Dante's Heart
An Interview with Michelle Boulad
DH: What is your favorite medium, and why?
MB: In my long ago youth, I preferred traditional pencil, pen and watercolour
media. I think I would have been more suited to oil paint, but I hated the smell,
fuss of handling the paraphernalia required, and messiness of the process. I
loathe paint on my hands and clothes and the smell of chemicals and turpentine...
plus the necessity of standing for the majority of the work at a canvas was quite
tiring, as I’ve had to deal with fairly severe back pain most of my life.
Luckily, after many years hiatus from producing any artwork at all, my husband
gave me a copy of a digital painting program, Painter IX, and a graphics tablet
for my computer. He’d seen my early art work, and knew I longed to pick it up
again, but felt restricted in dealing with traditional media especially with small
children in the house. I can thank him for anything I’ve produced since that time,
because I wouldn’t have produced any work this last few years if it hadn’t been
for his support and encouragement! As I’ve tried the ability of my computer
system with larger and larger works he’s kept my machine up to scratch, installing
additional memory and better hardware to handle the increased workload.
What I love about digital painting is the complete freedom to explore new ideas
and techniques with absolutely no pressure or worry. The paint never dries. I
never have to worry about tipping coffee or dirty brush water across a work or
catching the steel nib of a pen in a paper fibre sending a spray of black ink
across a near completed work! I can hack out part of a painting, flip it over and
move it to a different area in a few seconds or even flip an entire painting over to
view it’s mirror image and assess proportions. But the best part of all is the
‘undo’ button. In my opinion it’s a Godsend to the creative process, as I’m free
to experiment with no fear of ruining weeks of work. Using digital media has
allowed me to work without the constraints and worry that used to cause me to
take the safe route when working traditionally; it’s an incredibly freeing process
in which to create.
DH: What is your favorite artwork?
MB: Anything by Da Vinci, but especially his drawings and notebook
illustrations. I admire him most for his mind, in my opinion his art was secondary
to (and a consequence of) his incredible intellect. I love the glimpses we get from
his work of that curious and enquiring mind...and I wish he were alive now. Can
you imagine how much he would have enjoyed today’s technology? I can imagine
him working for Pixar, coming up with new animation techniques! I think he would
have loved it!
DH: Tell us about Australia....
MB: Well, I’m from the US, born and raised, so perhaps it’s given me a
different perspective of Australia from those native born. I’ve heard it said that
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DH: What is your favorite medium, and why?
MB: In my long ago youth, I preferred traditional pencil, pen and watercolour
media. I think I would have been more suited to oil paint, but I hated the smell,
fuss of handling the paraphernalia required, and messiness of the process. I
loathe paint on my hands and clothes and the smell of chemicals and turpentine...
plus the necessity of standing for the majority of the work at a canvas was quite
tiring, as I’ve had to deal with fairly severe back pain most of my life.
Luckily, after many years hiatus from producing any artwork at all, my husband
gave me a copy of a digital painting program, Painter IX, and a graphics tablet
for my computer. He’d seen my early art work, and knew I longed to pick it up
again, but felt restricted in dealing with traditional media especially with small
children in the house. I can thank him for anything I’ve produced since that time,
because I wouldn’t have produced any work this last few years if it hadn’t been
for his support and encouragement! As I’ve tried the ability of my computer
system with larger and larger works he’s kept my machine up to scratch, installing
additional memory and better hardware to handle the increased workload.
What I love about digital painting is the complete freedom to explore new ideas
and techniques with absolutely no pressure or worry. The paint never dries. I
never have to worry about tipping coffee or dirty brush water across a work or
catching the steel nib of a pen in a paper fibre sending a spray of black ink
across a near completed work! I can hack out part of a painting, flip it over and
move it to a different area in a few seconds or even flip an entire painting over to
view it’s mirror image and assess proportions. But the best part of all is the
‘undo’ button. In my opinion it’s a Godsend to the creative process, as I’m free
to experiment with no fear of ruining weeks of work. Using digital media has
allowed me to work without the constraints and worry that used to cause me to
take the safe route when working traditionally; it’s an incredibly freeing process
in which to create.
DH: What is your favorite artwork?
MB: Anything by Da Vinci, but especially his drawings and notebook
illustrations. I admire him most for his mind, in my opinion his art was secondary
to (and a consequence of) his incredible intellect. I love the glimpses we get from
his work of that curious and enquiring mind...and I wish he were alive now. Can
you imagine how much he would have enjoyed today’s technology? I can imagine
him working for Pixar, coming up with new animation techniques! I think he would
have loved it!
DH: Tell us about Australia....
MB: Well, I’m from the US, born and raised, so perhaps it’s given me a
different perspective of Australia from those native born. I’ve heard it said that
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