Part one of this article can be found here
You don’t just do murals or paintings, you do all sorts of things with regards your art?
I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I think it is important not to set limits on your creativity.
I do tattoo designs, logos, murals, street art, paintings, I do a lot of work using the skills that I have developed and I aim to be as creative as possible.
How do you end up in Belfast?
As my work progressed I had to make a decision, whether I would travel or stay in Australia. I had always wanted to travel and I was wondering how I was going to make that happen. My house mate had been offered a job in Holland, I gave it some thought and decided to buy a plane ticket and leave Australia. It was a risky decision but I felt that if I didn’t make that decision I wouldn’t be able to continue to do my art full-time.
I had some family connections in Belfast. I came here and got some work and then returned to Holland, returned again and decided to set up my base here.
And you end up working on the Hit the North Festival?
I came here and a friend of the family knew Adam Turkington. I contacted him and he gave me a spot in the Festival.
I wasn’t a street artist initially but I have had to learn ways of transferring my skills to work on the street art that I get asked to do.
You wouldn’t consider yourself a street artist?
I think I am an illustrator more than a street artist. I think now though I have developed my skills in such a way that I can pretty much do anything, but my underlying approach is that of an illustrator.
The line drawing technique does seem to work over a number of different types of projects and some of the murals or paintings I do work because I try to make it interactive. I think if you can interact with street art it works really well.
Did you enjoy Hit the North?
Yes, people were very supportive and encouraging. The other artists were very helpful and the response from the public was fantastic. Lots of people stopped to talk to the artists which was great.
The piece I worked on was called “Moment” and it was fantastic experience for me.
I do like working on street art. I had a little girl come past one of my pieces recently and I put her name in the piece and her Mum told me that she had been inspired by seeing me paint.
That makes me realise that I made the right choice to head in this direction. So far I keep getting work and I get to travel so everything is working out well.
More information about Danni’s Art can be found at the links below and all photos and videos are courtesy of Danni Simpson Art.
