feels like my secret identity

[poetry-siir]

[chelseagenart]

Ayami Kojima, my beloved!

Oh to reach this level of beauty and ethereal darkness

[chelseagenart]

This question really forces you to dig (unless it doesn't, which I mean, I'm really happy for you if that's the case) but it can be really important to determine how you're going to do your work.

We all know that different techniques and styles evoke certain emotions in our human psyche, and that certain imagery has societal and cultural connotations. Those are always a fun shortcut to use if you know what you wanna say.

Beyond that, knowing what you want to say just gives you a much better sense of direction in general.

As far as I am concerned, I want to make people really feel something when they look at my art. I enjoy making pretty art, but I like making it kind of dark. I want to make you really feel empty, or full or lost or sad or angry or ... anything really. Whatever it is, I want there to be impact. And it's incredibly difficult to judge, at least for me, if my work will actually end up being impactful or not. All I see are my mistakes and where I think I need to improve.

With Inktober, drawing everyday (or every second day) has really helped me to get back in touch with what I want to say. What I want people to see and feel. A lot of it happens to be dread. I like larger that life creatures and open heads and leaking eyes. We are, at the end of the day, quite powerless against nature - within our own selves as well as out in the wild world outside of us. My technique needs to catch up with my message but I think Inktober has really helped with that.

Of course, a close friend of mine has also given me an idea that hopefully I'll be able to follow through with.

So, which feelings do you wish to evoke with your creations?

[chelseagenart]

A work in progress of my dad's golf shoes. I want to paint custom sneakers so he let me practice on his shoes. So shoutout to him for doing me a real solid.

He basically used to care for a couple of geese at a golf course he worked at and they used to follow him around and he loved them a lot. He misses them a lot so I thought I'd try to immortalize them through his shoes.

I'll post the finished pieces soon hopefully.

Also I have an instagram but I post way more here.

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

[chelseagenart]

You know how when you make something for other people and then you have to do the thing you wanted someone else to do yourself and then you see a flaw? Yeah. That was this prompt.

In fact it has taken me, a whole month to come up with an answer to this. But I think I finally have it.

This piece of art as well as this artist is one of my favourites of all time. I loved this and many of Quinni's (Quing Han's) piecies. Her work was referenced by me a lot when I was in high school.

Her smooth and even linework is gorgeous and I'm sure her use of watercolour inspired my own. This was one of the first artworks of hers I saw, which I ended up using as reference for one of my own pieces, though mine pales utterly in comparison. And I always loved how she made her art glow. It was so fun and fascinating to teenage me who looked at it like it was pure magic.

Unfortunately Quinni passed in 2020, which was a huge blow to the art community and naturally all those who were close to her. I remember shedding tears when I found out. And now, looking through her Instagram page was painful. Many of us feel the same way I'm sure. She was such an inspiration and though I didn't know her, her art made me feel like I did and like she knew me.

And to this day, that's the feeling I wish to create in my pieces. I haven't been doing it too well lately, but I think I need to work on it.

So, what's your favourite artwork?

[chelseagenart]

why do I subject myself to the horrors of posting on instagram

[chelseagenart]

The Art That Made Us - 1

Yeah, this is where I'm gonna post a photo of an artwork that I liked and going to talk about pretentiously. Which is exactly what I plan to do. Except, I just googled everything and I looked at the art and went, "Hmm, I can talk about this." So buckle up my fair friends, I am gonna spill all my high school level art education all over y'all. Enjoy the splash zone.

Two Venetian Women - Eugene Von Blaas, Oil on Canvas, 1898

Von Blaas was best known and most loved for his images of Venetian women. His women are striking in their youth and unadorned beauty and they are depicted with a high degree of finish which demonstrates the artist's unique abilities as both draftsman and painter. The realism in the work of von Blaas is almost photographic and it is clearly the artist's intent to show these women going about their daily routines oblivious of their own beauty and that of their surroundings. The artist’s paintings also reflect the tenderness and affinity he felt for the 'ordinary' folk who inspired his work. In the context of such sentiments, Venice was the ideal environment for his work; due to its wealth in architectural and artistic inheritance together with an inability to expand, the city remained relatively unaffected by the fast-paced changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. This time capsule allowed von Blaas to paint idyllic common folk without being consumed by a sense of melancholic nostalgia.

I have tried over and over to write about the various interpretations of this artwork, but truthfully, I just love it. I don't really have anything deep or profound to say about this piece because it doesn't really lend itself to such things.

Sure, the gaze itself could be interpreted in a variety of ways. Is it seductive? I mean the audacity of a woman to look at the viewer directly! Surely, it must convey the sexuality of this woman in some way? The downward tilt of her face making her appear cute and innocent? Commentary on her youth and naiveite. There are many ways to interpret this piece as well as literally every other artwork ever, but here I have to say, I'd rather not.

This piece is just beautiful. That's really all Von Blaas wanted to convey anyways and man, he did it really well in this piece. The woman are beautiful and they feel so close to each other and to the viewer. I feel like I'm seeing them across the street or in front of a neighbouring building. Like I've known these women all my life and I'm just appreciating them being there. I feel like they're my friends, my family or even that one of them is my lover.

We are able to pick up the artist's love, and that is what makes this piece so beautiful and one of my personal favourites. I even did my own version of this painting in my journal, which I will post here as soon as I can. I painted it, because it's beautiful and personal and full of love.

[chelseagenart]

One of my proudest achievements is that I created a comic to take part in an art competition to get into a local at university and my comic won first prize. I couldn't attend the university unfortunately because the tuition money was way to high and my parents couldn't afford it. It broke my heart. My comic is still on the school's website so you know, at least it will be memorialized there forever maybe.

The only previous attempt I've had at a comic was my final artwork at the end of high school. I was still very proud of it, it was a bold (stupidly unrealistic) undertaking for the time I was give to complete it. Compared to the last comic I made though it is hardly comparable.

I haven't drawn a comic since. After that one for the university, I couldn't even draw anymore without feeling completely lost and worthless. It's only within the past few months that I've been able to create again, and I've been enjoying it. Pacing myself and creating things I like. Most importantly, not for the sake of winning or growing a following or making money.

Sure, I'd love nothing more than to make art my full time thing, but I'm going to do that as organically as I can. So I guess my most recent achievement that I'm proud of is that I have regained my love for art.

So, what's your proudest achievement?

[chelseagenart]

Personally, I've always wanted to do an oil painting. One that looks like it belongs in a museum. The oil painting I've tried was quite fun but it didn't turn out too great, especially since I... didn't finish it. Nothing can really "turn out" anyway if it's not done.

I enjoyed using the medium and I honestly think if I actually took the time to learn more about it I might actually get something in a museum one day (derogative).

Otherwise, I'd love to try gouache someday, it looks so fun. And I wouldn't mind trying to make marmalade again, last time I ended up making a preserve. Don't keep the heat on too long kids! You'll end up with something delicious, but by no means spreadable.

So, what have you always wanted to try?

[chelseagenart]

For me, it always used to be all about telling a story. I wanted to show the emotions in the most visceral way I could. So, normally it portrayed a lot of negative emotions that I didn't know what else to do with, so I drew and painted them. I used a lot of symbolism as well as colour to accomplish this. However, more recently I've been inspired by the old masters. I draw their artworks and create them in my style, attempting to think of what they wee trying to say and copying their use of composition.

And... my fiance does a great job of inspiring me too. He takes a genuine interest in my art and what I make. So his encouragement helps me a lot. He also gives brilliant feedback. So naturally, I make art for him at times too.

So, what inspires you?