DPW Spotlight Interview: Aniko Makay

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Aniko's painting, "Mountain Tops" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Aniko's DPW Gallery Page:

I am an artist from Hungary, Europe. For 15 years my main medium was silk, silk painting. It was soft and feminine material, and let me use and invent creative solutions year by year. Nowadays I am dedicated to paint in oil. I changed medium, there was no special reason, I longed for being renewed. And I did. Surprisingly- yes, it was really unexpected - I felt a new chapter began in my life. As I go deeper and deeper, there are so much to explore, so many paintings that I want to paint. I feel energized. (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I really don't know. My first memory is that I was amazed by the yellow of a tram-car, and the BLUE of my knitted dress; I carefully saved a complete set of forty felt-dip pens that I got from America because their colors were so precious to me. I just fell in love with colors when I was five and I'm still in love with them. In those days, I painted coloring books and was usually told how to color a page. Now I as a grown up, not much changed. I feel I still painting coloring books, but on the other hand, everything changed because no one tells me how to paint the colors of a painting. How liberating is that?

Mountain Tops
(click to view)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the DPW home page announcing Aniko's interview.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

Oh, yes. My color-lover soul was resentful and bored when I was taught how to draw (graphite and charcoal). It was to me as if the juice of life was sucked out of me. I gave up art for years. I became an economist by degree, though I haven't spent an hour as an economist because I once accidentally tried silk-painting and I was hooked by the colors. I decided to continue with silk painting as a hobby, then full time, then more than full time, until I burnt myself out completely.

Later I found a new medium (oil) that brought me new happiness and healed me deeply.

Seascape
(click to view)

Who or what inspires you most?

I am curious about the world. I am still amazed by colors and wonderful lights as sunshine goes through an object. I still very sensitively observe the world around me and I like humor.

What does procrastination look like for you?

Procrastination for me is lack of energy. I'm still learning how to say no to things and activities and persons that suck my energy out of me. If I am energetically charged, I am focused and I know my priorities and procrastination is not an issue at all. So procrastination is just a red flag to me, a signal that I have to stop and say no.

A Teacher of Stillness
(click to view)

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

I think that art at its base is or should be as natural for everyone as singing is for birds. Naturally, we are empty vessels and energy and happiness overflows from us and wants to create through us. Our task is to show up. I don't think I need to do any technique to make time, as birds don't do any technique to have time for singing. I usually to think that showing up was all I need and that art makes time for itself in my life. This is my ideal world until an obstacle shows up and my peaceful happy life goes who knows where.

I have observed that it's not only the obstacle that bothers me but the huge amount of time I spend solving and thinking and rethinking and resolving, constantly struggling to find the perfect solution. As my head is full of problems, I can't be an empty vessel. Instead I'm just a muddy blur. A muddy blur is not healthy, not even effective and has zero creation in it, believe me.

Over the years I have studied a few techniques to lessen the struggle time: meditation, yoga, Brandon Bays' Journey Practice, Byron Katie's Four Questions - these are my life and art savers. If I spend less time with struggling I certainly have time for art, it is 100%.

A Poppy Field
(click to view)

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings? How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

My first inspiration is color. Is that a surprise? If a small beam of sunlight goes through a clear glass and projects a new color, I become hooked and vibrant. I am constantly looking for that vibrant, enthusiastic feeling, when something lights up in me. If I don't have that feeling, I don't have a chance of painting a good painting. I had to learn this the hard way. So this is my first and foremost 'rule' to keep in mind: trust the feeling. If I don't have that feeling I drop my theme. If I am energetically in good shape and ready, I find these vibrant feelings everywhere I go and I find them often.

I love to travel, in that special 'tourist mode' I find vibrant feeling moments by the dozens. I keep travel journals to record them and unfortunately forget all my themes afterwards. If I have the chance, I love to take photos of them. They are better reminders.

I chase my blogfriends' vibrant feeling paintings also. They nurture my soul; they give me enthusiasm and energy. I really appreciate them.

Wednesday Market
(click to view)

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

Oil painting is quite new to me and there is a lot of experimentation ahead. I would like to paint series like the dog series I painted lately. Series give direction and focus to the mind, so the overflowing energy can flow like a stream. I would like to eliminate all the elements of job-like painting and effort.

What makes you happiest about your art?

So many things makes me happy about my art. The whole process of creation is wonderful; the wonder that a few patches of color become a flower or a house is still amazing. The true magic for me is beyond all of this: when my intention resonates in the viewer, oh, that is the full circle. I love that special moment immensely.

Thanks, Aniko!

© 2015 Sophie Catalina Marine