Best of Etsy & Giveaway: Beautiful paintings from J.Masaki

'Best of Etsy' is where we meet one of the many talented creators on Etsy and find out a little more about their work, their inspiration and their store. Last month, you met Angela from Aqua Door Designs.

Today, we get to meet the very lovely J.Masaki from SOMETHINGdebussy, an abstract artist based in Sydney, Australia.

I stumbled upon SOMETHINGdebussy when searching for a painting for a client. I am always looking for truly stunning abstracts, and certainly found them at Masaki's store. She is an expert at texture and combines beautiful colours with great skill.

Hi my name is J.Masaki, owner and painter of SOMETHINGdebussy Art Studio. I was born and grown up in Hong Kong. In 2002, I moved to Australia alone to further my communication studies and have been living here ever since. I’m a graduate of Macquarie University in Sydney where I earned my degree in Media & Cultural Studies. Having spent the seemingly endless hours in the corner of college library, writing and reading about postmodernism, performing arts, queer theories and politics, I believed those pieces of knowledge shape my perception in many aspects of life in general. All the cultural memories constantly help questioning as well as revealing who I am as a human being. They also laid the foundation of me working as an artist and then I knew there was no turning back. My wonderful husband and I now live with two cats in a quiet little neighborhood in the lovely Central Coast, just outside Sydney.

Simply because I find Claude Debussy (1862-1918) very intriguing. I was entranced the moment I first heard one of his earliest work Deux Arabesques in 2001. His Arabesque No. 1 is inspiring as much as contemplative to me in a way that it often pulls back distant memories. It is almost like the magician's hat and I have no idea what will be pulled out whenever I listen to the piece.

As a painter, I can also relate to Debussy's "How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling?" To me the purity of such chaotic as well as minimalistic process is a form of aesthetics in its own. So the label "SOMETHINGdebussy" came along when I started selling my artwork on etsy in June 2010.

Title: 賞味期限, 2011 ShoumiKigen
"Best Before"
Available from SOMETHINGDEBUSSY

Until now, I still see music and painting as both sensory languages which can be careful, experimental, framented and often ambiguous. The viewer is the only one who explains and defines the subject matter of my work while I embrace a hundred different interpretations coming from a hundred viewers. After all, all the techniques and terminologies come like the shell. I am more interested in listening to the internal rhythm, which primarily responds to my observations about time, people and nature at any certain stage of my life.

Being a self-taught artist, I did my first painting right after I atteneded the funeral of my boyfriend (future husband) 's father whom was died of cancer. Although I have had art lessons in and outside school when I was young, I have never found myself enjoying any of the experience, be it the classroom evrionment, competition for the grades, or the artwork justification. But since the incident, I realized that it is less about the enjoyment but more about the sheer necessity for me to paint.

Title: 調教 , 2011 ChouKyou.
"Training"
Print available from SOMETHINGDEBUSSY

Then I set up this art space SOMETHINGdebussy as a bridge for me to connect with someone else and myself possibly. The hardest part is always the beginning, once my hands and the brush take over, I will completely forget that I am a fine artist, just be honest then let go and allow the artwork emerging to the way I desire until my hands hurt. I can't help but falling in love with this weird creative process.

My inspiration is drawn from the relationships of people I am surrounded by, and also everyday things like news stories, documentaries and nature. In regards to nature, I especially like to study the impermanence of life in general -- how powerful the passage of time can be that everything just comes and goes like tides. I love to take photos of the sky at the same few spots at the same time everyday. It encourages me to be even more humble towards life, animals and the mother of Earth. It inspires me to cherish every precious breath and appreciate what I am having right here, right now. I also get a lot of inspirations from the indescribable beauty in lots and lots of old movies, music and vintage watches.

Title:...<無常... ,2010 MUJOU
"Impermanence"
Available from SOMETHINGDEBUSSY

I like running, practising traditional Chinese calligraphy, learning sign language and cooking vegetarian/ vegan. Sometimes it is just as easy and as hard as stepping out of the little studio (I'm sure many of you can relate!), but when I do, you will find me in cafes, grocers, bookstores and every single one of the vintage stores. I have also found that the best way to keep the juices flowing is to run to a beach and keep gazing at the sea. Of course, eating and playing with my lovely cats will always do the trick too!

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It's hard to believe that J.Masaki is a self-taught artist, isn't it? I wouldn't consider myself an art expert but I do know a lot of artists, and I can definitely spot talent when I see it! Masaki has a innate sense of composition and colour combinations and her pieces are incredibly beautiful.

Now, one of you lucky people gets to win your very own painting from SOMETHINGdebussy! I honestly wish someone else was hosting this so I could enter, because I adore this painting.

Title:...慈悲..., 2011 Jihi

And some closer details so you can see the beautiful texture...

This stunning piece is on watercolour paper (perfect for framing in anything from a simple contemporary white frame, to an ornate vintage frame) and is 29.5cm x 21cm. The only condition? You need to 'purchase' the piece through Etsy and leave SOMETHINGdebussy feedback. But that wouldn't be hard with such a lovely piece, would it?

There are lots of ways you can get extra entries including tweeting and visiting the SOMETHINGdebussy Etsy store or on Twitter. You can enter via the Rafflecopter counter below - just click on 'Read More' and you will see the widget with all your entry options!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thanks for joining me at My Design Ethos, SOMETHINGdebussy!