10.12.09

artist i love - jesse breytenbach...

This week's feature artist comes to us (virtually of course) all the way from Cape Town. Jesse Breytenbach has a host of goodies in her etsy shop including wonderful fabrics, tea towels and lovely ornaments just in time for the holidays. She has been kind enough to share a bit of herself with us today. Enjoy!what three to five words would you use to describe your work?
graphic, detailed, precise

what inspires you?
It's hard to say exactly; sometimes it's just the light in a room, sometimes it's a scrap of fabric. Sometimes it's a need to know how something is put together that makes me want to draw it. Knitting inspires me to draw as well - the textures and patterns just make me want to make something, urgently.

what was your first job? when/how did you know you wanted a career in art?
My first job was with a new publisher, illustrating educational books. The authors were new to the whole thing as well, so we all just learned as we went along. I remember looking at illustrations in magazines when I was little, and realising that someone had drawn those. That was the first time it occurred to me that it might be possible to draw for a living!

what media do you work with?
Pen and ink, and linocut prints.

design books/blogs you can't live without
I love
http://printsy.blogspot.com/ for the variety of work that gets shown there. And I pretty much can't live without knitting sites;http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/ is one of my favourites.

what do you do when you are not doing art?
I knit and read. I've been trying to garden, but mostly that just involves throwing water over anything that sprouts and seeing what survives.

name one thing about you that would shock the outside world.
Often, far too often, I get back into bed after my morning coffee. Twenty minutes later, I'm ready to start the day again properly.

what city in the world best describes you?
It would probably be a small city, one that only technically qualifies as a city. A place where you could walk anywhere you needed to get to, where strange and sometimes scary things lurk around most corners, a place that looks peaceful and quaint until you've lived there for a while, and discovered that everything is exactly what it seems and that that's constantly slightly unsettling.... oh, wait! I've just described the town where I grew up!

what's next?
I'm hoping to find enough time in the next few months to work on a comic I've written; new prints in various stages that need to be finished; prints on clothing, that I'm really excited about; and possibly, if I can get it to work, a drawing project that will involve as many other bloggers as I can convince to take part.

2 comments:

daisy janie said...

I love Jesse's work so very much! She's as kind as she is talented, and it was nice to read more about what she's like. Love how she goes back to bed for a catnap after coffee!

Freshly Found said...

I have enjoyed getting to know Jesse even better. I so admire her prolific creative ability with attention to detail! The prints on clothing - I can't wait to see!