Chryso Petrou

Artist Chryso Petrou

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Can you share a bit about your journey from working with pencil and charcoal to experimenting with digital art and color? What inspired this transition?

Working with pencil and charcoal started very naturally in my primary school years where I would use any time available in class to sketch things on the sidelines of every textbook. Using colour however was something that I chose consciously. It wasn’t a natural transition but rather a decision that I knew would challenge me and take me on an unknown path that would perhaps help me grow. I would have these coloured pencils in my studio for years never used and one day it felt like an adventure to place them in my hands and start exploring. Digital art began similarly. I would often find myself in places where taking a sketchbook and a bunch of pencils, inconvenient. I wanted to draw more and at random times too. Social media played a role in that too. I wanted to see what my style would be like in the digital art realm.

Your art features a lot of shapes to express emotional states and flow. How do you decide which shapes and colors to use for different emotions or memories?

When  it comes to my current digital creations I always create them when I’m in the flow state. I don’t analyse or think consciously which shape goes where. Even in my daily life shapes are part of my thinking. They help me mentally visualise time in both senses of structure and continuoum. Even during my pencil and charcoal times, shapes would be used  to express or symbolise the complexity and combinations of emotions that I was pouring into the art I was creating.

What I’m trying to say is that my emotions and my memories guide me through it in a very natural way since my mind has been using shapes to deeply comprehend and organise my reality. Colours however, are not coming to me as precisely as shapes do. Colours come in very vague essence which I get to figure out by trial and error. It may take me a while sometimes but I’d know if I got it right by the way I feel as I colour in.

How do your personal experiences and memories influence your artwork? Can you give an example of a specific piece that is particularly meaningful to you?

I definitely feel that some of my artwork are mosaics of my emotions and memories that I get to recognise once it’s all completed. Although it’s never been my intention to include my own personal experiences and memories in my work, it has become evident to me that I tend to create things that reflect what my mind has processed and it’s ready to reveal or let go. “Roots in My Dreamland” is probably one of my most recent and meaningful pieces. When I finished it, I truly felt like I was looking at myself in the mirror. It’s reflecting my endless hours of daydreaming and my constant eagerness to escape physical reality and go to a place that is greener and flourishing and ready to yield everything that I’ve been dreaming of. I haven’t had clarity of what my next dream would be in life but after completing this piece I understood that perhaps I’m very close at finding out and it gives me so much hope every time I see it.

Digital art offers a different medium compared to traditional pencil and charcoal. What challenges and opportunities have you encountered in this new medium?

Creating digital art has definitely been a challenge. The feel, the connection is very different to traditional pencil. At the start and even now I guess it feels like I have a little less control. I think it’s because the physical connection between my hand and the line that gets drawn across the screen isn’t  as strong as that on paper. There was so much uncertainty and a feeling of going back to zero, which was quite humbling. Nevertheless, I got to experiment with colour in a more safe environment. It feels that way at least. The trial and error stage is now fast paced and so I feel that I learned about colour combinations and contrast quicker. Creating art digitally was also very exciting. It ignited a curiosity in me that had been dormant for a while.

Your works are very vibrant and detailed. How long does it typically take you to complete a piece from start to finish?

This is really hard to say accurately. My current art feels like it’s created by the child in me. It’s like I’m back at school drawing on the sidelines of my book trying to kill time by escaping into my inner world. I never timed myself but it definitely takes me hours and hours to fully complete one piece. I start with a pencil or a pen on a paper which I then transfer onto my tablet. One piece can take days or even weeks of scattered hours.

Who are some of the artists or other influences that have shaped your approach to art?

I value the work of many but most of them are the old school kind like Van Gogh and Monet. Ironically I don’t see my art reflecting theirs. The only person that comes to mind who has influenced me is probably my mom and dad. Because of my mom I got to get my hands on a fashion design drawings kind of book when I was a young child that fascinated me and made me want to draw my own mannequins. On the other hand my dad would always draw shapes on a random piece of paper like the envelope of an opened bill. If I were to pinpoint my art to two influences it would be my parents.

Looking ahead, are there any new techniques or themes you are excited to explore in your future works?

I really get excited to think about creating my mosaics onto big scale canvases. I’m thinking about paint or markers. I want to experiment with different mediums and choose one that will be perfect for detailed yet large scale pieces.