This Month WHACK is featuring the artist Katherine Sandoz. We sat down with Katherine to find out about her inspiration, creative process, and let her correct some of our spelling mistakes (wink).

Do you ever deal with clients that restrict your creative process? -The short answer is, “Probably so.”  I do like to think of creativity as a disease.  If you’re infected, you can spread the germ.  My best relationships with art directors rely on an understanding that they have uber-brains and I have an uber-hand (at least for that project).

How do you deal with criticism from your peers? -I respond well to all types of formal criticism.  If one doesn’t know what that is, I might be less apt to take the review seriously.

What inspires your style of illustrations/color pallet? -Palette?  I draw a lot.  People who do this naturally arrive at a style.  It’s inevitable with frequent and concentrated effort….even for those who don’t call themselves artists.  This is the magic of art.  As for color, I pour over a lot of reference materials  - take mental notes.  Nature always inspires – seems to have a knack for those complementary and close complementary color relationships to which people tend to respond.  I also pay lots of attention to the mixing of paint, it’s translucency, transparency and opacity.  I think this helps with the way in which color is transmitted and how powerful its impact.

What visual references do you call upon for inspiration and influence? -Peer work (every kind), advertising, magazines, movies, gardens, landscapes – I’m always in observation mode.  Reading also informs my work visually.  I learn a lot from writers given that they make pictures, at least for me, with words.

What personal projects are you pursuing at the moment? -I just finished 15 paintings of deer (to coincide with the rut this year).  I’m also working on a series of women decorated with jellyfish.  And I’ve been painting a new series of abstract landscapes.

Beverage of choice? -Coffee.  La Croix chaser.

Favorite object? -I’m madly in love with my computer (MacBook)  - or addicted – either one.  But I do love my three year old son’s drawings.

You can view more of Katherine’s work on her personal website, read her blog, view her on flickr, and follow her on twitter @katherinesandoz.

Thanks Katherine for being Whack’s first featured artist of 2010 and tagging our wall with your artwork.

At the core we are all artists here at WHACK media design. The need for creative ideas is constant. We want to help support spontaneous creations, by tagging our back wall. It’s our way to feature your art, creation, sketch, painting, whatever the medium. We encourage you to tag our wall and we’ll feature your artwork for the month, link to your site, facebook, twitter, etc., to help promote you as an artist, as well as keep our wall fresh with ideas. Find out how to be a WHACK featured artist.