The Blissful Insanity of Breaking the Mold of Stereotypes
Inside the Mind of an Artist
When looking at the bizarre (or rather blissfully insane) art that has the signature of Allison Tippets on it, you begin to wonder, where does this inspiration come from?
“A lot of my inspiration comes from music, I don’t feel like I can draw or paint well unless I have music playing.”
“…I also love ‘Adventure Time’ because it looks light hearted and seems just like a silly show but when you watch it you realize it has a darker complex to it,” Which I believe Allison can relate to.
Sad People, Sad Butts
“When I started off drawing I would just copy cartoon characters or copy images, it took me a while to develop my style and to form the types of characters and gross monsters I draw.”
“I really started getting into (my art) and developing my style when my parents got divorced.”
“I have a hard time processing and vocalizing my feelings. Art was a huge part of getting through it. I moved down here away from siblings, created some of my ‘proudest’ works at that time.”
Creative Coping
“I think art helps people cope in general because you can be feeling a certain way and just spew what your feeling onto a canvas. It can be more reliable than talking to someone… the canvas can’t talk back to you or tell you your feelings are irrelevant and you feel better when your done.”
A Trip to the 90’s
I’ve recently been re-watching Daria and feel appropriate making this reference since Allison is a cartoon fanatic and since I feel the show captures so well what Allison’s message is.
We all know Daria (for those that have watched the show) as an intelligent, darkly sarcastic individual who is even nicknamed a “brain” by the popular kids in the school.
In the very first episode of the show Daria “fails” a personality test because she thinks outside of the box and is forced to go to a class on self-esteem for a few weeks…when in reality Daria is the way she is out of pure confidence in her own self, humor, and wit.
There is even a line in one of the episodes where Daria says, “You know that conscience none of us knew I had? It found me” and then she does the right thing even when she has the opportunity to screw over one of the kids in school who has been so judgmental towards her.
Assuming makes an…
There is a lot of irony in the show of stereo types and cliques including considering the artist kids to be the outcasts. The show would be completely different without those judgmental views but then we wouldn’t learn from Daria’s suffering nor see her sickly positive twist on it all.
It just makes me wonder how different our environments would be if we took the time to acknowledge each other instead of casting judgements that not everyone wants to talk to us or that we wouldn’t have anything in common with someone without even knowing anything outside of their appearance.
I didn’t know Allison but by the end of the interview found out I had a hell of a lot in common with her.
The Kindness of Strangers
So, I guess, as long as you feel comfortable or whatever, I completely condone talking to strangers.
95% of my articles have come about by me approaching a stranger (the exceptions being the two or three artists I actually knew before interviewing). And I feel like they have turned out pretty well.
Those ‘strangers’ are now some of the most supportive people, who read my posts weekly, and supply encouragement often.
Quality of Followers, Colors, and Other Things
Like I noted before on a live feed on my Instagram, I don’t have as many followers right now but the followers I have are a group of the most genuine, thriving artists, who I have watched not only cope but build each other up and supply unfailing support.
Allison happens to be one of those genuine souls in the mix and happens to be participating in the “Quality of Colors” event in Phoenix this Saturday October 6. For more information on the event feel free to message me or give her a follow (do it!) @theblissfulinsanity on Instagram.
