Gwen: 0:03
Have you have been asked,"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Gwen's mum: 0:09
Gwen Gets To Work.
Gwen: 0:11
I like talking to people. And they like talking back to me. Well, that's what I think. One day I asked my mum, what, how do I know what I want to be when I grow up? My mum said, if I interview people about, like their jobs and things like that well, I will find out and like, all the people who are listening. Um, you will find out too, if you don't know. Let's get to work!
Camilla: 0:51
Vincent Van Gough cut some of his ear off, which is disgusting, um and he painted his self portrait with a bandaged ear. We've got one question. Well, when he dropped off his hair, it was on his left but on his self portrait he did it on the right ear. Why? Find out the end of the Podcast.
Gwen: 1:25
Hi, guys. Lots of people, as you can tell, have put loads of rainbows in their window which is actually quite nice and joyful to see. I've put, um, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 pictures in the window. Uh, which was quite fun to do In this week's episode i'm interviewing an artist called Camilla. After the chat, she sent a picture of an animal that she painted and it was of a barn own, and it was really beautiful. Camilla, the artist has her work in a gallery in London, she paints lots and lots of interesting animals.
Gwen: 2:18
Er, what did you do today?
Camilla: 2:20
I had my tea outside 'cause it's very sunny. And then I had a shower. And then I'm here and i've got my cup of coffee, which is essential.
Clip: 2:30
[...]
Camilla: 2:41
What have you done this morning? Loads?
Gwen: 2:44
Well, I woke up and I went to, well, my I called one of my stepsisters. Anyway, and we played a game together.
Camilla: 3:01
What game?
Gwen: 3:03
It's called Roblox. I think it's, it's basically a bit like Minecraft. Yeah, and breakfast. And then I had a little run outside before now. I've got my notepad ready. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Camilla: 3:24
Well, that's a very good question.
Gwen: 3:26
Well when you were little basically.
Camilla: 3:28
Well, I wanted to be a horse up until I was about 10 probably, and then after that, I was always in my mum's studio, so I always was drawing and painting. So I guess I wanted to be a horse first. And then somebody who made things, I think it was that loose. Oh, hang on a minute. I just realised something I did want to do, but I didn't have the brains for it. I had the curiosity for it but not the intelligence or the right exams. I wanted to be an archaeologist. I love the idea of discovering things. So you could...I loved the kit they have when you saw it on the tele, you know, they have that brush and they brush away and they find something that's millions of years old or 20 years old. I thought that it was magic to find out other people's lives by brushing away earth.
Gwen: 4:20
What type of studio did you used to go with your mum to?
Camilla: 4:25
Oh, it was in where we lived, when I was very young, she had a shed out in the woods, which was fantastic. A big shed. I mean, built especially. And it had a log burning stove in it. It had two rooms, it had a print room and her painting studio. And then she had a painting studio in the house so that she would paint at night, because she didn't want to go up there at night and she used to go, when she was cooking our dinner, she used to go upstairs and do a wash. What she called a wash, which when you do watercolours you do. You've done watercolours, and sometimes you have to make, let it dry, don't you, before you do anything on the top. So she got, she said, I'm just going up to do a wash. And she'd be there for 45 minutes because she getting so involved. Um, but mainly yes. So either in a room in the house or in a shed outside. That's where her studio was.
Gwen: 5:40
What do you mainly paint?
Camilla: 5:44
Nature I would say. Animals specifically at the moment. I paid two different things. When i'm painting in oil I generally paint animals, like birds. All animals like birds and mammals and so on. Not often fish. Um, and then if I'm doing watercolour I like to do still lives, you know, like you've done you know, you have a plant in front of me and you paint that. I like doing watercolour like that. I learnt to do watercolour before I learned to do oil. Watercolour's the first thing I learnt.
Gwen: 7:02
Do you break for lunch, and do you, like, get snacks all the time. or do you basically just have lunch.
Camilla: 7:02
That's a very good question, Gwendoline. Leading one if I may say. So I'm not a morning person, really. So I don't work in the morning. So that lunch thing is...err...sometimes I do. But most often I like to work in the afternoon, into the evening. So I like to get all my eating done and then work until evening. But if I have a cup of tea, my weakness, well not a weakness you know it's not like i'm burning down an orphanage or anything, but if I have a cup of tea in the afternoon I do like a biscuit with it. Ginger biscuit if I have to choose.
