Makers of Tar Valon - Ariadne Davion
Author: Raevyn Tsornin
Published: February 19 2021 Tar Valon Times Blog Link
In this edition of Makers of Tar Valon we highlight Ariadne Davion. Ariadne has been a member since 2007 and is an Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah.
Tar Valon Times: You have several different types of art in your Etsy shop, what do you consider your main form of art?
Ariadne Davion: An excellent question that doesn’t have an easy answer. One could say that “What you sell” is your main form. Or what you “enjoy the most” is your main. Everything I make comes out of some form of expression or purpose. With Pour Paintings, I just adore color and it allows me the freedom to just put paint on a canvas and just see beautiful colors. I love a good black and white, so sketching also has a lot of expressions but tends to be more personal. I don’t always share those. I don’t have a “Main” type of art, so much as my art is much like me. Chaotic and deliberately unpredictable.
TVT: How did you become interested in painting?
Ariadne: Magic, which is Science without explanation. Painting is all about the science of the paint, the balance of color, and the layers of your medium. Skill is holding a paintbrush, but the paint itself is magic. I got into Pouring because the magic of its chaos is deeply satisfying. I work in an impressionist style because it leaves more to our imagination and letting the magic fill in the details. Much like the smoke and mirrors in a book, I love playing with the edges of art to see what I can inspire from it. In both myself and others.
TVT: Do you have formal training? When did you begin/how long have you been doing this?
Ariadne: I have zero formal training. I am 100% self-taught. I took years away from art, and writing, and coming back to it is like an old friend. I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil, but no one really told me how. Growing up I have spent a lifetime watching others just do it “better” than me and still do. But as an adult with a daughter who very much is taking after her mother, I am working through my own self-doubt to be a good example for her.
TVT: Do you have a piece you are particularly proud of?
Ariadne: I have a few, but the one that stands out in my mind has a bit of a story. Most of my favorite pieces do. My Grandfather has been in a home for a few years, and is on Hospice with that dreaded phone call in wait for nearly a year now. He has slowly been fading since the passing of my Nana nearly three years ago, and it’s been hard. Blessed with all four Grandparents for most of my current life, the loss of my grandmothers (the second now a year gone) have been hard.
Anyway, in his room at the Home are two pieces of art. Something from his wife, and an ink drawing of a duck from when I was 14 or so. He used to carve ducks all the time, paint, and display them when he was younger. It was so old and I could tell that he treasured it, that I needed to make him something new with my current skill levels. So, over the course of a few weeks, I painted him a beautiful watercolor of a Duck in reeds of irises. It’s not perfect. It is currently hanging in his room now, and I am very proud of it. To have something he treasures, and to have given him a gift he loves before he is gone too.
TVT: Please tell us about your Kickstarter.
Ariadne: I got my taste for creating things, and in 2018 I got to try my first Kickstarter as a trial run for the Make 100 Challenge on Kickstarter. This year, because I genuinely feel inclusion is important, I wanted to make a nod to my Childhood friend — a dear friend since we were two. I wanted to do a Doodle Pin of two girls with all the same dreams and all the same hopes, just with a different skin. The Doodle Pin is in honor of her. It is currently running until 8am on January 30th.
TVT: Is there anything else we need to know about your art?
Ariadne: Much like me, and life, it changes and shifts as inspiration and skill change and improve. I love taking on commissions and challenges, having done a few for some in our community, and one lined up by another Tower member. The support and encouragement means a lot. I speak up a lot about encouraging others and each other; it is often hardest to encourage ourselves and I have noticed the care in our community. While the support doesn’t justify why I “Art,” it certainly helps me feel brave in sharing it.
We invite you to visit Ariadne on her Instagram, Ariescapes or on her Etsy Store.
