Wassily Kandinsky who mainly painted
landscapes and folk paintings
is said to have reached
a major turning point when he
happened to see his work upside down
Through his inspiration that he felt
at the time, he painted simple lines
pure colors, and it is said that
abstract painting, caused
a revolution in art history
He tried to capture the feelings
and thoughts of the artist,
not the reproduction of something.
The abstract painting is creating
numerous interpretations and
new imaginations today.
@AngrullaMF who was selected
for the Hall of Fame in March,
is also creating new imagination and
various abstract expressions
with lines and colors.
The artist's works contain
various abstractions expressing
nature and people.
Numerous lines extending everywhere
and unique colors are created via
natural materials and human figures
while creating imaginations.
Also, he is capturing beauty with
distinct shapes and colors that are
contrary to abstract paintings
through landscape paintings.
We wonder how he came to start
drawing these works.
Then, shall we begin the interview
with the artist?
Q1. @PENUP
Hello, Artist.
We are the operations of PENUP.
congratulations on selected for
the Hall of Fame in March.
Please briefly introduce yourself
and share how you feel.
A1. @AngrullaMF
Hello and thank you for selecting me
to be a part of the Hall of Fame
It is truly an honor and was
a wonderful surprise to be chosen.
I am a 36 year old living in Depauw,
Indiana, USA with my wonderful
and supportive husband of 15 years.
I work as a geologist for
an environmental consulting firm.
I spent my childhood on a farm
in rural Indiana and developed
a love for nature as a part of
that upbringing.
I have many pets including 3 dogs,
6 cats, horses, poultry, & reptiles!
Q2. @PENUP
The first work was uploaded
in May 2019. Since then,
you have been continuously
uploading works. How did you come to
know PENUP and upload your work?
A2. @AngrullaMF
I came to know PENUP while searching
for a coloring app on my phone.
I was unhappy with the coloring apps
I had tried previously as
they didn’t allow the freedom of
choice I was after.
When I discovered that PENUP
allowed free-hand drawing
in addition to coloring pages,
I was hooked.
It allowed me to easily take my art
anywhere and not have to worry
about the cleanup.
Q3. @PENUP
You were drawing abstract paintings
with various imaginations through
lines and colors. We wonder
what devices and apps these works
are being created through.
A3. @AngrullaMF
A majority of the artwork I upload
is created on my Samsung Galaxy
Note20 with PENUP, but I do upload
photos of my traditional media
and have a few that I have created
with my WACOM One using CLIP Art Pro
I will say that PENUP is
my digital media app of choice,
as everything is very intuitive
and easy to use.
I can get a high level of detail
right on my phone!
Q4. @PENUP
When you started your career,
you did a lot of landscapes and
animals rather abstract paintings.
Gradually, the proportion of
abstraction is increasing.
We are curious about why you paint
abstract paintings and
the joy you feel from them.
A4. @AngrullaMF
Art is freedom.
It is an expression of
the artist’s soul in a tangible way
for all to see.
I was trained in traditional art
forms that focused on a high level
of detail and realism. The pressure
for perfection over the years and
the negative criticism over
how my artwork was never good enough
became too much and I went as far
from it as possible, while still
creating artwork.
The result: abstraction.
My PENUP transition just mirrors
what I was already doing
in my traditional art mediums
or acrylic and watercolor for years.
I started learning the way that
the digital medium behaved by
going back to my roots, then
as I got comfortable with the PENUP,
I switched to expressive artforms.
Q5. @PENUP
Various animals and the appearance
of nature appeared in the work.
We are curious about the reason why
you put this kind of materials into
your work and their meanings.
A5. @AngrullaMF
I love nature and animals, so,
they'd make appearances in my art!
Often, I find later that an animal
or scene that I painted from
my mind’s eye was a deeper
reflection of what I was going
through in my life at the moment
that I painted it.
For example, one of the paintings
pictured above is title
“Dove Between Worlds”.
I painted this the day that
one of my aunts died.
The dove represents her soul,
while the flowers below represent
this world and the upside-down tree
represents the afterlife and
how the death of a loved one
can turn your life up-side down.
The colors show a sense of
the combination of sadness and
happiness that is felt.
The “Horses in the Heavens” piece
above was one in a series of
paintings I created for a friend,
who wanted some artwork for
a child’s room featuring barnyard
animals in the style of
Salvador Dali.
I wanted the horses to run through
the sky with no fences to
contain them!
Q6. @PENUP
Looking at the works of not only
animals but also people,
we started to imagine various things
We wonder who the characters in
these works are and what you are
thinking about when drawing them.
