Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
My name is Anna Reynolds I am 40 years old I have a 4 year old son and a partner of 11 years. I live in Batchelor (south of Darwin) and work from home. I have being making art all my life and in the last 3-4 years have started to feel like its all coming together for me. I went back to Uni to get ‘the paper’ I needed to move forward in an employment sense and finished up with a first class honours degree in fine art. Whilst I was at Uni I made a lot of art which led to a number of well received exhibitions. There is still much to learn and discover.
Who (or what) inspires you to do what you love in your own creative business?
Absolutely everything influences me good and bad, so the trick for me is to keep good energy around me, to create a place where art making is possible, to balance life with work
Where do you get your inspiration from when you design/paint?
All the beautiful world
What are the five words that people who know you would use to describe you?
Fun, Out-there, Integrity, cheeky, big
Tell us about your very first job and what path have you taken since then?
My first job, my very first job I used to kill snails for mum for 1 cent for 2 snails , I’d spend all day picking them out of the garden filling up an ice-cream container and pouring salt on them to kill them. YUK! , I still love gardening today but its more of an accomplice to when I make art, I often wander from garden to studio all day and sometimes into the night
Describe a typical day in your studio space?
My studio is more of a metaphorical state of mind ‘Art making’ happens in every corner of my home, garden, life and can happen at any time of day or night. Usually it has to involve my 4 year old son.
As a solo artist, what is your biggest frustration?
Missing opportunities
Tell us about how you prioritise your studio work.
Lists, lots and lots of lists
the world of awesome atrocities 2010 digital image
Since you are working at home/studio, can you please tell us about how do you connect with other artists, and your customers (i.e. how do you network)?
Not only am I working from home I am also living one of the wonderful remote locations in the Northern Territory, most days this is a blessing, but occasionally it gets me down, when this happens I turn to the phone, facebook, sykpe or my garden. I am on the board at DVAA (http://www.dvaa.net.au/galleries.php) and have occasional project work with communities and schools. This is always a great way to meet people.
Tell me how do you manage Study and working on your business?
Time organization , hard work and being a little bit obsessive
What advice can you offer other creative people who are just starting out and following their passions?
Don’t let anybody stop you
What dreams do you still want to achieve or fulfil in your life?
Balancing being a mum with lifes challenges whilst making art that is fulfilling
Being a mum
Who do you most want to meet and why?
Id love to meet Cyndi Lauper because . . . why? I’m from the 80’s
What is the most important lesson in life that you have learned?
Too many to list, focus on the positive is a good one!
What book are you reading right now, and do you have a book you would like to recommend?
Not big on reading one book at a time or from cover to cover, Love three or four books on one topic to get the idea of something , postmodernism is this weeks/months thing
Where do we find you and your product? (list stores, links websites)
http://www.artistannareynolds.com/
http://nomadart.com.au/results.php
http://www.blurb.com/user/annareynolds
http://www.blurb.com/books/527314
