This month dot-art speaks to artist Anna Gaston.
“I am an artist and art teacher working and making in Liverpool. I studied BA Fine Art at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design graduating in 2003. I love creating artwork that distorts or slightly abstracts the world around us, finding new ways to represent our visual world. I am interested in themes of femininity, domesticity, celebration and nature.
I enjoy re -interpreting, representing and responding to the world around me. Selecting items that are intriguing or meaningful to me, I often abstract them and exaggerate their colours. Often combining items together I create new, imaginary scenes. I want to show people a new way of looking at the everyday, whether that’s the mundane, the precious or natural world. Artist who inspire me include Audrey Flack, Lisa Milroy, Wayne Thiebaud Edward Hopper and Robert Rauschenberg.”

Can you describe your style of art?
Abstract and contemporary still life.

Can you talk us through your process? Do you begin with a sketch, or do you just go straight in? How long do you spend on one piece? How do you know when it is finished?
So I start by photographing items, objects or spaces that are meaningful to me, that connect to me in some way. I then play with them on photoshop, I love zooming into section so sometimes it’s hard to tell what the original image is. I love to enhance the colours and rearrange items and make digital collages. I will often work on a painting for 2/3 weeks spending about 4 hours each week. I have also tried some painting in a day! It’s really hard to know when a piece is finished and for a long time I was scared to finish anything, I just had a mental block. I now just scan the painting and if I see an area that I’m not that happy with and I work back into it. I sometimes turn the work upside down that helps me look at it in a fresh new way.
When did you begin your career in art?
Well I finished my Art Degree 21 years ago. I have been painting on and off since then but working as a full time art teacher I could never build a lot of momentum. After my daughter was born I went part time and once she started school 3 years ago I thought I could go back to full time or I could finally try and be an artist which has been my lifelong dream! It’s taken a while to learn how to make good use of my time, how to generate motivation and ignore my inner critic.
I realised I struggled to finish anything for a long time but I am relieved to say I think I am finally getting over that now! I’d say my art career began last summer when I showed some artwork at the Global Liverpool event at Kirkdale Community Centre.
Who or what inspires your art?
I am inspired by objects or items that are meaningful to me. I have painted my favourite necklace that reminds me of my Mum. I like rearranging items that have significance to my emotions and identity. Using items such as mirrors, lipsticks and flowers I am responding to my experience as a woman, using these items to depict being a working Mum with energy passions and commitments all at once. I respond to the multi facets of the human and female experiences whether that is to hide away from the world or to go out and celebrate. I love zooming into everyday items like paper and fabric and abstracting them, rearranging them as an expression of my emotional state.
Why is art and creativity important to you?
I live, sleep, dream Art. I find enjoying art enriches my life, whether that is visiting galleries or doing arts and crafts with my daughter on a Saturday morning.
I feel Art enhances my life away from the mundane day to day routines. Now I am painting on a regular basis I feel like it has become part of my self-care routine. I try and treat my painting days like I would a spa day, my time to have me time with inspiring music and a cup of tea. I try to really enjoy the experience, yes at times it can be frustrating but once my inner critic goes away, I can get in the flow and really try and enjoy the moment, rather than being obsessed with the end result, what it ‘should’ look like or what other people might think!
After I have experienced creativity in this way I feel like a different person, I feel rewarded and proud of myself, I feel more like ‘me’ than the rest of the week, it’s hard to explain. I just know I want to paint, I need to paint, sometimes I don’t even know what I want to paint I just know I need to paint!
What do you gain from being a member with dot-art?
dot-art has given me a new lease of life with my art practice. I felt lost not knowing how do you ‘become’ an artist. Being a member has given me a sense of belonging and a starting point to build upon. I have met really inspiring, like-minded people. It is so refreshing to talk about my practice with people who understand. There have been other opportunities for exhibitions and commissions that I wouldn’t have known about if it wasn’t for dot-art.
What does it mean to be an artist in the Liverpool City Region?
The reason I moved to Liverpool from London 20 years ago was because I knew it was the place for be for Art and Culture. I love Liverpool and I love being in a city where there are so many other creative, like minded people.
I know there are lots of projects and exciting events going on in Liverpool it is an exciting and inspiring place to be an artist. There are so many beautiful buildings and outdoor spaces it is hard not to feel inspired when living in Liverpool. I hope now we have a Labour government, Liverpool will given more opportunities to thrive as a city and I hope more investment will be made in Art and Culture as ways to enhance the lives of the people living in Liverpool. I do hope we will never have to shut our museums again.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am in a happy phase in my current work. The weather is making me feel happy to be alive and I am trying to reflect this joyful mood in my work. My black and white phase is over I am now using the brightest pinks I can find and even introducing golds.
The work is more abstract now and open to interpretation, it is meant to be about celebration. I am using folds of paper and some decorations for starting points for these current pieces. I am hoping to show them at the Global Liverpool event this year which is a celebration of the different cultures in Liverpool.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Never give up, just keep painting no matter what anyone else thinks, the more you do, the more you will automatically perfect your style and technique. Even if you have to do 5 average paintings to get to that amazing one you are eventually really proud of.
Try and focus on the process not the end result, this can be too much pressure. If your expectations are too high you are doomed to give yourself a hard time, freak out and potentially procrastinate and loose motivation. I have a mindfulness practice that really helps, to teach me how to stay in the present moment more. Ignore that inner critic.
Go on trips, enjoy the world around you and take photos of anything that makes you feel, it can become part of your art. Try morning pages as written about in the Creative Way by Julia Cameron.
Discover more of Anna Gaston’s work on our online shop!