{Press update} Interview with the Artist: Hsin Lin - Bloom Like Flowers. Published February 2022 Maroondah City Council's blog.

Hello to my new friends & old friends. Welcome back to my 3rd blog post of February 2022!  
I am pleased to be invited to the interview and be featured on the Maroondah City Council's blog. 
Special thanks to Amy Freund, Editorial and Publications Officer. It was a pleasure working with you really.

Interested in how and why I create my signature series the way it is ? Click the link below for the full article !
https://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/About-Council/News/Council-blog/Blog/Interview-with-the-Artist-Hsin-Lin-Bloom-Like-Flowers
You can also press the play button to listen to the interview in audio! How awesome is that ?😊

Quote from original post-
Interview with the Artist: Hsin Lin - Bloom Like Flowers
Published 08 February 2022

Federation Estate Gallery’s latest exhibition is by local artist Hsin Lin, and explores the beauty of flowers and our connection to them. We interviewed artist Hsin Lin to learn more about her inspiration behind the exhibition, the mediums she uses and favourite flowers.

Q: What was the inspiration behind the exhibition?
Bloom Like Flowers is a contemporary floral series that I have been developing for years.
Bloom like Flowers embraces the diversity and salutes the strength of life by featuring Australian native flowers we love and common flowers we know.
It is also a series that I painted to raise awareness of mental health. It encourages people to be nurtured into deeper mindfulness and to cherish the beauty of nature in their local environment.

Q: What is your favourite piece in the exhibition?
One of my favourite pieces would be the largest piece from my signature series - Bloom Like Flowers, A Life Time Story ‒ Orchids and Roses on Wood Tray with A Weaving Basket (2021). It is also an artwork that took me the longest period of time to complete.
Every object in this artwork stands for a different meaning. You may see this work as a documentary of the time that we all went through.
When I look into the details in this particular piece, I remember every moment that I spent painting it, sunny days and rainy days.

Q: What do you hope viewers get out of your exhibition?
I paint flowers to show my happiness and wish to bring positive energy to my viewer.
Flowers are celebrations of life. You can see the collection as a reminder that as the flowers are in full bloom, this is our time to be alive.

Q: How do you feel your fashion background influences your painting style / technique?
To me, there’s one thing in common regarding being an artist and being a fashion designer—that is to appreciate the material that you use, and to explore the possibility of it. Just like designing a garment—you have to think through how the fabrics are attached, how your design will be composed as a whole and give it a new life.
As an artist, I sometimes stand in front of the canvas meditating for a long time before my paintbrushes touches it, just to imitate how the flower grows and extends in my mind, following the natural order.

Q: What mediums do you like to use?
I find acrylic is the perfect medium to interpret my intense passion for the subjects I depict. I love the vivid and opaque property of paint on canvas. In my ongoing contemporary floral series, I use close observation to try to capture as much detail as possible. I do paint with oil and watercolour sometimes to let loose, but acrylic is always my go-to medium.

Q: How long does it take you to create a piece of artwork?
Artworks from my main series have very intricate compositions and I used a photorealistic approach, with each tiny petal built up by more than eight layers of paint. For large-scale pieces, it takes six to nine months from start to finish.

Q: What is it about flowers that you love so much?
I see flowers as salutes to the strength of life. Just like every one of us is unique, each flower has a different appearance and different flowering seasons.
Each flower looks different, smells different, has its own spiritual meanings. Most important of all, the flower always blooms in its own time without competing with other flowers. That’s the beauty of it and I am absolutely obsessed with the natural order.
I believed everything falls into the right places at the right time.

Q: What is your favourite flower?
My new favourite would be the Australian native flower ‒ Eucalyptus Macrocarpa. I love it so much, that I often visit Royal Botanic Garden just to admire its beauty.
The original artwork ‒ A Lifetime Grit ‒ Eucalyptus Macrocarpa (2021) in the exhibition is the 3rd depiction I have done of a gorgeous flowering gum tree in Cranbourne Garden. The former two have found good homes soon after they launched.
I especially love the details on the large, ovate grey leaves and the earthy tones of the plant. The rough surface of the gum nuts and the smooth silky texture on the flowers display of greatest strength of life. Eucalyptus flowers also have the symbolic meaning of healing and protection.
Seeing a gum tree makes me feel grounded wherever I am and I see it as an anchor. Flowers don’t have to be fragile to be beautiful, they can be strong and tough.
To me, Eucalyptus Macrocarpa is the tough kind of beauty.

Find out more
Bloom Like flowers is showing at Maroondah Federation Estate’s Gallery until Friday 8 April. For more information on the exhibition, visit the event webpage. To learn more about Hsin, visit www.hsinlinart.com

Hope you guys enjoy the exhibition & happy collecting!
Warm Regards,
Artist,
HSIN LIN / H.Lin
@helloinnerpeace
#hsinlinart