Hi Lotte! Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became an artist? I’ve been drawing since I was a kid and, in fact, loved drawing all through high school but had no plans to pursue it or consider it a viable job. I am very grateful to have supportive parents that put forward the idea to study at National Art School. I was probably ungrateful at the time (sorry parents!) but it was so fun trying out different mediums, being introduced to iconic artists and going through the motions of working out my style – it was a wild time! After graduating I was linked up with a group called Stayfly Sydney which at its inception would organise big paint sessions and was a platform to highlight women street artists, writers, dancers and rappers. The first jam sesh they held was the second time I’d picked up a spray can – I fell in love.

I used to struggle with legitimising my practice because I also do casual work, currently as an after-school care worker. Obviously, it helps with covering regular bills but it is also my time to be social and upskill in different ways because I have big introvert energy.

What’s a regular day like work-wise for you? If I’m working at my childcare job that will take up most of my day, then at home after dinner I’ll work on my art projects for a few hours. If I have a day off, I usually work from my couch (I find it really hard to focus if I’m un-comfy!) I’ll try break up my day with some exercise or go for a skate or have a little gardening session. Burnout culture is still a little bit ingrained in me from having so many mental and physical health issues in recent years as a result of working my body into the ground. It’s really made me slow down and try make more of an effort to prioritise my health. How would you describe your style? So hard to answer! Dreamy, maybe? Or colourful, surreal and horny? I had a friend once describe it as ‘audacious’ which I thought was cool. I do like to think that my work kind of lives in in-between spaces – I’ve always been drawn to melancholic vibes. When something is beautifully sad, it gives poetry and integrity to awkward or painful feelings. I don’t think my work does that but I try to! Sometimes it just gives off awkward sad journal entry vibes.What do you love to draw or paint most? Curvy babes (inspired by myself a lot, haha). Desire? And streetscapes, surprisingly. I hate doing landscapes but I am really drawn to neighbourhood and city scenes. I have horrible perspective but I don’t really care – it just adds to dreamy illustration vibes. I think my main sources of inspiration I keep going back to is just wandering around local suburbs, vintage poster art like Soviet propaganda art and drawing people.You also do a lot of mural work. How do you work on such a large scale? I do in a bit of a chaotic way – I just upscale usually using techniques I learnt from life drawing (though they’re a bit hit and miss). Quite recently I learnt that there is a wildly accepted way of doing murals that most painters already knew about where you create a squiggly grid and then transpose your image onto it digitally to help give you reference points. Anyway, I don't do that but I should probably start. It might make my life a whole lot easier.How did you find working on the MSI Modern 14? I've been really enjoying it! I'm a bit of a sensory gal so I really like the feel of the keyboard. I know it’s simple, but I’ve also been loving the right-click option on the mouse (my old computer didn’t have that)! I like that it’s a good travel size and feels pretty durable (I am a bit clumsy sometimes!). I feel like a lot of things these days are built to break but this feels built to last. I could imagine other features like the lay-flat screen for teaching workshops helping a lot when sharing examples with participants in a nice, elegant and more readable way! Any tips for budding mural artists out there? All my advice feels hypocritical because I keep needing to learn the same lessons over and over again. But they are: look after your body, don't push yourself beyond your limit and wear your PPE (that is definitely aimed at myself!).
 
This chat was presented by MSI and their new Modern 14. It’s small and easy to transport, plus has a 180 degrees lay-flat and flip-n-share design so you can easily share your work with others. For more, head to au.msi.com