We were lucky to catch up with Jonjo Elliott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jonjo, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I believe the Glass is always half full and tend to be a very optimistic person but I still have times when I wonder why I chose this creative path. Being an artist is most definitely a life of two halves. One week your in LA opening your exhibition and meeting all kinds of amazing people, then the next your stood in your studio wondering when the next sale will come. Its a pretty crazy lifestyle but I find the urge to create always overrides the feelings of doubt. I’ve had regular jobs, mainly in the creative field and I’ve enjoyed most of them. I’ve been a screen printer, photographer, worked in design and managed creative arts projects for a university, all different but all very creative, but nothing compares to being in my studio with paint splattered hands and loud music playing, its good for the soul! The other thing I love about making art is sharing it with people who like it through exhibitions, art fairs and on-line. I’ve delivered and installed my own artworks for collectors in their homes and there’s no bigger buzz than someone telling you how much they love what they now have hanging on their wall.

Jonjo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was one of those creative kids who loved drawing and painting more than anything else so I’ve always kind of made art. Painting came along later for me and I didn’t take it seriously until I was around 40 when I enrolled into University to study and see where it could take me which is probably the best decision I ever made. Being an artist has given me so many amazing experiences and connected me with some really cool people. My art has developed into an easily recognisable style and I’m proud to say its now collected on an international level, from the UK to Australia, USA and New Zealand, Switzerland and Europe are among the places I’ve shipped artworks off to. I like to think my artworks are positive, vibrant, exciting and a focal point in whatever space they’re hung and I want collectors to feel the same way when they look at it. I’m inspired by so many things including music, people, travel and reading but my work is also very spontaneous as I never really plan a painting, I’ll just stand in front of the canvas and start drawing the details of what I want to achieve, and its worked OK for me up to this point.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Every job has its bad days and just before Christmas I had a new series of ceramics packed and ready to go off to a gallery in London. It was my last shipment of the year and I got the email from the couriers to say they had arrived but later I got a phone call from the gallery to say every pot had been smashed in transit, literally smashed to pieces! These ceramics had taken me ages to complete and I was absolutely gutted to see the photo’s of the broken pieces, but unfortunately these things happen, not too often I’m glad to say, and as a creative the hardest thing for me was the fact that nobody would get to own what I’d made. I’m pleased to say the next series arrived safe and in one piece, through a different courier of course, and all are now happily with new owners.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to stay creative, keep working, stay positive and see where this journey goes. I’d say creativity can be a form of therapy for anyone, personally its helped me through some rough times and I don’t see me ever stopping.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jonjoelliott.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonjoelliott/?hl=en

Image Credits
Jonjo Elliott