Gwen: 7:03
Who pays you?
Camilla: 7:07
Ha ha! Well, that's also a very interesting question. So when I'm teaching, I teach at Christiane's, the Childwickbury Arts place, and then she pays me. I invoiced her my hours and then she pays me back. When I sell a painting myself...say my painting, I sold a painting for £10. If I sell it myself, I get £10. If the gallery who also sells my work sells it I get £5, so it's best if I sell it to be honest. So that's how I get paid. When and if I get paid.
Gwen: 7:43
What would you do if you ran out of paint?
Camilla: 7:49
I'd burn some wood. You mean like a desert island type affair, or just run out of paint? Okay, i'd burn some wood if I could and make charcoal.
Clip: 8:01
[...]
Camilla: 8:12
I don't know what i'd draw on mind. I have to, i'd find some way of making something. Sculpture. i'd try that. I'd make something, I'm sure.
Gwen: 8:22
Do you teach kids?
Camilla: 8:25
I've only taught one person who I would not call a child, because he was doing his A Levels. That's the youngest person i've taught. Only mucking about, not officially. You know, like when you paint with a kid. Yeah, but i've not actually taught, no I haven't. I like teaching younger people, though, especially students, because they listen to what you say. Once you get beyond a certain age, I don't think you listen to anyone anymore. Well, some people don't. They've got their own idea, to change their mind. But children are much more flexible.
Gwen: 8:59
How often do you get paid?
Camilla: 9:06
Ha ha. Well, once a month when I'm teaching. Though, not at the moment.
Gwen: 9:13
Hmm, ha ha, do you ever paint gross things and things like that?
Camilla: 9:23
Well, some people would call them gross, I don't. It's all, gross is in the eyes of the seer, isn't it? I might find something fascinating and you might just run from the room putting your hands over your face screaming. But I like, um, you see if you paint animals like a dog or whatever or birds, it's quite interesting to know what's going on underneath. So I collect skulls of animals. You see, I got you there, because it's important to know what's going on underneath.
Gwen: 9:52
Hmm.
Camilla: 9:54
Can I ask you a question?
Gwen: 9:56
Yeah.
Camilla: 9:57
What do you want to be when you grow up, as they say? Although you're already grown up, but you now what I mean.
Gwen: 10:02
I kind of want to be an Adventurer. So I can actually like look at animals and then I can draw them. And then I can, like, keep them forever, so i'll remember.
Camilla: 10:14
Yep. Yeah, that sounds like that should come with a cape or something.
Clip: 10:23
[...]
Camilla: 10:37
Gwendoline The Adventurer, that's very good.
Gwen: 10:42
Hmmm
Camilla: 10:42
Yes?
Gwen: 10:43
It is, is your job hard?
Camilla: 10:48
No, not when it's, no i'd say not.
Gwen: 10:52
Hmm, is it fun?
Camilla: 10:57
It can be. When it's going well it's nothing, there's not much better.
Gwen: 11:02
Do you ever go wrong?
Camilla: 11:04
Yes, but, and it's a cliche but it's true, that sometimes when things go wrong, it makes you do something you wouldn't normally do, which actually turns out better. It doesn't feel like that at the time, Gwendoline, in the middle of it is a lot of bad language. But at the end, you think wow, I wouldn't have done that, that's much better than I would have thought.
Gwen: 11:26
Do you ever get scared when you go wrong?
Camilla: 11:31
That's a very good question. No, no. Mainly I just get angry. Ha ha. Cross.
Gwen: 11:38
How did you feel when you started painting?
Camilla: 11:47
Hmm. I knew nothing else when I was young. So I can't remember.
Clip: 11:51
[...]
: 11:52
Camilla: 11:56
But when I was, when I stopped doing the job I did before and started again. It felt right. What do you like drawing Gwendoline?
Gwen: 12:09
I like drawing, um, things like still life. Probably um. Thinks like, basically flowers normally. I also like drawing self portraits.
Camilla: 12:30
Oh wow, I've never done, oh I did one once when I was a teenager. I'd like to see those Gwendoline, your self portraits.
Gwen: 12:39
What are you painting right now?
Camilla: 12:41
A barn owl. A female barn owl.
Clip: 12:45
[...]
: 12:45
Gwen: 12:56
Do you like painting animals all the time? Or, what do you mainly paint?
