We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Clifton Crockatt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Clifton, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I am largely a self-taught artist. I enjoyed drawing all my life, on and off, as a hobby and stress reliever during my younger years and throughout a long and busy business career; although not with the scope and commitment I do now in my retirement years. I very formally turned to artistic expression to write and experience a last chapter in my life. I am an emerging abstract artist and have used the Internet extensively to research and hone my skills. Speaking with other artists has also been very helpful. The foundation of course is in ‘the doing’; trying and evaluating ‘things’- both technique and materials. And the repetition of a reasonable ‘production rate.

I ‘paint’ primarily on gallery wrapped canvas with acrylic inks at the core of my work. I use a Dip Pen, circa 1850’s technology, to apply the inks. Some of my pieces are augmented with acrylic paints applied with brush or dip pen depending on the viscosity of the paints, which I manipulate. I manipulate the acrylic inks as well for color and viscosity. The manipulation, or blending, is done both off canvas and on the canvas as I create the piece.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Sensing a rather profound void in my life in my retirement years, I turned to artistic expression to fill that void. Drawing throughout my life on a more casual scale provided a respite for me, kind of a meditative quality amidst the rigors of life and career. I always had a creative side, loved art and music and avidly collected both. I loved woodworking, working with my hands and building things. Research provided the opportunity to craft a ‘plan of action’ as to what and how I would ‘create’ in terms of method(s) and medium(s) consistent with my lifestyle, living space and attraction(s). Working through ‘doubt laden’ angst and procrastination I began assembling all the materials I needed and started to create. I have been fairly well received so far but need much wider exposure. I sell originals and Giclee’s of my originals.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

There are a number of things society can do to better support artists including push more money in the programs we already have and create more resource programs. I am particularly interested in getting more art into public and semi-public spaces. In our public facilities we need to show more art, much more in fact. You can do that by either buying more art or allowing artists to show their pieces for no cost to them so they can at least gain exposure. You do this by creating dedicated ‘art walls’ that house permanent rotating exhibitions. The public can contact artists directly if interested. The same goes for semi-public spaces which primarily are businesses. I’d like the public to see art everywhere they go. I have my art displayed in a Walmart store, a bank and a couple other businesses at no cost to me.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’d like my artistry to be more self-sustaining at some point. I am reflecting more realistic price points for my work, frankly, which I think will help. I’m selling a 30x24x11/16 for $300 now for example, and probably shifting to a cheaper provider of my prints (Giclee’s) that is still good quality, and also ships to a much broader market including Europe and Mexico/South America. I am loving being a part of the artist community and look forward to contributing to a firmer and more nimble foundation for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: cliftoncrockatt.myshopify.com
• Instagram: @cliftoncrockatt
• Facebook: cliftoncrockatt and cliftoncrockattartist
• Youtube: cliftoncrockatt

Image Credits
all pics are mine