Tilteed

Artist Interview: jewelwing

Curator’s Statement:

Somewhere, in the silent waters of night, lurks the most famous of ghost ships: The Flying Dutchman. Sailing upon the seas, never to be greeted at any port and its glow - a warning to any and all who spy it in the distance. Jewelwing’s print conveys that very feeling: “Beware! Something ominous this way, comes!” Whether that impending doom be physical or psychological, be sure to warn others by wearing this tee. We’re fairly sure they’ll give you quite the wide berth.

Describe yourself to the Tilteers, Jewelwing and tell us a bit about your artistic background.

I’ve always loved to draw and as an only child I had lots of alone time to imagine things and sketch, so that’s what I would do.  When it came time to get a career I went the graphic design route, but it turns out I don’t care about logos and page layouts even a little bit, so now I’m back to simply making pictures, which is what I love.

Give us the low-down: What inspired you to create this tee?

A Van Gogh quote I read.  He wrote in a letter to Paul Gaugin that said, “In my mental or nervous fever, or madness - I am not too sure how to put it or what to call it - my thoughts sailed over many seas.  I even dreamed of the phantom Dutch ship and of Le Horla…”  I wanted to draw that ship.

Have you ever secretly wanted to be aboard a haunted pirate ship?

No, that would scare me.

What gets you in the mood to create your tees? Music? Television? Books? What’s your poison?

Images. Doesn’t matter where they come from.  Magazines, movies, TV, the real world…  I’ll see a thing and it’ll tweak something in my brain that makes me want to create.  And then I need to have some music to match the mood of whatever I’m drawing.

You’ve been on fire, lately with new prints at a variety of sites. What plans do you see for your work this coming year, since you are our first artist to cross the 2011 threshold?

I’m honored to be your 1st artist going into 2011 - thanks!  I definitely don’t have any sort of master plan, but I have noticed that the more I work at it, the happier I am with my art.  I liked what I did this year better than the year before it.  So in the coming year I hope for the same thing to happen.  Onward and upward.

Do you have any portfolio links or store pages you’d like to tell others to check out?

If you want some woot derby shirts that never got printed, you can visit my shop:
http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/designer/jewelwing
I’m also on society6 with some of my more artsy pieces:
http://www.society6.com/studio/jewelwing/store

Our fans look forward to pearls of wisdom from our artists. Care to spare a few?

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