Q: What is your full name and do you have any nicknames that you go by as an artist?

A: My full name is Sarah Clare Ester Blaze Tolive Wall. Though I prefer Saraphina. 

Q: How old are you and are you currently, planning to, or have attended art school?

A: I’m 21 and completing my last semester.  Graduated, I will have a BFA in art (with concentration in oil paint) and a BA in theatre.  I’m taking a little break to live in Reutlingen, Germany for 6 months then I plan on applying to a graduate school for painting.

Q: Where were you raised and does this play an role in your artwork?

A: I think so.  My parents have always been supportive of art and my creative pursuits so a lot of my art has been influenced by the many times my parents brought me to galleries, plays, or helped be be involved in either.

Q: Who and what inspires your art? Besides the usual answer such as family and life?

A: Film Noir is my biggest inspiration movies from the 20s and 30s.  The drama, lighting, and visible tension between characters are some things that I try to bring into my art.  Plays and theatre are also inspirational to me because the set, lighting, and characters all work together to make a work of art every moment they are on stage.  A photo taken from any second of a theatrical play should be beautiful. I try to bring that same theatricality to my paintings.

Q: What is the first thing that pops in your head when you wake up in the morning?

A: I often have strong vivid dreams, some call them night terrors, I usually write them down so I can remember them. I would love to incorporate my dreams into my art because psychology is such a strong element in it already, also I find surrealist ‘dream art’ very interesting.  Unfortunately I have not yet found out a way to correctly transfer these intense dreams onto a canvas.

Q: When was the first time you remember drawing something as a child, and, what was it?

A: The first time a remember drawing was a selfless act. The girl next to me in preschool had no knowledge of aesthetics, so naturally I tried to help her out.  Unfortunately it was against the rules to draw on someone else’s paper even if I was just trying to make it pretty… so I got a good hard scolding.

Q: How would you describe your art?

A: Layers of color creating form and shadow in an atmospheric space.

Q: When you encounter an artistic slump; how do you come out of it?

A: I browse through pictures on the Internet to become re-inspired.  Usually the pictures that I look through are of old plays, film stills, and other artists like Edward Hopper, Fabian Perez, Cindy Sherman, and Edgar Degas.

Q: If you would send out a message in a bottle for the next generation of artists to read, what would it say?

A: Art with out a voice is not art.

Q: What art tools can’t you live without and why?

Oil paint, palate knife, #4 brush and linseed oil. They are the perfect tools for the way I paint. The oil is slow drying and vibrant, the palate knife mixes colors, the 4# brush is the perfect size for scumbling paint across the surface creating visible layers of color, and linseed oil for thinning the paint to make it more transparent.

Q: What non-art items can’t you live without?

A: Like every modern woman my laptop, since it allows me to view artists around the world as a constant inspiration.  Also hot sauce and eggs… my main food source.

Q: How personal do you get in your artwork?

A: All of the emotions that I create in my art are my own but because of my background in theatre they may not be completely. The expressions in my paintings I have but in the painting they are not my own. My explorations of loneliness, anger, and fear are fueled by something inside me but they take on their own life in the subjects (or characters) in my paintings.

Q: What is your biggest motivation as an artist? This is different from inspiration, what I’m asking is what makes you pick up that brush, pencil, pen ect…?

A: Beauty and color, I just want to make it.

Q: What is your favorite movie and book?

A: My favorite movies are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Stay. My favorite books are Parable of a Sower, Jumper, and The Road.

Q: What are you listening to on your iPod right now, and does music play a role in your art?

A: Music keeps me pumped and energized when I paint but doesn’t play a roll in my subject matter. I usually listen to Lady Gaga, Passion Pit, Justice, Blaqk Audio, Cascada, and Coheed and Cambria when I paint.

Q: How do you feel when you are working on an art piece in terms or feelings, emotions?

A: I’m very methodical but frantic at the same time. I continuously attack my canvas at a steady pace. My teacher and mentor even told me I “go at my canvas like I’m wielding a chainsaw”. But inside my head… I don’t know how I feel. I end up falling into a trance like state and will paint for hours before I realize I need food, drink or even a break.

Q: Besides your art; are there any hobbies that you like to indulge in?

A: I am also a theatre major so I enjoy performing in straight plays (non-musicals). I also like to research artists and art history.

Q: Is social media (blogs, myspace, facebook) and the internet in your words good for the art world. And for you as an artist?

A: As a beginning artist is has really helps me get my art out.  For art lovers I believe that the Internet is a great way to find artists and appreciate their work.  There is always a down side to this of coarse like loss of credit of work and illegal printing.

Q: There is an big issue with people posting art and photographs on social networking sites (including tumblr ) without giving credit to the artist. What are you thoughts on this and has it ever happened to you?

This has happened to me yes. I posted one of my paintings on ‘eatsleepdraw’ an original art sharing blog. Someone reposted it deleting my name and the original title on it.  She then proceeded to post it on her site changing my paintings name from ‘untitled’ to ‘betrayal’.  I was flattered that she liked my work and saw a story behind it unfortunately she missed the reason why I untitled it.  I want people to view my paintings and make their own story about what is going on… not force their idea onto other of what’s going on. I think that bothered me the most.. not losing credit for the painting.

Q: Where could people be able to find your art?

A: I post it sometimes on my tumblr ‘sarahclare’. I am also currently working on a tumblr just for my art… a link will be listed later on my current tumblr.

Q: Any advice to give to other artists out there?

A: Take what you can from your teachers, learn and listen. But never lose your own voice, your own vision.