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Image note: WIP. A few layers to make a base layer.

After spending all day Monday building IKEA drawers and then rearranging an entire studio so that they'll fit, it felt good to be painting today. On the desk, abstract paintings. Maybe they'll become something figurative or maybe they'll stay abstracts. Right now they are pure fun.

Image note: Little collage to end the week.

While I was doing art part time, there was this constant voice in the back of my brain saying, “You’re starting too late, you’ll never make it.” It’s a voice I know well as it is a voice I’ve heard all my life. It’s the voice that keeps a lot of us from trying. That fear that we’ll never make it because we’ve started too late. The irony is that for those of us who hear the voice (does everyone hear it?) it starts when we’re incredibly young. It starts when we still have time to try, and it can keep us from ever taking the leap.

This is why I find artists like Lisa Congdon so particularly inspiring. Congdon didn’t pick up a pencil and start drawing until her early 30s. And since then she’s built an incredible art career. I didn’t realize how badly I needed these types of stories, the stories that defy that inner fear of starting too late, until I heard them.

Image note: Oooooh stencil fail.

I was battling some serious tired today and so opted for something fun: Stencil making. Even though one of my rules is no television before 6PM, I gave in. Doctor Who season 8 JUST came out on netflix and who doesn't need some clever adventure on in the background.

The picture above is a small reminder of why such rules were made. Half thinking.  I was designing the next stencil while my Cameo happily (and very noisily) cut away when I realized my mistake. Oh yes, one too many lines and I had basically designed a large checkered shape with a lot of pieces to remove off the sticky matting.

Image note: Mixed media collage

It can be hard to know when a piece is finished. I have a tendency to stop a few steps before I could even consider it finished. I think it’s an artistic defense mechanism of sorts. If I never get to the final steps, then I never have to commit to anything. Never have to stand behind something and say, “This is ready.”

This interview is part of the Creative Catalyst Artist Interview Series and was originally published in 2011. 

Anne-Laure Djaballah went to art school, but her training began when she was a child when she took classes starting at 11 years-old. Since then her work has expanded into both mixed media and installation art.

1. What is your artistic background? How did you learn to paint? Are you self-taught or did you go to art school?

I did my bachelors in fine arts, but I first learned to paint when I was 11. I took classes in acrylics at the community center, where we were taught the basics of colour theory, perspective, composition, etc, but more importantly it was the place where we were encouraged to play with paint and explore all the possibilities the medium had to offer. Later on I had classes that put more emphasis on technique, working from still-lifes, landscape and the figure, and then at university the focus was more on the conceptual side. I think it was helpful to be exposed to a broad range of approaches from which to look at art.