Tania Hetaraka - Artist of the Month

This month's talented artist is Tania Hetaraka. Tania is a mixed media artist who I met in the online art group Community Thrive. I love all of the colors, textures and multiple dimensions in Tania's art.

Tania lives in Australia, in a small rural suburb in Penrith New South Wales Sydney.  Tania is originally from New Zealand but keeps ending up in Australia for family reasons. Tania is not only a talented artist, but a busy mother of 5! Her children range in age from 21 to 5. And in case that is not enough to keep her busy, she also has full time custody and care of her 3 grandchildren, ages 2 to 6 months. I'm not sure how she finds time to create, but I'm sure all those creative minds around her have a positive influence on her artwork.

 

I asked Tania how long she has been creating artwork and what she did prior to being an artist:

"I have been creating ever since I can remember. My grandfather knew I loved to create; when I was about 6 or 7 I remember him giving me my first art set of crayons, colored pencils & water paints with brushes & Papers.  I just loved them! I spent  most of my childhood on the farm so it was like a smorgasbord for my creativity. I would draw from my own resources from weaving pieces of grass into birds nest to making clay characters from raw clay.

I pursued my degrees in small business, advanced business & commercial law. So...My prior work was in security & administrative jobs, although I did get an opportunity to teach ART in 2011 at one of our rural schools (Whangaruru primary)in New Zealand to children from ages 8 & up. I had around 8 students it was a lot of fun & is something I enjoy doing."

I was curious if Tania had any formal art training:

"I only have my School certificate (like HSC) in Art, & never went any further than that. I learned to create my work through most of all drawing from GOD who is a big piece of my life, my environment, the little glimpses of life & other artist that inspire me. Being that I was naturally gifted in art I started to build myself a style of my own at a very young age, acquiring these skills over the years have allowed me & my imagination to take flight."

I really enjoy Tania's mix of different media elements in her artwork. I asked her to tell us a little about how she goes about creating them:

"These little canvases involve a number of layers. First being designer papers & vintage book pages
creating the base; acrylic paints are the second layer along with inks & chalk pastels. I then use
my graphite pencil to outline the image in my head, in which case they happen to be hearts, adding
some gold acrylic complimenting those bohemian tones, I then add a word, verse or quote & to finish
it all off some corrugated wings, a found element chain & charm & finished in scented candle
wax….making each collage Assemblage piece unique."

And Tania's favorite part of the creative process...

"I love putting all my elements together & making something old & dull into something that has its
own personality & character."

Favorite art supplies...

"Acrylics, soft pastels, water paints, inks, Tom bows, pencils, stamps to include my hand- made art
stamps, decorative papers, old book pages, art stencils etc."

I really like Tania's journals and books and was interested in learning a little more about them.

"It is a passion of mine to create journals from recycled papers, cardboard & fabrics. What I would like to share about creating these journals is don’t hold back. Create and draw from the idea you see in your head, you don’t need the flashy artist papers in order to create a book, you just need a passion for creating……"

I asked Tania who her favorite artists are and why:

"Yes, I totally draw off from the old school to name a few, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Vincent Willem van Gogh, & M.C. Escher. The people of today are Adriana (Doll Dreams);Tam(Willowing); Suziblu (suziblutube); Mystele (Community Thrive) from classes I have taken by each of these gifted artist. I love their quirky style & technique & with this, each of these individual artist have played a big role in how my work has developed today as an individual an artist and entrepreneur."

So, where does Tania see her artwork going in the future?

"My hope is to share my art & creative process, by one day teaching on sight & e- classes & that
through sharing my art and experiences as an artist, others might be inspired to see how amazing it
is to experience life doing whatever it is you love."

Tania's artwork is filled with color and positive messages. If you would like to learn more about Tania's artwork visit her Etsy shop bfree2create and her blog bfree2create-it.  I'll close the post with her positive and encouraging words:

"Have fun, learn to let go, and don’t be afraid to push your creativity, these have been the 

backbone to my creative process. I wanted to share a couple of my of my favourite art quotes;"

" For me a painting is like a story which stimulates the imagination and draws the mind into a
place filled with expectation, excitement, wonder and pleasure"

- J. P. Hughston, painter

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Pablo Picasso

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Tania and her beautiful creative work. Thanks for joining us on another artist of the month adventure.

"Being creative is an adventure in joy." by Madi

Comments

[Viv]

Lovely lovely work all those beautiful colours I love the chests with wings....

[Stacie Spencer]

Thanks Viv. I think they are beautiful also. Very inspirational.

[Allison]

Really love the style! Unique... I'm inspired to work a little in my art journal today!!! Beautiful work;)

[Naomi]

Gorgeous work! I'm so glad you profiled her so I could learn of her. :) Headed to her site and shop now...