Kate Phizackerley's Original Artwork

My parents were both artists. My father Terry Phizackerley was a reasonably well known artist. My mother's talents as an artist were less well known. Although she did produce and sign a small number of paintings, her skills lay in design of clothes and jewelry. She designed and made her own wedding dress and it was stunning. I should have been an artist - but for years I assumed the quirks of hereditary meant the family talent had passed me by.

As I describe on my tribute blog, I often helped my father with his paintings by acting as critic and advisor. I have also been keen on photography for many years. But I lack co-ordination when it comes to manual tasks - I have always been hopeless at games like tennis - so painting or sculpture just never worked out for me.

The in early 2009 I started creating some images for Squidoo lenses. Lenses need a unique image for the Intro module - an image which acts as the defining image for that lens. In most cases I could find a photography which fit the bill, but not always. Out of desperation I started creating images specially.

Halley's Comet started me thinking but it was Sax for Sale in July 2009 that finally triggered the thought that these were more to me than images created out of frustration. These were art and I was proud of them. The final turning point was Purple People Eater. I had such good fun producing that lens that I was in a great mood when I created the signature image for the Intro Module. It also marked a first. The earlier images had all been created at about 260px - 300px wide. That's perfect for an Intro module, but it won't print up to more than about 4 inches (10cm) side. Purple People Eater is 480px wide. That's still only about 7 inches wide if printed, but it does give me more flexibility about reproduction. It was the first image created with publication outside Squidoo firmly in mind.

My work is unashamedly digital. I owned a BBC B micro from my teens (I still have it actually) and computers are my natural means of expression, whether in writing or in pictures. I also don't envisage my work as having a single, original copy. That's not the online world I am so much part of. My art is intended for reproduction and transmission.

Kate Phizackerley, July 2009

I produced this picture for my Moment of Zen - Angels in Art lens where you can find the incident which inspired the image.

In terns of the composition I wanted a really plain background so give a really strong contrast with the angel herself. (Yes, I do think of this angel as female - and why not?) Originally the background was olive green fronds on a soft green ground. I had Van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in mind which has the Lamb of God sat on a grassy green hill. Just after sketching in the Angel, I swapped the background to grey as an experiment and really liked the spakles which remind me of stars.

The Angel herself was difficult. I didn't want a lot of form - the aim was a sense of angel more than any depicton. So she isn't humanoid. The main colours had to be white and yellow - but the pink for the sense of halo works well I feel. I was unsure about adding movement - fuzzing the trailing edge would have left her looking ghost-like which I felt was to be avoided. In the end I opted for the streaks. I could have threaded them through the folliage but wanted her to stand proud of the bacground.

This image was produced for a lens celebrating my first six months on Suidoo so fireworks seemed appropriate. The best firework displays are over water and are wonderful viewed from a distance so you get the reflection of the fireworks as well as the primary explosions. So as usual the style is very much a sense of fireworks reflected in a lake. The horizon is apparent but otherwise it's just an explosion of colour.

In July 2009 I wrote a lens proposing a survey on the future of Squidoo groups. That idea died as Squid HQ promised an imminent announcement. The image lives on.

I wanted an image which was wildly unspecific and came up with goldfih swimming in a pond. I didn't want identifiable fish. My image is of a dirty pond where the fish are glimpsed not as shapes but as flashes of streaking colour, and I wanted red fish as much as gold.