A recent interview with Hannah Morrison, from 'one of us'



Lucy Hope- Artist




Lucy Hope is a young Australian artist from Alice Springs who uses tea, pastels, water colour and inks to create images of hauntingly beautiful women.

Hopes work has been described as both innocent and erotic with themes of childhood familiarity reflecting her whimsical, dreamlike utopia.

The style of her work is influenced by a combination of manga, Jim Henson films, fairy tales, past childhood pets and midnight apparitions. The result is a recurring paradox of sadness and ecstasy.

As a good friend of mine for some 8 years now, I wanted to share with you some of Lucy's beautiful words, and the humble yet determined attitude she takes to life and art. It inspires me no end, and hopefully, it will do the same for you.

Lucy, tell us a little about the kind of artworks you create and what tools you use to make the magic happen.

Being creative comes very naturally to me, I'm a natural and honest kind of person. I'm just myself and express myself as best I can.

You have to be in the right head space to paint. Sometimes you’re open to inspiration and sometimes you're not. Sometimes you can find it in the things around you and sometimes you can't be bothered looking.
I stain watercolour paper with tea and use inks, pencils and pastels. I paint ghosts and talking animals because I want to make things like that real.

You have to have a plan when you're doing a piece, you don't just cut loose on the paper and let the inspiration take over like a crazed inspired artist. It's important for an audience to relate to aspects of your work.Sometimes you're really excited about doing a piece and when it's finished it's crap. You don’t feel anything by looking at it. Sometimes the process is more important. You learn what works and find techniques through error.



You live and work in Alice Springs, Australia. What is the arts scene like there?


Alice Springs as a community, shows incredible support for all local artists from any background. Whenever I exhibit in Alice Springs I am always shown a huge amount of support. My very first solo exhibition in town was a collection of 20 water colour pieces, that all sold on opening night. I think that is proof that I am well supported within the community. 

The nurturing and positive support I have from the Alice Springs public, has given me the confidence and skills I need to exhibit and sell my work interstate and internationally. 
Although it may not be obvious or evident throughout my work, the land and space in Alice Springs inspires me.
It clears your head, there's good creative air around here. 


As your third exhibition comes to a close, do you feel like your work has progressed or changed since you first started out?

It's only natural to progress and learn as you go. It's very special to learn from your experiences and mistakes and is something that no one can ever teach you. As I evolve as a person, so do my little characters. That's nice.




What inspires you?

I'm inspired by artists like Audrey Kawasaki, Amy Sol, Del Kath Barton, Frida Kahlo and Bill Henson. I like them because they are controversial and often have innocent yet erotic subjects. I like Frida Kahlo's ugly, dependant husband. 

I'm inspired by love, passion, music, kittens, cake, the sun, planets, imaginary friends and ghosts. I just love to make things up and try to express that somehow through painting, fashion, photography, whatever.

It's not my goal in life to be one of the 
worlds greatests artists or designers. I just want to be myself and try to express to the world who I am through my art. There is nothing more special or wholesome when someone wants to own a piece of that.




How can people view or get a hold of your art? 


They can come over to my house (as long as they take their shoes off). Otherwise they can purchase pieces online here, or buy print cardshere. I also have a blog you can visit where you can view my stockists across Australia.



What can we expect from you next? 


Right now I'm working on designing a line of clothing. 'Bambi & Bear' will make it's debut in stores and online this December. Expect tulle, kittens, bunnys, lace, japanese silks and something secretly slutty, (In a fluffy kind of rabbit way).




Thanks Luce, looking forward to seeing some of your new work, and hopefully test driving the new threads? xx