Artist Interview – Kristen Vardanega

Who are you and what do you do?

My identify is Kristen Vardanega, I am a 28-year-aged artist and illustrator dependent in Salt Lake City, Utah. I share my operate underneath the moniker Small Very small Egg, and my do the job can be uncovered at littletinyegg.com, or @littletinyegg on social media.

Why do you do what you do?

Basically set, I really like earning factors and I really like creating individuals smile. I inject a lot of my standpoint and humor into my do the job. When I started executing observational operate like sketching things from my everyday everyday living, the planet all around me arrived alive. I commenced observing colours and compositions that sparked my interest almost everywhere- that point of view and pleasure are invaluable to me.

You use so several lively hues, do you have any that you favor?

I enjoy coloration! I am most inspired by mixtures, in particular all those that I uncover in mother nature and the landscape all over me. Periwinkle skies, peachy rocks, and lush inexperienced landscapes are some of my beloved items to depict.

What conjures up your art?

So several points! I come across myself most drawn to develop following paying out time outdoors climbing or biking, my ordeals in character notify every little thing that I do. I have normally loved illustrated guides, vintage scientific illustrations, zines, tarot playing cards, graphic novels, block printing, bugs, birds, Swedish textiles, and ornate cowboy boots.

How and when did you get into art?

Immediately after my mothers and fathers noticed I could attract by yourself in my area for hours at a time, they purchased me a sketchbook at the age of 6, and I have saved one ever considering the fact that. I studied graphic design and style in university, obtaining my stride in digital art and illustration, but my bodily sketchbook follow is what grounds me and informs anything I make.

How has your observe adjusted over time?

I employed to produce somewhat irregularly, and generally only with a concluded task in thoughts. These times, I try out to make art on a more typical foundation, even if there is not a established reason or design and style intention, aiming for a everyday sketchbook practice where by I can pull from an array of thoughts to make far more concluded or thoughtful pieces.

What’s your beloved piece of artwork that you have created? Why?

Oh, these types of a hard problem! I experience like my most new do the job is constantly my most preferred. I a short while ago finished a commission for a friend’s son’s bedroom that I definitely really like. It is a gouache portray that brings together some photos I have taken in my favorite destinations in Utah and Montana with a determine influenced by a image of my husband or wife. It’s a specific piece, I’m glad it will dwell in somebody’s residence who I know and enjoy!

What is the greatest piece of artwork guidance you’ve been presented?

Someone as soon as instructed me that in get to be taken very seriously as an artist, you have to be prolific. Making a substantial system of get the job done inevitably generates ties in between parts, pushes your competencies, and teaches you what you like. Each time I get caught up in making an attempt to make my most recent perform a masterpiece, I bear in mind that my artwork isn’t 1 singular portray, it is my complete system of do the job, and my task is to preserve modifying and incorporating to it.

What is one artwork suggestion/system you can share with us that you locate really practical?

Keep a sketchbook! Attract everything and just about anything, with out judgment or setting up. I like to draw with materials I can’t erase, like coloured pencils or pens, which sales opportunities to a ton of fascinating options and dilemma-solving (and “ugly” drawings way too!).

Do you have any secret suggestions or tactics you use to salvage a piece when you make a miscalculation?

If a piece is lacking something or feels far too flat, I will choose a photograph of the piece and change the photo to black and white, which can help me see the values greater. If something is really ruined, there is no shame in turning the sketchbook website page or starting over, numerous iterations of the similar issue are usual and important to the art-producing system.

What is your favored Strathmore paper? Why?

I love the 500 Collection Combined Media Softcover Artwork Journal! They are my beloved sketchbooks for painting in gouache and watercolor. I have also been actively playing with the Toned Tan Mixed Media paper, which is tremendous thick and has a wonderful heat-coloured floor to paint on!

What artwork products could you not reside without the need of?

I would have to say gouache paint, I could invest all day mixing colours, and its drinking water-dependent nature would make it straightforward to travel with and clean up up. For sketching, a great juicy brush pen in black or sepia is a have to-have.

What kinds of colors are you drawn to for your art and why?

My favourite color ideal now is green, I appreciate how lots of versions there are, and observe greens all around me in mother nature. I am also encouraged by the lots of unique colors of the sky, from mild pink to deep blue-grays.

Who are your major influences?

I was actually motivated by illustrated textbooks developing up and liked the loose figurative drawings of Quentin Blake, Eric Carle’s textured slash-outs, and the charming illustrations in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Very little Prince. We had a handful of Monet prints hanging in my childhood residence, and I would lose myself in the brush strokes and shade possibilities.

Extra a short while ago I’ve discovered myself drawn to the perform of John James Audobon, Hilma Af Klint, and Carson Ellis. All of the artists I observe on Instagram encourage me and tell my get the job done each individual working day!

What’s the most frequent artwork-associated question you get from your followers?

The most common queries are about the sketchbooks I use to paint in, which are the 500 Collection Combined Media Sketchbooks from Strathmore. I also get concerns about how I make so substantially do the job, which just arrives down to my plan. I make confident to sit down for at least 30 minutes each day to draw, even if it suggests location a timer and throwing my phone throughout the area!

Website/social media one-way links:

My web site is www.littletinyegg.com and I am @littletinyegg on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube!