Artospective: Paintings by Jacqui Grantford from Australia.

An Interview with Jacqui Grantford.

Who and where are you from?

My name is Jacqui and I live in Melbourne Australia. At the end of my street there are lovely parklands where I do see the occasional kangaroo, so the myth of kangaroos living in suburbia is true in this instance at least.

How you got into this?

I started as a musician playing the piano and violin, but I always knew that I would come to art as it’s been a major part of who I am ever since I can remember. I think the music was a time of exploration before I refocused to where I was supposed to be. And also a way to find links between all forms of creativity. When my children were born I became obsessed with painting them (and still do regularly). I’m really not doing anything I wasn’t when I was 2 and was painting portraits of everyone around me. I also paint many other things apart from portraits, but in a way I view everything as one. A city scape is a portrait of the building’s character and personality, and a surrealist piece is a portrait of a thought or idea.

What is your driving force?

I’m not sure I can really describe what my driving force is, except that I’m uptight and unhappy if I’m not creating something. It’s a state of being more than anything, and to do otherwise would feel like I was cheating who I really am.

What kind of work you do and why?

My work is primarily realistic, although I have dabbled in other areas for fun. I always come back to it, though, as there is nothing so satisfying than knowing that you’ve captured the essence of something. I paint portraits, cityscapes, figurative surrealism… whatever appeals to me at the time. And I work in a variety of mediums in 2D and 3D work – oil, encaustic, acrylic, pencil, plaster…

I think I’m still playing to find my voice.