Clip: 13:01
Animals. Birds at the moment. At the moment i'm doing um, six paintings at the same time because they take a long time. So I'm going from one to the other so that when I finish one and that dries and I can go and do the other one. So hopefully they will all be finished at the same time.
Gwen: 13:18
Why do they take a long time?
Camilla: 13:22
A) I'm slow. I think. Two) it's just the method. Mainly because I'm doing it in a very particular way. So it's taking a long time because of that.
Gwen: 13:40
Do you ever cut your drawings out and then, like, make a landscape with loads of animals and things like that?
Camilla: 13:48
No, but I'd like the sound of that. When I finish these paintings that I've been doing for so many, so long, years, I think I might do something else like that. Have some fun, which probably means I won't at all. But I like the idea. I like to do, I can't wait for us to paint together Gwen. That'll be fun.
Gwen: 14:09
What do you wear to work?
Camilla: 14:16
Well, I were fisherman's smock, like, have you been to Cornwall?
Gwen: 14:21
Yeah.
Camilla: 14:22
Well, my mum used to wear one and when I was young I wore exactly the same outfit. It's a fisherman 'cause they're really tough and um just jeans or whatever; trousers, tracksuit bottoms, and you know whatever. I'm not wearing one today, especially for my interview i'll have you know, I've got a shirt on, a linen shirt especially.
Gwen: 14:45
Do you ever get really messy?
Camilla: 14:47
No, I do when I'm printing, on the times that i've printed, it's, it has a will of its own printing ink and it gets everywhere. I'm, no i'm very precise.
Gwen: 15:02
I think I've got picture my head of what you do at work, so...
Camilla: 15:08
I'll send you a picture of the barn owl I'm working on. Work in progress. Hashtag #wip.
Gwen: 15:14
I'd like that.
Camilla: 15:16
Yeah, i'll send it to you. I'll email it to, um, what's your mum's name? Emily
Gwen: 15:23
Yeah, Emily
Camilla: 15:23
I've enjoyed this interview very much.
Gwen: 15:25
Thank you. I've interviewed Polly, i've interviewed Alanna my Auntie.
Camilla: 15:33
Oh aye
Gwen: 15:35
Uh, who else? Ronn, he is an interviewer, so I interviewed an interviewer, basically. And this afternoon I'm going to interview, ah, a dentist.
Camilla: 15:51
Wow. That's interesting. My dentist, I was having root canal work done, which is I can tell you now very painful and it was nine hours of it: 3 x 3 hour sessions and I said, I asked him, when it was a particularly painful session? I said, Why do you do this? Why do you make...what made you start doing this? And he said, it's because it helps people in pain. And i'd never thought of the other end of it before, but actually it does. You may be in pain, but after you've seen him you won't be in pain.
Gwen: 16:22
Hmm. Well, thank you.
Camilla: 16:26
You're very welcome. Thank you, Gwendoline. Very good. Gwendoline The Adventurer. You should do a portrait of yourself as an adventurer. Going around the world then? Collecting things, seeing things? All right, I'm gonna go to tackle my barn own now. I'll send you the picture for before I forget.
Gwen: 16:51
Thank you.
Camilla: 16:53
Okay. Lots of love to you Gwennie
Gwen: 16:55
Lots of love to you too
Camilla: 16:56
Lots of love to you Em
Gwen's mum: 16:58
And to you Mills
Camilla: 16:58
Bye!
Gwen: 16:58
Bye!
Gwen: 17:04
The answer to the Vincent Van Gogh questions is: because he painted himself in a mirror.
Gwen: 17:22
I'm sorry about the rain, because you it is really loud in my window. But yeah, me and my mummy, well, I mean, my mummy and I have been during a lot of art um, because it has been raining a lot. And been bad weather. We recommend: Virtual Art Club, Ladyland Art Club, Noel's Art Club with Noel Fielding on Saturdays and my favourite, Art For Kids Hub, which also does emojis, drawings of emojis and some other ones which aren't emojis. My mum will put them on the link in the episode notes. Check them out. I've enjoyed basically all of them to be fair.
Gwen: 18:19
In next week's episode we have a very, very special VIP: Mrs Edwards. Well, my Head Teacher. That will be nice, because I've missed my school and her. And I know my friends have too. Thank you for listening, it has bean very nice to have you. Please smash that subscribe button and leave me a review. That will make me happy.