Girl Weather
Abbey's favourite music comes from H20, MC Chris, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, Bouncing Souls as well as Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. For Abbey, to be a subcultural girl means: "Not to be cliche, but....I think it means really believing in who you are, and by that I mean if you are a certain way, just let it be. Don't try to change a part (or pieces) of yourself just because certain people don't like it. In the end you'll only regret holding yourself back, and all the years you spent pretending." This is certainly something Abbey lives by. Be true to yourself is the message we can take from this.
Sno-white
Now… onto her art! She says this is how she got into art: "I was just lookin' around online and I found some amateur artists who I thought were just incredible. That was when I was maybe 13 years old, and that was about 8 years ago. I've just wanted to create images and illustrations ever since." Abbey's artwork is inspired by a huge range of things, "Fantasy, dreams, wildlife, forests, wishes, colours, the idea of Distant Lands, Catholic imagery, religious history, feminism, Star Wars, video games, horror, adventures, old memories, diseases, myths, home, carnivals, science, etc. Everything inspires me, but I think the main thing is colour. I'm big on colour." Whoa! The possibilities of what Abbey could come up with next seems endless, which is awesome.
Abi Oozi
Technically, medium wise, Abbey is "mainly a watercolour painter, but I also like coloured pencils and charcoal. Not to mention many feeble attempts at acrylic." This is what she had to say about how her artwork has progressed over the years: "I think I've loosened up a lot and allowed myself to get slightly less literal with my subject matter. I fought abstraction for a long time, because I didn't want to become pretentious, but now I think it's not so bad. I guess art school finally got to me. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is the colour. If the colours are bright and obscene, then I've done my job." Being a fan of bright colours myself, I will actually admit that it was the brightness in her artwork that caught my eye. It seemed bolder and more daring than other artwork I have encountered, and so I was drawn to it.
Taken Down
Her artwork is important to Abbey, but she's not sure why. "Yeah, it's important to me, but not for any reason I can pinpoint. I mean, it's not like I HAVE to paint or I'll explode. I do it because I like to and the result is usually something I can stand to look at. It's probably one of those things I'll figure out when I'm old. I think I'd be a little lost without it, but there are also lots of other things I'd like to try." Well, there's plenty of time for Abbey and it's pretty exciting to consider all of the possibilities of what she could come up with next. She's still young so thinking of how much further her art could progress is awesome. Ultimately, this is what Abbey wants to achieve with her work: "A job, I think. I'm currently in school for illustration and I've always wanted to do children's books. I think I want to push the limits by working outside of my comfort zone, too. Do something I haven't done before. I also want to see what else I can do with art. I want to go to school for special FX makeup eventually, and out of that I would like to get a job making some monsters or something." To see someone getting paid to do something they love would be amazing, and a true inspiration to other people out there.
St. Catherine of Siena
Currently, Abbey does not sell many pieces of her artwork. "I've sold very few to some friends, but sadly, that's about it. I hope to get a website up soon, but other than that I've just had a few gallery shows, as well as some shows coming up. I would love to do art for other people eventually though, for sure." I'm sure she'll have people waiting for such an opportunity (myself included!).
Stigmata
To all you aspiring artists out there, Abbey has this message for you! "It (art) takes a lot of practice, and a lot of time. I wasn't born with any natural talent, and I'm not even a fraction of how good I want to be. Just gotta keep working at it. You have to learn from people who you admire and take constructive criticism from those whose opinion you respect."
Swing
And finally, this is what Abbey wants to see more subcultural girls out there doing: "I would like to see more girls challenging gender roles. I think the grossest thing in the world is when girls admire guys for something they wish they could be doing. I get a little bit of happiness when I see girls in bands, or female skateboarders. If you want to do it, then stop being a groupie and do it." I don't think I could possibly agree more with this!
The Bride
You can check out Abbey's art on her personal myspace: http://www.myspace.com/abbeyawesome
Provider
Article written by Sally Kingsley
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