Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of Joy Hester by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

Ink and emotion.

Having recently been attracted to experimenting with ink on paper, which is just slightly different to my preferred medium of oil on canvas, of course I thought it appropriate to also explore the inky influences.

This first image is one that I have kept in a scrapbook full of images that exert a pull of one kind or another on me. It's been carried around since high school, when I first discovered it's artist, Joy Hester.

OMG!! A female artist. And an Australian artist. Double whammy. So if you've never heard of her, those two facts are probably why.

In her time, her art was dismissed. She worked on paper. In ink. And worked quickly. And drew emotion. It's funny, because these are the exact qualities that I admire about her work. Paper, ink, speed, emotional intensity. What incredible intensity. It's often too much! What a talent, to be able to convey big looming feelings with just a few lines, unedited.

I guess she was no stranger to the feelings she drew. Joy Hester lived a short and tumultuous life, overshadowed by cancer. In fact, at one point, she was so convinced she was going to die that she gave her baby son up for adoption. Turned out she was to live for another 13 years.

More links to Joy Hester

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Hester

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.