Shannon Rene' Justice

Yup, this happens to be a chain interview to help promote some of the amazingly talented people here on RedBubble. (You can check out my lil interview here!)

I was interviewed by my dear friend Midori who was interviewed by my other dear friend, Frozen Fa who was interviewed by one of my most bestest bestest BESTEST friends, Mrs. Karin Taylor who was (yes, I’m almost finished!) interviewed by the ever so talented, MuscularTeeth! (WHEW, what a mouthful, no?)

Anyhoos, one of the people I chose to do an interview with is my dear new friend, Gracey Gracey has been such a dear and just an all around pleasure to know. I wanted all of you to get to know her as I have.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Gracey! :)

How does my creativity affect other aspects of your life?

I suppose it has more or less become my life. There has always been a creative element in my life, from the time I was a little girl. I can remember my dad teaching me to make “glue” drawings.

I think a person with a creative leaning tends to look at things differently than those who haven’t pursued that part of themselves (I firmly believe everyone has a creative abilitiy within.); when I walk or hike a tree isn’t always “just a tree”; when I cook I often look at the resulting meal and think “oh, that’s a good photo”; when I shop I see things as “objects to photograph” rather than household items. The dollar store can be the worst place, or the best – the worst because I always come out with a bag of things I didn’t go in for, the best because I can get all sorts of artistic supplies and useful bits for next to nothing.

Tell us about one person or moment that has made your time on redbubble particularly special or meaningful.

I don’t know that I could pinpoint one person or moment. You see, Redbubble is a community – there isn’t any one person, or any one thing that makes it special. It’s special because of everything it is, and every artist who spends time here puts their little piece of DNA into the pile. It’s really more of a “we”, isn’t it? To me, on a more personal level, every person on Redbubble is special and individual – it’s sort of like a giant ball of rubber bands. The ball can’t be anything special with any one particular rubber band, it takes all of them together to make it what is.

Show & tell us about five works on redbubble that have moved or inspired you

There are many more than five works that have inspired me to try other avenues – I came to Redbubble primarily as a photographer, though in the far past I did some small oils and pastels. Many things about this place have pushed me to explore areas I previously ignored – abstracts, fractals, digital paintings.

This piece of writing by dreadfulbride (Joseph Donais) titled Looking Glass inspired me to create an image to go with it. His writing is deep, emotional, powerful – it has many sides to it, so a lot of his work has inspired much of my digital fractal work. It pushed me to try creating visual work with as much depth as his written work, though I don’t think I’ve come close to Joe’s level, I’ve enjoyed a new aspect to art that I might not have.

I Would Die 4 U by Helen Bascom has always inspired me – not just because of it’s obvious connotations – it’s more than that. I think it has a message for humanity to be…human – to treat each other with respect. Helen’s piece reminds me of that every day, which is why it’s in my favourites list.

Crane Song by Buddy Sears is only one of the few of his that have inspired me to try painting with a brush again – not because I’m good at that, I’m not, but because it offers another way to express myself. His asian themed paintings are stunningly beautiful – very calming. If I could, I’d have one of each!

“Barry King’s”: Zebras was one of my favourites from the time I first laid eyes on it. Much of his early digital paintings inspired me to learn digital painting techniques. He’s moved into some other areas of work too, but most of Bear’s work is just plain inspiring.

This girl inspired me to push forward with my photography long before Redbubble, but she’s here now. Patricia Montgomery. Some of my favourites aren’t on her site, but I’ve seen many pieces of her work in person – she has some of the most stunning scenes from their travels. If it wasn’t for her touring me around Cave spring and Rome (Georgia) with my little camera, I might not have carried on with artistic photography and would still be doing work only in the commercial area. This one of my current favourites of hers: Colorado Mesa

One other person – Okay, I know you said on Redbubble, and only five, but I can’t leave it at that. My father – who, while he was only a hobby shooter – instilled the love of photography in me from a very early age. This and This
are only two of many hundreds of his (oh, that’s me by the way :D)

Sooooo…........there you have it, the amazing Gracey! (isn’t she though?!)

Now, off with you, go spend some of your moola on some RedBubble stuff! ;)

Until next time,
Shannon