A6. @AngrullaMF
Confession time, ha!
I am terrible at drawing people.
They never come out looking like
the person I was trying to depict.
So, I just ran with it and
said to myself,
“If they still look like people,
who cares if they look real or not!
Let’s see how I can depict
the human form with colors & lines.”
A friend calls these my “muses”.
Sometimes, it is a self-portrait,
which is the case in the above
right photo “The Forgotten Mother”.
But oftentimes, I want the viewer
to look at my people and
put themselves into my painting and
say, “The artist painted me!”
Sometimes the figures have a gender,
but often I strive to make them as
genderless and raceless as possible.
Afterall, we are all humans and
subjective titles such as race and
gender shouldn’t affect
how we treat other people.
Q7. @PENUP
We were able to appreciate not only
abstract paintings, but also works
with realistic landscapes.
We wonder what kind of landscapes,
objects you include in these works
and when you draw them.
A7. @AngrullaMF
I discovered many years ago with
my watercolor paintings, that by
starting with colors and
abstract shapes,
the painting tells the artist
what it wants to be.
Like clouds in the sky that
can become fantastic creatures with
a little imagination,
my landscapes often develop in
a similar way.
Do those lines look like
distant mountains?
These paint splotches
look like flowers.
These are things that go through
my mind when I’m starting many of
my artworks.
I expand upon what the paint is
telling me for that day and
use my knowledge of art composition
to make the painting tell a story.
A majority of the time,
the landscapes are completely
fictional or summoned from distant
memories of something
I saw in the past.
Q8. @PENUP
We could see a work that seemed to
contain the appearance of a cave
expressed in black and white.
We felt as if we were visiting
a real place and appreciating it.
We wonder what kind of place
is expressed in the work and
want to know the reason why
it was expressed in black and white.
A8. @AngrullaMF
Oh yes! My cave series!
These pieces are based on photos of
actual cave formations I took at
a show cave close to where I live,
Marengo Cave U.S. National Landmark.
I worked there in my younger years,
I was an avid spelunker and have
lots of fun stories about caving.
I attribute this experience to
me becoming a geologist and getting
into the environmental consulting
business that I am a part of today.
For these pieces, I was in a bit of
an artistic doldrum, and
my husband suggested doing
some realistic art to stir
my creativity again.
I had just recently taken
my godson to Marengo Cave
and had taken many pictures,
so I recreated them in
black and white.
Cave formations spend thousands of
years in the total darkness of
the underground, and
when humans bring light into
the natural environment of the caves
we finally see what was happening
under our feet.
I wanted to express the cave
in the most basic of colors
to show that secret beauty.
Q9. @PENUP
Seeing a variety of works from
action-painting to various abstract
and landscape paintings,
we are looking forward to seeing
what other paintings you will paint
in the future.
We wonder if there is a style of
painting that you would like to
try other than the paintings
you have drawn so far.
Also, we want to know if you have
any topic you want to draw which
you haven’t tried yet.
A9. @AngrullaMF
I’m very happy with my art style
in its current form, but I’m aware
that I, like nature,
am always changing.
The individual I am now is not
who I was in the past, nor
is it who I am going to be
in the future.
I don’t know where my art journey
will take me, but I know
it will be fun!
As for topics that I haven’t drawn
that I would like to,
I like participating in
the PENUP challenges.
Some of the topics are things
I never would have drawn otherwise.
I had never drawn a ship, giraffe,
candy, or UFOs before the challenges.
It was fun!
Q10. @PENUP
This is the last question.
Please tell us any improvement
you may appreciate or messages
you want to share while using PENUP.
A10. @AngrullaMF
I like the changes that PENUP
has made over the course of time.
I'd' like to see more customizable
and savable color palettes.
PENUP is an amazing platform
and community.
As for fellow artists and
aspiring artists,
don’t let other people’s negativity
stop you from creating
what inspires you & makes you happy.
If you like it, it matters!
Art is your creation,
have fun with it!
How was the interview with @AngrullaMF?
Wassily Kandinsky said that
unstoppable sensibility & reasoning
to know oneself is
the best creative tool.
The artist was also emotionally
looking at and imagining
the countless appearances of nature
completing beautiful
abstract paintings.
For those of you who are reading
this interview,how about expressing
objects with simple lines & colors?
It would be good to draw an abstract
figure by projecting only one's
imagination, not the real figure.
We hope that PENUP will be
the best tool in
everyone's imagination.
