For my creative self portrait, I decided to stick with what I enjoy on the daily, and those things are: art, friends, plants, skateboarding, music, art blogging and finding beauty in the most unlikely places. I believe it is the things that make up our daily lives that best define us.

My 3 Audio Recordings:

1. Traffic Light Beat

• I like finding art/beauty in unexpected places. For awhile I’ve noticed that a lot of inanimate objects create cool beats & rhythms. For a long time I’ve wanted to create a soundcloud/blog that creates all of them. I think that musicality inherent in nature is quite impressive, especially in the often chaotic world that we currently live in, it’s nice to come across a moment of random beauty.

2. My Song

• I often write songs in my spare time and try to record them when I get  a chance. Here is a segment from one of my songs, I guess it shows a lot about my likes & taste in regards to music and how I like to produce my creative work.

3. Chris Practising Bass

• Having a partner that is a musician is a both a blessing and a curse. It often means I end up listening to a lot of Chris practising , but I do enjoy listening because even practising can be immensely interesting.

My 6 Photos:

1. My Recording Studio

• My recording studio is the place where I spend a lot of my time. It’s also the place were I expend a lot of creative energy. I practise music here, I edit my photos here, I do my uni work here, I blog here, I record my music here, I hang with friends here.
• It’s probably one of my favourite places to be. It’s beautiful, calm and I can be productive here.

2. My Skateboard

• My skateboard is often tied to my freedom because it’s literally how I get around but I also use it to escape.
• My twin brother (when we didn’t live on opposite sides of the country) used to go skateboarding together in the middle of the night. It would be dead quiet, there were no cars on the road, just the two of us hanging, often for hours. It was an exhilarating way to bond and it was a beautiful way to see the city, you’d get to see another side of the city you live in.

3. My Partner

• Chris and I spend a lot of time together. We play music together, we hang with friends together, we eat together, we laugh together. Your partner get’s to see a side of you that no one else does.
• We’re very similar and in a lot of ways were very different, meeting Chris allows you to know me better.

4. My Plants

• My mum is a horticulturalist who runs a plant distribution company. Growing up my back garden was an oasis of various different palms, ficus’s and vines, waiting to be distributed to various companies.
• Plants was a way I could bond and learn from my mother. She taught me how to take care of them, how to care for the earth, how to respect the environment and how to be a balanced person. Through plants, you can learn a lot.

5. My Music

• I love music and I listen to it a lot. I always love art and album artwork. Records are a wonderful mix of the two. You have great quality audio and you have these beautiful large album covers that display a lot about the individual artist.
• I listen to a lot of SBTRKT, The Lijadu Sisters, Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Emma Donovan. I love all genres but my favourite are: electronic, r&b, african, blues & soul. My own music is often a mix of electronic, r&b and soul.

6. My Art Blog

• I love art blogging. I originally started blogging art because in my daily life (work, uni, friends etc) I didn’t feel like I didn’t get to see enough visual beauty/creativity. Creating the blog was a way to feed that desire.
• I can also pick the art that I like, which is great, I can create a collection of all my favourite things and see them all next to each other. I also get to share unknown art or old art or forgotten art with people and re-contextualise that art.

My 3 Pieces of Video:

1. Blow Improvising

• I love going to gigs and I especially love watching gigs were the musicians jam or improvise with each other. This is a video of some friends of mine Bob (keys) Dixie (flugelhorn), Adrian (trumpet) Ted (drums), Pete (sax) & Gareth (double bass).
• Impromptu art is both impressive and fascinating. It’s a once in a lifetime moment.

2. Patti Smoking

• This is my friend Patti smoking. It’s Patti doing what Patti does best. She’s the nicest person I know and she’s also a total badass , I think this video weirdly encapsulates here quite well.
• I like people that are interesting and unadulterated.

3. PTV Tram

• I’ve literally spent years of my life on public transport. I guess that comes with the poor, uni student territory.
• PTV can be annoying to no end, but also have a strong admiration and respect for it. I’ve had some of my best ideas on public transport and seen some of the wackiest and most beautiful things. I think this video shows how even a tram can be beautiful or at least interesting, when framed correctly.

Catch you later, Louise Alice Wilson