Monday, December 21, 2009

DM: Sebnem, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to our viewers! Can you tell us what is your artistic medium?
SE: Painting! Painting is one of the best ways to express myself. I am stone painting and on glaze porcelain painting artist.



DM: When and how did you first become interested in your medium?
SE:: Drawing and painting has been my biggest passion since childhood, I expanded and began to work with charcoal drawings and oil paintings up until I started the university. I have memories of drawing and painting even on my school desks in my high school days!

Even though my inner dream was to study fine arts; I ended up going into business administration. After I graduated from the university, I started working in the office environment and have worked in various management positions for over 15 years, with these types of jobs being stressful, I had to take a long break from my painting passion.

Eventually, in 2008 I embraced my painting passion again by listening to my heart and my inner MUSE!




DM: Once you decided to pursue your art, how did you start off, trial and error, books, classes, videos, formal schooling?
SE:: with my porcelain painting and decoration medium, I attended a wonderful porcelain painting and decoration art course in 2008-2009 at Caferaga Medresesi (traditional Turkish Art school which was built 450 years ago by Sinan the Architect beside the famous Hagia Sofia). I still work with traditional Turkish decorative tile painting and free-style painting techniques.

I also collect various kinds of porcelain, ceramic and pottery art books. My area is well known for a wonderful era of Ottoman and Anatolian Iznik Turkish pottery and tile art designs. I also have an interested in China painting and Meissen techniques.

As for my stone painting; I am a self- taught artist, one day, I decided to paint a stone I picked from our local seaside and I ended up painting a sleeping cat ! My inner muse fired my passion for stone painting, and I decided to continue painting stones. Some of stone painting artists I’ve found via internet have also fueled my inspiration! I have invested in some stone painting books and improved my technique.



DM: Sounds wonderful, you seem to be expanding your talents to cover more and more area!


DM: Out of what you have tried, was there any particular thing that you would recommend to someone just starting out?

SE:: If you have a passion, you can definitely achieve it! If you really want to be a stone or porcelain painting artist, follow your passion and your inner muse. Go with the flow, in the end – you will realize that you are on the right path.



DM: What do you enjoy most about working with your medium?
SE: Painting stones and blank white porcelains is like an illusion, I revive their spirits with my colorful brush strokes. I really enjoy working with these 2, stone and porcelain, it is a joy to see the end results, the creativity, imagination and passion transforms every one of my pieces into a one-of–a-kind work of art!

I also have a real passion for custom orders, when my customer’s see the finished product, it makes me feel so feel so good! My customer’s satisfaction is very important for me!



DM: What do you find the most frustrating?
SE: Each painted porcelain item is kilned at around 600 – 850 degree Celsius for permanency of painting. It happens rarely but sometimes a fired item can be damaged, the paints pale etc and it can be very frustrating, sometimes you feel like you work and your effort has been totally wasted.



DM: Where do you find your inspirations for what you create?
SE: I get inspired from nature, animals and spiritualism for my stone creations! I like to paint 3D (three dimensional) animals on rocks, especially cats! I have a 10 months old kitty son named Pasha, he gives inspiration to me a lot!! 



For my porcelain designs, I hold the porcelain object in my hand before painting, I close my eyes and my inner muse whispers in my ear … and I visualize the final painted work in a few minute. I get inspired from my inner muse for my porcelain creations!





DM: Have you ever experienced artist block and how did you overcome it?
SE:: Yes, if my mood is down, my inner muse runs away! Especially, when my mood is down and I have a lot of things to be done and a very limited time period to finish them all, I can get stuck and feel blocked.


Whenever I feel like this, I put everything behind me and try to meditation. It makes me relax and I return back to my work again with a fresh spirit!



DM: What is the biggest mistake you have ever made as an artist? What did you learn from it?
SE: Actually I don’t have a definite answer for this question. As we human, we always make mistakes and we always learn day by day, moment by moment..



DM: Would you please tell about your studio set-up?
SE: There is no space left to set up a working area in my house. On the other hand, it is impossible to paint porcelain because of thinner at home. Recently I rented a very small place as my working studio; this place is approximately 2-3 square meters and I have all my paints, brushes, materials, books there. I usually go to my studio 3-4 times a week, and I find myself spending some very long hours with my muse :)




DM: When is your favorite time to create?
SE: I usually create in the day time, especially in the early afternoons, but there is no limited time for my imagination, a brilliant idea could suddenly swoop down on me at any time and just about anywhere.



DM: What advise would you give someone starting out in this medium?
SE: Actually, I am going to say the same thing as I mentioned above.

If you have a passion, then you can definitely achieve it! If you really want to do stone or porcelain painting, follow your passion and inner muse. Go with the flow, in the end – you will realize that you are on the right path.

PS: If you would like to be a porcelain painter, you will end up suffering “thinner smelling”, because thinner is one of the main side materials for porcelain painting!



DM: Are there any artist that inspire you or that you admire?
SE: A lot, for example; recently I made a reproduction of some of Alphonse Mucha’s artworks to tile wall panels with porcelain painting technique. I also work with my sister Sule and we both work on porcelain painting art , she is very talented and can create perfect porcelain painting artwork! In my website and in my etsy shop some of porcelain creations belong to her!



DM: Tell us a bit about yourself.
SE: My name is Sebnem Ergun, I live in Istanbul. My past career was on IT – Internet sector. I have a 10 months old kitty son “Pasha”! I really love him as my own son! I also like to care and feed homeless cats and doggies.



My horoscope is Pisces, I reflect most of characteristic of my horoscope – even though I do not take horoscopes seriously : - ) …. I like animals, sea, sun and nature, even all creatures! I like walking at the seaside, making short trips to nature and I have some hidden paradise places close to Istanbul.



DM: Anything else you wish to share?
SE: If you would like learn more about me and my work, please visit my website , or my Etsy shop and you can follow me on TwitterFacebook, or Friendfeed

I have more pictures on my Flickr page and will soon start writing on my blog, but I have not posted anything yet.


DM: Sebnem, this has been a most interesting interview, I am sure all our readers will enjoy learning about your art and your work !

Till next week … keep creating !

Tina AKA Daily Muse

14 comments:

IKABAGS said...

Really great !
I love her job , well done with love and care...
Thanks for sharing
Cheers from Paris
Feyza

www.ikabags.etsy.com
www.madamehoux.etsy.com
www.hobbytime.etsy.com

Shebbodesign said...

Thank you so much Tina! I am honored to be featured artist on your blog! loves from Istanbul

sergun said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sergun said...

great work and wonderful painting!!
they are all beautiful..

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sergun

Anonymous said...

wonderful!!!

Arzu Musa said...

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely article. I love her design...

evihan said...

best of luck with your art:-)

Kristin

Sule Ergun said...

proud of you my sweetie sister, you are very talented artist. I love all of your design and I am your biggest admirer.

Sule

Nihal Ergun said...

I like very much your all designs, let your muse and luck be everlasting...

Dreamy Vintage said...

These are so beautiful Sebnem! Congrats for the great interview and lovely art :)

BoutiqueSeragun said...

wonderful design and designer Sebnem

Ayca HOSER said...

It's a real art form...Congrats for the wonderful interview...It's my chance to see this lovely work in here...

Wish to see your beautiful work anytime !

www.Ayca.etsy.com

TURKISH LACE-CROCHET WORK BY DEMET said...

What a talent you have, I love all the pieces has been posted here, I am one of your fan, great work!

Demet

EyeDesire said...

Wow, beautiful art work! I love those stones and they are fantastic! Thank you for sharing the interview with us and I enjoyed very much!

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