We are delighted to introduce to you Amreta, a talented javanese artist with whimsy drawings inspired by her culture.

 

Hello Amreta. Could you introduce yourself in a few words to our web users ?

Hi there ! My name is Amreta and I’m a proud late-bloomer, self-taught artist living in Jakarta, Indonesia. I create both colourful artwork and colouring pages, mostly inspired by nature, animal, javanese puppets (wayang) and swedish kurbits. I’m also a firm believer of a creative process called “trial-and-error”.

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How did your passion for drawings come up to you ?

I was born into a pair of artist parents, but I never wanted to be an artist until my late twenties when I started to create my own graphics since I couldn’t find suitable graphics for my first website. I was hooked. It was like revisiting my childhood time watching my father creating his paintings..

Did you pursue artistic studies or did you learn by yourself ?

I learned by myself.

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Which artists inspire you in your work ?

My favourites are Joan Miró, Henri Mattisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. I grew up leaving books about them at my father’s studio. But from the current generation, Lisa Congdon is my favourite.

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Are you interested in others types of art  ? If you do, do you like to include them in your work ?

I’m a javanese classical dancer since age 4 as well as a classical violinist since age 13, they all preceded my drawing artwork, which I think makes it natural that my artwork is so much influenced by javanese and classical traditions.

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How would you describe your art ?

I call the style “folksy graphicalicious”, it’s a mix of graphical abstract influenced by my own interpretation of folk art

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Nowadays, do you think that coloring pages have positive effects on adults ?

Yes I do ! I’m a living proof, sort of. I started drawing colouring pages during a stressful phase in my life a few years ago. To ease the stress, I used my lunch break at work to draw on paper and colour them. I always felt better after each break, and then my friends started to notice and they suggested if I could turn my drawings into coloring pages for them to colour as well. It’s still my favourite lunch break activity.

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Thank you Amreta for sharing your work with us.

If you are interested in her drawings, check out her website and her artist page, you won’t be disappointed 😀 !