Today we’d like to introduce you to Larkin Fordyce.
Hi Larkin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a born and raised Austinite, I grew up in North Austin, otherwise known as Pflugerville, and have been living here since 1987. My family comes from European immigrants and we have ties to Texas land in the hill country (which we still own) since the late 1800s. My parents moved to Austin from a little town called Llano, so I know what being from a little town in Texas is like, but also have the great luck of being raised in Austin during the greatest years of the city! Art has always been very special to Austin and I have always been enamored with the vibrancy that art can bring to a space or city. It can take a dull room and make it special, meaningful and thought-provoking. I like that. Being raised in Austin has given me a unique perspective on art and how people create things, like music and sculpture. All of those influences play heavily on Austin and being raised in Austin has played heavily on me and my art. What I like most about art is the color. If you look at my art, you can tell I really love bold, vibrant, opaque colors that clash against one another with meaning and contrast.
Art has always been part of my life, mostly through sketching and doodles when I was younger, then sculpture and painting as I got into college and had more time to myself. One thing I have always been blown away by are the renaissance painters and sculptors that created works of art that can hardly be recreated (if at all) today. From this fascination, I tried to learn how to sculpt clay and carve stone (soap stone) in an effort to understand what the classical artists understood about those mediums. Those are life-long pursuits but it was fun to try my hand at those forms of creating things and really gave me a small insight into what it might take to actually create works of art that hold meaning for people outside of myself. I also painted a lot through college, mostly in an attempt to create things i liked and in doing so, created dozens of paintings that really helped me develop and learn as a painter. After college, I did not paint for a decade. Not by choice or any conscious reason, I just didnt have a space to get things covered in paint, was interested in other forms of entertainment (video games, TV, etc.) and just generally did not realize how much I missed pushing paint around a canvas.
That all changed in late 2021 after becoming a father then going through covid lockdowns, I gained a different, fresh perspective on things. I started to think about how much time I was spending on meaningless tasks such as video games and/or TV, and how much of my time was being spent with nothing to show for it. I have lifelong insomnia and go to bed around 1:00am or 2:00am every night, so after my kids is asleep and my wife passes out around 10:00pm or 11:00pm at the latest, I have a few hours to myself to play PS5 or watch TV. Well, going back to that time in late 2021, I started to feel like I was wasting that time every night, not doing anything productive or of value, just selfishly entertaining myself with nothing to show for it other than a rank on a game that no one else cared about. It sounds dumb, but that was what caused me to start painting again, the idea that it would be nice to have something tangible after spending those hours by myself trying to stay entertained until I go to bed. It started with small canvas or wood scraps I had, then moved into a full-blown art studio in my spare bedroom. I was able to fall in love with creating art again. Since 2022, I have been painting daily and I love the prolific nature of dedication and persistence.
My inspiration for art stems mainly from classic animation from the 1930s-1960s, with heavy influences from Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and countless others from that era. I am a product of the 90s, so characters from cartoons and movies during that time are also very prominent in my work. The way I see it, art is very subjective and it is hard to create things that other people are sure to like, so I try to avoid that. I only create art for one person (unless commissioned to do so), and that person is me. Anything I paint, generally speaking, is just something I find interesting or enjoy to look at. This way, at least one person likes every painting I make. At this point, I am able to finish a few paintings a month because I work with canvas that range from 16×20 to 24×30 and they dont take too incredibly long to finish. I get bored very quickly and if I let a painting sit for too long without completing it, I will get bored and just paint over it or never finish it. I will get to those some day…
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I make paintings for myself in my spare bedroom, it is a constant struggle.
One of the main challenges I find in making art is simply time. The time it takes to sketch out a layout, then the time it takes to paint the background colors and layer after layer to make sure the color is bold and consistent. The time it takes for paint to dry, also a huge struggle. Applying 4 layers of background on a 48×60 canvas is just about my biggest struggle at this point so I cant really complain.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about ArtbyLark?
I make art that you can buy. www.redbubble.com/people/Art-by-Lark/shop
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck is not something I can rely on or quantify, so I do not know what role it has played. I think I am lucky to be an American and to have been born in the greatest country on Earth. That alone has allowed me to pursue things I might not have otherwise been able to pursue. Outside of that, I tend to think most things in life are not attributed to luck, but a mere convergence of time, opportunity and willingness. Or some combination of similar items, all of which are products of decisions we make on a daily basis.
Pricing:
Contact Info:
- Website: www.redbubble.com/people/Art-by-Lark/shop
- Instagram: @artbylark
Image Credits
All artwork pictured was hand drawn, painted and owned by the artist, ArtbyLark
