A - Z of Miranda Lorikeet
Sydney based artist, Miranda Lorikeet, creates wonderful landscapes and designs with the largely unappreciated form of MS Paint.
She began honing her MS Paint craft whilst bored out of her mind at a receptionist job in the city. What began as a hobby, something to pass the time quickly snowballed into an obsession that provided her with an avenue to express her creative capabilities.
Using a rich and vibrant colour palette - lots of deep pinks, burnt oranges and deep purples - Miranda’s pieces are the perfect addition for anything from a bedroom wall, to an Instagram feed.
I got in touch with Miranda to dig a little deeper into her art and the cool chick behind it.
Photos: @mirandalorikeet on Instagram
Ruby - What drove you to be an artist?
Miranda - Since I can remember I’ve always drawn and painted with whatever I could get my hands on. I attribute it to my artsy mother. My artworks started as a hobby, I just like making pretty pictures. I’m glad everyone likes them.
R- MS Paint is obviously your preferred medium, what brought you to that medium?
M- Years ago, when I first moved to Sydney I got a job as a receptionist in an office in the city. I sat in an empty room at a desk facing a set of lifts. Few people came in and I didn’t have a great deal of work to do. I noticed MS Paint was on the computer I worked from, so I started drawing. At first it was just basic scribbles and sketches, but I quickly got obsessed. I started trying to create these detailed landscapes and trying to draw portraits. It all snowballed from there.
R- Do you ever dabble in other mediums? How does this turn out?
M- I actually started out drawing with pencil, pens, water colours. I used to fill these giant sketchbooks with Copic marker drawings and watercolour sketches. It was very different to my current style of art but my subject matter has remained the same; women, still life and landscapes. I have never used any digital drawing program until MS Paint.
R- Your work often portrays some sort of contrast, placing the viewer as an outsider to the scenery. Where does this inspiration come from?
M- When I first started these drawing, I focused heavily on themes of isolation. My pictures often focus on being alone in a vast, strange world. A lot of my inspiration comes from classic 1920s surrealism. I love the way Rene Magritte portrays bizarre scenery an nude women. Guy Billout is my biggest influence, I love the feeling of his work. It’s super clean and spare, but it’s surrealist at the core with beautiful colours - which is exactly what I’m going for.
R - You often use pink, orange and red tones in your work. How does your choice of colours come about?
M - A lot of my colour is influenced by 1970’s pop art and pop-surrealism. I love to draw technicolor dreamscapes with pink waterfalls, and purple sand with azure mountains. I like to create a fantasy world for my viewer to escape to, somewhere totally removed from reality.
R - How do you like to work?
- Inside or outside? Inside, on my bed, listening to music while it rains outside.
- Hungry or eating? Always eating.
- During the day or at night? During the day, save the night for friends.
- With company or alone? A mix of both.
- Music on or off? Music - I can’t draw to silence.
Find (and purchase) Miranda’s work here or at Instagram @mirandalorikeet