Member Spotlight Time - Bevlea Ross

 This month our Member Spotlight is shining on Bevlea Ross.

How did you find Paper Traders?

I heard about PT through three friends who are members.. they seem to be having way too much fun without me so I applied for membership.

How long have you been a member?
This time around... About six months... I originally joined the group in 2006 but left after a few years due to ‘real life’ time pressures... However as things settled down, and I was only working part time now I asked to rejoin

Where do you live?
Home is Mill Park, Melbourne, Australia... Its an outer northern suburb of Melbourne. Mill Park is a ‘new’ suburb and only came into being about 20 years ago...we are on the outskirts with National Parks and forests at our back – and yes, its not unusual to see a kangaroo hopping down the road due to our close proximity to the bush lol

Please share a little about your own art experience.
I come from a family where something was always being made.. Mum knitted, sewed clothes for us kids as well as my dolls, embroidered... Dad made wooden toys (wish I still had that dolls house he made me), hook rugs, also embroidered... It rubbed off on us... I have knitted, sewed, embroidered, cross stitched, macrame'd, painted, made cloth dolls, porcelain dolls, cottage crafts (oh the lace we went through making those tissue box covers)... Around 2002 I became interested in ATCs..which lead to altered books.. Which lead to art journals. I went 'off the boil' for a while with ATCs while I experimented with the altered books etc., but have come full circle back to them.. And now like to include them in my art journals etc

What are some of your favorite techniques or genres?
I love vintage and shabby chic... and playing with paint to create backgrounds.. I have a ‘texture box’ that contains all sorts of found objects that I use for adding texture and layers to the piece I am working on... gesso is my friend.. I use it in about every piece lol..

What inspires you?
images.. hands down every time.. I usually see an image I like and the rest of the piece is built around it.

Who are some famous artists whose work you admire and what especially appeals to you about this?
love the work of Finnabair.. took a class with her this year.. love the way her work is tactile.. there is depth to it... also love DJ Pettitt...the way she incorporates her photos into her artwork (I’m also a shutterholic) .. I admire the work of Susan Lenart Kazmer and Stephanie Baron Lee.. and still make jewellry using what I learnt from them

Describe your work area... Do you have your own studio or craft room?
We moved in April and I have a small studio – its only 8ft x 10 ft but I love it.. .I had to divest myself of LOT of supplies I had collected but never used to fit it in there.. and as I like ‘neat’ and ‘pretty’ that I have the rule that if it doesn’t fit, theme or spacewise, then it doesn’t go in there lol. I painted the walls a soft turquoise, all the fittings are white with touches of black. I have a shabby chic table as my workbench... it has built in wardrobes across one wall so I filled the robe space with cubes and book cases and lots go in there so the room doesn’t look crowded. ... I blogged about the setting up of the new room here http://artiology.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/new-house-new-studio.html

Please share a little about your family and pets...
We were a family of myself, hubby, grown up daughter, three dogs and a cat... but Cino, our bichon/maltese cross passed away at 15 yrs old a few months ago.. and last week my daughters poodle Teddy was euthanised with liver failure... so now its one dog and the cat.... our little Cavalier King Charles girl called Maggie.. she’s only 5 but is stone deaf – has been since we got her as a pup... and my daughters rag doll cat who considers himself totally in charge..

Do you have any other hobbies or interests?
I love to take photographs... started with a box brownie when I was 13 and over the years have owned instamatics, polaroid's, 35mm film camera etc., three years ago I bought my first DSLR and love it.. I now have a Canon 7D ... shoot in RAW .. thanks to lessons from DJ Pettitt on a holiday we took together... I’m not a professional.. just a keen amateur... but love to enter competitions (never won any lol) and share my work on http://www.viewbug.com/member/bevlea#/bevlea/activity

Thanks Bevlea!! We enjoyed learning more about you.