Lombi: Hey there and welcome to the interview. How are you today?
Shelley: I'm great thanks!

Lombi: Alright, let's start off with you giving us a little bit of background info ... who you are, what you do, where you are from, how old is your inner self, what your foot size is... that kind of thing :}
Shelley: Well my name is Shelley and I was born and live in Canada. I am 41 years old and have been married to my wonderful husband for 21 years, and we have an 11 year old son. My inner self is probably about 20 years old. I am self employed, I own a private daycare centre, 10 years now, prior to that I worked in an office doing accounts recievables. I have a college degree in travel consulting.



Lombi: How would you, in your own words, describe your style? What and who were your major influences in the development of that style? Does your soulmate have any bigger influences in what you do? Which artists do you admire and respect for what they do?
Shelley: I guess my work is dark/macabre. I try to convey as much emotion in my pieces as I can. My influences in developing my style would be my dear friend iso, she taught me alot, and noir and inkspiller taught me also. I sort of took all that plus what I had learnt on my own and mushed them all together I suppose. My husband is a woodworker and we often combine our artistic talents, for example he built me a deacons bench and I painted a harbour scene on the seat, things like that. I respect all artists, there are so many I admire, Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Hieronymus Bosch, Scissors-hands, to many to name them all.

Lombi: What kind of music do you listen to, when you work? What are your favourite bands/artists?
Shelley: I listen to classical and opera often when creating my pieces. I also listen to alot of celtic and folk music, such as Loreena McKennitt, Robbie Williams, Great Big Sea, Leahy, a lot of canadian folk bands.

Lombi: A question everyone wants to know these days ... at what point did you want to become the artist you are now ... was there any breaking points or such? How did you get started in digital art?
Shelley: I started digital art in a virtual chat many years ago, artist there would manip avatars in "paint shops" and I wanted to learn to do that. I dont think I ever consciously expected to get to where I am now, I was just having a great time learning and making my work. My frist big breaking piece was 0phelia.



Lombi: The second most common question out there (hehe) ... what software do you use in creating your artworks, how does the common process look like when you are creating a piece? Do you just see that software as purely a tool used to create or as something more? What kinds of media and techniques do you commonly like to use when you create a piece?
Shelley: believe it or not I use paintshop pr7 and 8. I also use photoshop 7. I use my HP scanner alot, and Ive been messing around with Poser5, nothing worth keeping yet though. I finally got a digital camera so I will be making use of that as well. I think of the software the same way I think of a paintbrush when I paint in acrylics or needle and thread when I make tapestries. Is it a tool? Yes it is. Is it more? Its whatever you make it, you comand it and control it. Like an extension of yourself.

Lombi: What is the history of your camera equipment ... with what did you start with and what are you using today?
Shelley: As I mentioned early I finally got my first digital camera, is a Kodak easyshare 5 mega pixel.

Lombi: When you create a piece what normally inspires your work?
Shelley: Everything inspires me, life, family and friends, the past, the present, the future...everything.



Lombi: When you are working on a piece, when do you know that it's finally done?
Shelley: When I can't find anything else to fuss over...lol. I don't know really, its just...finished.

Lombi: Tell me how was it like breaking into the digital art scene ... i know it's very hard for young and unknown artists to get their name out nowdays ... how was your experience like? What's the best advice you could give to someone who wants to break into the scene?
Shelley: Yeah it isn't easy and it usually takes some time. As I said I started in a virtual chat and became known there, then chat friends suggested I join them in deviantArt, which I did. But I found myself as I was when I joined virtual chat, unknown and all alone, I was sort of lost, so I just started wandering around deviantArt and leaving comments on others work etc. My advice? Don't get discouraged and keep plugging away at it, it will eventually pay off.

Lombi: I've asked you to choose 5 of your favourite artworks to be featured here along with this interview ... so tell me ... why do you like these 5 so much, what are the stories behind them?
Shelley:

Defrag

On my old computer there was this little defraging symbol that showed when you defraged your pc. Showed little blocks being put back on the big block, and I was staring at it for some unknown reason and I was thinking...too bad people couldnt do that. So Defrag was born. Then I ran into the problem of doing the puzzle pieces and I remembered I had bought some blank puzzle boards so my son could design his own puzzles. So I grabbed one and partially took it apart and placed it on my scanner. And Viola! I spend about 2 weeks on Defrag till I was completely happy with it.

When the Walls Fell

This piece is my cry out agains racism. There should be no place on this planet for it. We are all equal in my eyes.

Inner Workings

There isnt really any great meaning to this piece other than I was teaching my son, who was 10 at the time, photomanipulation and we created that piece. We are both very proud of it.

Glutton

There are alot of obese people in mine and my husbands families, though neither of us are obese at all. And I have hypothyriod disease so my weight is always a battle for me. I guess I was trying to get that out.

Metal Mayhem

This was a piece I was commissioned to do for the Minneapolis Mayhem Metal Music Festival held in april 2004. The image was for posters and tshrts. I took took the words mayhem and metal and created the piece with those words in mind.



Lombi: So tell me ... how would you describe the digital art scene roughly around your location? I've heard many artists complain about almost complete ignorance towards digital art ... especially from traditional artists, galleries and such. Is photography better accepted? Your two cents?
Shelley: Well, I belong to a group called Walking The Path which is for artists of all mediums in the city I live in, thats really helped. I've made a couple posters for the group promoting them etc. that were posted all over the city. There is a fair sized art scene here and a great following for it I think, lots of galleries etc. as well.

Lombi: What would you do if you were in an empty room (and no cameras anywhere) with a tied-up ripper?
Shelley: Oh my! I'd read him/her the riot act. I'm not a violent person, but rippers really piss me off.

Lombi: What do you think about the whole online art community thing at the moment? Where would you like to see the future of art go? What are your plans for the future?
Shelley: I think the online digital art community is great. I'd love to see it grow and expand more.



Lombi: So... any news on your website?
Shelley: It's still under construction *pouts* It's supposed to be up soon though.

Lombi: You wake up one day and find out that you have amazingly cool superpowers. What are they?
Shelley: The ability to heal others.

Lombi: You find out that you will be relocated on a desert island tomorrow. You can only take one thing with you. What is the one thing you can't live without?
Shelley: I couldn't live without my family =]

Lombi: Err ... umm... any questions for me?
Shelley: Hmmm not at the moment.

Lombi: Well, that's kinda the end of the interview. Thanks for taking the time, my friend. Any final words of wisdom you would like to share with us?
Shelley: Live, love and laugh often.

*Confused Look*
Is this the second interview with Shelley?