0 My Cart

Cart (0)

Home / Articles posted by Johanna

Archives
Events

My first art market

December 7, 2023 by 0 comments
I have been getting out of my comfort zone lately, which involves showing my art to the public and not keeping it to myself. I stumbled upon Grafitti Stockholm's announcement that they had an art market and thought I´d join. I had no idea what to expect because I am a big newbie when it comes to markets. What I can say t was fun, rewarding and I got the chance to meet a lot of other great artists. The organization was great and the place was inspiring itself being located in the creative area "Slakthusområdet" in Stockholm. I have had other expositions at school and with my graduation project so I knew it had to look good and I was prepared for questions. The Swedish audience is different compared to the Dutch one, I am used to people being in the mood for talking but most people rarely said anything more than "really pretty" and they stood watching my art for a while and then carefully took my business card. The ones that I where chatting most with were people from abroad. Things I took with me from the market: I have learned about an artist called Amelia Peláez, one guy said my work reminded me of hers. What do you think? Some even said it reminded them of old-school Japanese tattoos. People wanted to see something familiar in my art, they often said it looks like this or that. It's fun because it makes people create their reality in my work and by looking at the things I´ve made. It was good I brought my paper and markers with me because when it was calm in the afternoon I could make some new art and it was a great way to show the curious ones. I sold one print and it made me happy, and what made me even happier was the teens from the couple that bought it, came the day after and said that "the print looks lovely in their home". I draw freehand I do not plan my work, it is my emotions and what I feel in the moment that create my art. Guided by inspiration from events during my everyday life, music, and my mood. What's next? I am working on a webshop at my site, if you cannot wait until it is finished, send me an email jol@johannaolivia.com for a pricelist and I will happily assist you in purchasing any of my art.
News Photography

News – Gear upgrade from Nikon to Sony

October 29, 2023 by 0 comments
I have been using my old Nikon D3200 for more than 12 years and I have wanted to upgrade for a long time. This summer I got to try the Sony Alpha 7 iv and I fell in love. It had so many options that my Nikon didn´t have and I realized that if I wanted to improve as a photographer and artist this was the sign to upgrade. This time I wanted to create my dream setup (as much as my budget approved) so I paired the body with the awesome lens Sony FE 50/1,4 GM. Below you see the pictures of when I tested the gear out at Skeviks Gård.
Illustrations Making of

How to experiment with AI generative color and Adobe Illustrator

October 28, 2023 by 0 comments
Adobe Illustrator has this new tool where you can write your prompt and get the colors you want. It has launched with their newest update and since I love to work with colors I wanted to try it out. Too curious and impatient to see the result? scroll down Check my video or read step by-step below. Step one If you haven´t already make an image trace of your illustration and color it with the "live paint bucket" for this how-to I have already done that. Step two Click on your illustration and find "Recolor", next to it you will see "Generative Recolor" Step three type in the "prompt" what colors you wish to have, anything is possible. To keep it simple, I wrote "winter color." Step four Choose from the generated colors, I added colors in the "colors" panel from my swatches that I wanted to incorporate. Step five I was not totally happy with the generated colors so to tweak them you can go to advanced options. Step six There you see a bigger panel where you can change the colors to your liking. When I was happy with the colors I duplicated my artboard and started with a new prompt. Back to step three, but this time I wrote Halloween color. There I played around with the amount of colors. See below how a little change make a big different. The result Do you prefer the middle like I do? The one to the left is how it looks without color. Have you tried this in illustrator yet or are you planning to do so? Let me know in the comments!
Inspiration

How to look for inspiration – The big apple

August 6, 2023 by 0 comments
Five years ago I went to New York and I was really intrigued by the skyscrapers and their lines rising up the sky. The architecture and the pulse of the city were a great experience with lots of pictures for my inspiration archive. Last time we looked at photos zooming in on nature. This time we will zoom out and look closely at the surroundings of New york city and its exciting environment. "Lines everywhere you look, a paradise for exciting compositions" This picture does not have vibrant colors but the mirroring effect with the windows and the lines meeting each other makes this photo a great source of inspiration. Sometimes a dull image can be surprising if you look good enough. When you crop the original photo you can see it more First I notice the soft blue colours, that are reflecting from the sky in the windows of these buildings.Then my eye is drawn to the interesting geometric shapes. See the photo below. There I marked the shapes in black. With the lines and colors I start to experiment in Illustrator. I've used the beautiful blues from the photo above. I combine digital and nondigital mediums to get my creativity going. What about you?
Inspiration

How to look for inspiration – Autumn

August 6, 2023 by 0 comments
I love how nature is transitioning from summer to autumn, how the leaves change their colors and eventually fall on the ground, preparing for the cold winter days. As an artist, I am constantly collecting images either on my camera or I take snapshots in my mind. I look for patterns, colors, and compositions that I can use for my projects or paintings. I want to share with you different themes on how I look for inspiration and how I get my creativity going. Today I am zooming in on the ground for inspiration. Let's start looking at some pictures!  Keep in mind everyone is different, I look at a photo in a different way than you do. I want to show you how I look at these photos down below and the way I see what I see.  Look at the details of the mushroom, it has this inspiring texture that is a pattern of its own. "Sometimes I make up little stories around my photographs, to get the creativity going." Imagination can be a powerful tool for inspiration, nothing is too weird or crazy in my opinion, and with the help of images, you can make up anything. If you look close enough on the ground you can see how the colours complete each other in a beautiful harmony. Those colors I collect for my paintings and future projects. When you search for inspiration start to look closely at the ground and you will find interesting colors and patterns. Let me know in the comments if you notice the details of nature or if you are too busy looking at something else.
Back to Top
Product has been added to your cart