JaamZIN Creative

Exhibition

Christina Smith (Nina)

Painter

Christina is a petite loveable artist with big ideas. She has gone through a lot to become the amazing woman she is today, suffering and struggles to triumphs and victories.

From her most distant memories she dreamt about art, well colouring in the tiles on the floor, but with consistent practice she finally made it onto paper and a range of materials. This was just last week. But now she puts her heart and soul into her work, fully committing to the work she does.

Her inspirations range from the sights and views she sees when she is out and about, but also her loved ones and faith. Christina wants to share her art with everyone and explore as many mediums as possible. Trying new ways and techniques to express her feelings through her art.

Contact: https://www.instagram.com/Nina_loves_cookies_and_art

INTERVIEW

Christina, you mentioned that your inspirations come from the sights and views you encounter in your daily life, as well as your loved ones and faith. Can you share specific examples of how these elements have influenced your recent works and the themes you explore in your art?

My children are my greatest source of inspiration. They are beautiful and capturing those moments is extremely special to me. My partner is just as important as my children and I take pride in sharing and painting those moments.I love to be in nature and witness the range of different colours and shapes it provides, the uniqueness is breathtaking, conveying that into my art is something I challenge myself to do.

Additionally, I have synaesthesia which means every time I see a number, letter, word or name I see a colour, this can have a deep impact on my colour choices and my art, seeing colours that are not normally there can really alter the way I perceive the art I am creating. I firmly believe God gave me a talent and I need to explore, share and use it.

Also, after everything my idea of perfection has changed and now, I am more focused than ever on creating art that worrying about the perfect painting.

You have a strong desire to explore as many mediums as possible. Can you tell us about a recent experiment with a new medium or technique and how it has impacted your artistic expression?

My most recent experiment was when I started to use oil pastels and watercolours together. Since I had children, I was not able to use oil paints, so I had to find something quicker, oil pastels and watercolours dry very quickly, create less mess and less after smells and are much easy to access. I can create very bright and colourfilled paintings much quicker with these than my previous paintings, they are also very good for when I am travelling or have a spare few minutes.

From coloring tiles on the floor to creating art on various materials, your journey has been unique. How have your early experiences shaped your approach to art, and what motivated you to fully commit to your artistic practice?

Since I was a child, I loved art. It was something that I felt confident about. My first introduction to art that I can remember clearly was when I was four years old, I spent a whole summer trying to draw a fish from a book I really liked. I remember I kept getting it wrong and failing, I cried about to constantly, but eventually one day I drew it perfectly, that’s the moment I realised that art is something for me to do every day and never stop practicing. I coloured the tiles, the walls, the marble on the floor every opportunity I could, I was fixed on the goal of creating ‘art’ in some way, despite what my parents may have thought. I found ways to draw and sketch on tissue. It consumed me, I started to draw everywhere and anytime I could. I never stopped and will gladly say I never want to.

Your journey includes significant struggles and triumphs. How have these personal experiences influenced the themes of resilience and victory in your art, and what message do you hope to convey to your audience through these themes?

I think art is one of the only things I am truly confident in, I have gone through and survived some truly horrible situations in my life, I think I survived those because I feel like I have a purpose to fulfil. That purpose is my family and creating art. Even with the bad experiences in my life, I always feel a need to create something out of it. I feel the need to take the colours themselves and through them on to the canvas. I feel like that is the drive of why I keep going. The message to anyone who takes the time to view and enjoy my art is no matter how bad the situation is or how bad it might appear, there is always some happiness in life, life can become impossibly difficult and in those moments it is important to realise that even the smallest shape or the lightest colour can create something beautiful and lift you out of that darkness.

Your art is described as heartfelt and deeply personal. What recurring themes can be found in your work, and how do you use different mediums and techniques to express these themes?

For a long time, the main theme of my art was death, this was influenced and represented my struggles and grief with my mother’s death. Later when I began to struggle a lot more with my mental health and found myself in some very dark places, I found the way out of it was painting my children, their happy faces and beautiful eyes helped guide me to a new era for my art a theme I think is more obvious now, with the use of more colours and mixing of medias.

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