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‘Imperfect, sometimes flawed. That is beauty to me. Not airbrushed perfection’
‘Imperfect, sometimes flawed. That is beauty to me. Not airbrushed perfection’ Fiona Maclean is a painter, illustrator, makeup artist, photographer & writer based in Sydney, Australia. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your art practice? Why and how did you become an artist? I was an exceptionally shy person growing up and found that I felt connected to people by painting people especially faces. It started out more as a hobby and what gave me a lot of joy to studying graphic design, makeup and fine art. Although I am mostly self-taught when it comes to fine art as my studies were cut short due to family tragedy. The…
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Valentina Sold
‘Valentina‘ like ‘Arizona’both recently sold and both arose out of my waiting for my ‘Le Beau Mirage’ seriesof oil paintings to dry. Valentina is one of the magical creatures from an imaginary desert of beautiful figures and mirages that come into being. Inspired by my love for the oh so beautiful and magical and otherworldly photographs by Sally Mann. Especially the black and white photos of her children that really etched an impression with me. I had also been fascinated by Richard Prince’scontroversial rephotographing images of Brooke Shields by Gary Gross which really did and still do, in my opinion tread a fine line of what is and isn’t acceptable.…
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Arizona sold
This little watercolour ‘Arizona’ original watercolour on paper 20 x 15in recently sold. She was inspired out of the series of paintings ‘Le beau Mirage’ series I was working on all of which are oil on large canvases, sometimes needing a few more days to dry than that of a watercolour. So in between waiting for oil paintings to dry I created ‘Arizona’. Drawing from the spirit of Arizona, what I imagine Arizona is like, wide open spaces. As was part of the inspiration for ‘Le Beau Mirage’ series, my imagination of beautiful mirages and magical creatures in the desert. Le Beau Mirage’ was also inspired by the beautiful photography…
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Fashion photography as inspiration
When I first finished my studies I ended up working for one of the top fashion photographers in New Zealand at the time. It was not as glamorous as I had thought it would be but nevertheless still very exciting and inspiring for me. Still today I draw so much inspiration from fashion photography bringing it into my illustrations and paintings. Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindbergh, and Regan Cameronare some of the amazing Fashion Photographers that inspire me. Recently I created two pieces of artwork inspired by Regan Cameronsbeautiful photography. ‘ZuZu’– gouache, watercolour, pencil and pastel on paper and ‘Hedvig’ – gouache, watercolour, pastel and pencil on paper. Zuzu has already…
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My artwork on display in Artcollectors homes
It’s always nice to receive a message, email or post on instagram from art collectors who have my artwork framed and on display. These three artcollectors homes dotted around the world, one in Belgium, one in Santa Barbara and another in Sydney, Australia. ??? ?
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Latest Fashion Illustration inspired by model Adwoa Aboah
Inspired by the beauty and color of Richard Quinns latest collection held at London Fashion Week. The beautiful Adwoa Aboah modelling his amazing creations. Adwoa is a Model, Activist and founder of GURLS TALK. Represented by DNA Models, TESS Management and VIVA Model Management in Paris. My fashion illustration depicts the beauty of Adwoa and the colour and creativity of Richard Quinn.
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Where my love begun for Fashion Illustration…Antonio Lopez
I moved briefly into an apartment, one of my first apartments with my boyfriend at the time and discovered the previous tenant had left an Antonio Lopez Fashion illustration book. That was where my love begun for Fashion Illustration…legendary Antonio Lopez. To me Antonio was more than just a Fashion illustrator but a real Artist. When I read about him it seemed that he didn’t believe that he would make a living exclusively by being an Artist so he did Fashion Illustration. In my opinion he was one of the best. His illustration and portraits are truly beautiful, inspiring, capturing that time yet still contemporary. His muses, Jerry Hall, Grace…
