Interview with "Just Give Me Peace"

Today we are featuring an interview that Hillary did with Sing of Just give me Peace.  Hillary Said that she was drawn to Sing's art because it is colorful, has a very unique watercolor style and is very retro/hippie much like Hillary's own work.

How has art and self expression been a part of your life and when did your involvement with it start?

It's funny, but we were allowed to color on the walls when we were little. To paint lines down the middle of the sheets and write our names on our pillows. To paint make-up on our Barbie dolls and dye their hair with magic markers. To tattoo them. I don't ever remember a time when I wasn't talking with colors. And painting stories with them.

How did your styles of expression develop over the years? 

When I look at my work, some of it 40 years old, I still see the same lines, a cobweb of no rules. And as much as I think I've changed, I really haven't. I'm most comfortable with the same mediums I used as a child....Markers, acrylics, watercolors, pencils, ink, food coloring. And silly as it sounds, the only style I have is hippie, no fine art training, so I guess I just go with the flow...

Your shop features a very eclectic mix: some drawings, some paintings, some done on paper or more traditional "canvases" and some done on re-used items like records. You also feature poetry that goes along with each image. How did you come to this mixture of expression?
That's an 'always been'. The poems. Because all my work first begins with the thoughts, the words or remembrances of a moment...the painting or drawing itself just takes over where the words leave off. I think I did my first piece to poetry my senior year of highschool, and that was a really, really long time ago. My friends call me the 'keeper of words', and most of my works are just that. As for what I paint or draw on, it's whatever I can put my hands on, and often even the canvas works and papers are hand-me-downs, reclaimed and put to use again. Nothing is safe 'round here. :)

What is your creative process like for an individual piece of art? Do you do things in a specific order (e.g. writing the poem first), do you have an idea for what the finished work will be, or is it more stream of consciousness?

I never ever know what the finished piece will look like. There is no choreography at all, and usually it just begins with the thoughts I'm going to write about, maybe one line scribbled on a paper towel....and one single color. Sometimes it flows, sometimes it's splashed, sometimes I bounce back and forth between mediums and methods, but always, I'm lost in thought. It's like some kind of quiet therapy, a little yoga for my spirit.

Where does your art come from?
It comes from my heart. From my beliefs. From the tiny sometimes unimportant and yet totally profound moments in an ordinary day. Sometimes it comes from the sound of rain, the expression of a stranger, but always, from my heart.

Is there something that you hope that your art does for others? 

Art is so very personal. I can only hope that every now and then, someone is moved by it. Feels it. Connects with it. When someone is touched by my work, I feel like they've given me a gift. Like we've shared a heartstring.

Is there anything you like us to know about you that we haven't already covered? 

Nah, pretty much my whole world is covered in the words tethered to my paintings, but Thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview. It was an unexpected invitation, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finally, Where can we find you and your art? 

Online, at www.etsy.com/shop/justgivemepeace and in real life, well, you just never know :)