Hello dear art friend,
I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Last week I interviewed my good friend and amazing artist Annie Hamman.
Here are 15 daring questions I asked her.

1 Q: If you could not do art for whatever reason, what would be your second choice?
A: Non-traditional healer: reiki practitioner, tarot cards reader, aura work, herbalist.

2 Q: Do you have to look at work of other artists or can you create without looking at something?
A: I can’t create without first looking at something for inspiration and absorb its energy. Whether its other artists work or a sea shell. I have to look, study, engage and feel what i am looking at. Then, i start painting.

3 Q: What’s your scariest experience?
A: Participating in plant medicine healing ceremony. I had to face intense fears of who I am and what my potential is.

4 Q: Is the artist life lonely? How do you deal with that?
A: Artists do have families, but we are often feel different, socially awkward, misunderstood, weird and creatively obsessed. And it does lead to feelings of acute loneliness. Finding a couple of weirdos like me, to be friends with, often helps. I only have a couple.

5 Q: Do you ever get discouraged when a piece doesn’t sell?
A: Yes, I used to be more so in the past. Eventually I started seeing it as an opportunity to own some of my pieces. After a while I look at these on my walls and realize they are my favorite pieces and I actually never wanted to part with them in the first place.

6 Q: How do you price your work?
A: I look at 2 things: what other artists are charging who are on my level of skill and do similar type of art, and another: what are the buyers in my circle are able to pay.

7 Q: What is the biggest challenge in your profession you have faced?
A: Struggle to preserve established style, because others learned to love it, and at the same time struggle to evolve and grow into a different style.

8 Q: Do you have superpower?
A: Yes, i can see into angelic realm.

9 Q: What is your dream project you never dare to try?
A: To write paranormal romance book. I always thought it to be ridiculously silly idea, but the pages of the books sometimes write themselves in my head.

10 Q: What do you most dislike about you?
A: I try very hard to pretend I am normal, instead of just being who I am and don’t care.

11 Q: How is your personality reflected in your art?
A: I tend to portray existential quest and sadness from being in this world, that I often feel in my heart.

12 Q: As an artist, where does your initial drive to create come from?
A: I seem to not have a choice. When I don’t create, I get very unhappy and irritable, and sink into depression.

13 Q: If you were a mythical creature, which one would you be and why?
A: Dragon. There is flying, and power, and majestic beauty.

14 Q: When you experience artist block, what do you do to get into creative flow?
A: I go and start creating anyway, without inspiration. I keep pushing until everything unlocks in a middle of painting, and suddenly it gets resolved.

15 Q: If you had a chance to be transported back in time and learn directly from an old master, who would you choose?
A: Pierre-August Renoir. He was the reason i fell in love with art when i was about 11.
♥♥♥
Annie Hamman just opened registration for her online art workshop “Re-Connect to Nature”. It focuses on portraiture art: painting, drawing, sculpture, journaling, all with incorporated nature elements.
The best news is, it has an option of “pay what you can“. How awesome is that!
It starts 1st of July, you can see more info on registration page:
https://www.anniehamman.com/re-connect-to-nature

Have a wonderful and creative week,

Big hugs and much love,

Olga

Xx