Artists We Love: Amber Skye Alcock 

INTERVIEWED BY Michaela Stehr

We get to know local Cape Town-based artist Amber Skye Alcock and how her paintings are representative of the contradictory feelings of horror, care, fragility and sometimes humour. 

How did you get into creating art? 

I can credit this almost entirely to how lucky I was to be born to my mom. She bought me professional oil paints when I was ten, and then framed the painting of an owlet that I did with those paints. She kept almost every single piece of art I have ever done and framed many of them (even the objectively shit ones) to decorate our house. Even since a young age, I have understood how lucky I was to have a mum who facilitated, encouraged and praised a genuine passion for creativity in me. 

Does your work lend itself more to the cute or the creepy?

It depends! Sometimes I’m in the mood to paint a pink fairy frog, name her Princess Pudge, and sell notebooks imbued with her magic. Other times I get a little down about the world, specifically the relationship between us and the natural environment, and I then turn toward my slightly more serious bodies of work to express that. There will always be a note of sweetness or humour in all my work, I think ‘lightness’ is an important factor in what I try to do, but sometimes I want to express a little bit of the darkness in the relationship between humans and animals. 

What mediums do you prefer using?

I am what I think you would call multi-passionate, which is a blessing in some manners but also a curse. In a day I tend to jump from oil painting on a large canvas, to acrylic in a notebook, to ink on watercolour paper, to sculpting jewellery from polymer clay or sculptures from air dry clay to knitting to writing to baking. I watched a video recently that explained this as digging multiple holes in your own garden, but never reaching the treasure at the bottom of any one of them because you have no singular focus. I would say that I turn to oil painting most often, and ink with pencil on top second most often. 

How did your unique style develop?

Style is a funny thing. I wouldn’t say that I’ve found my ‘unique style’ just yet, besides the fact that I like to paint oddities involving animals, but other people have told me they could recognise my work anywhere. I would say that a lot of inspiration and a LOT of experimentation is the answer to that. I was very obsessed with a few different artists on Instagram when I was younger, namely Caitlin Hackett, Kelsey Beckett, Kaitlin Hoyt, James Jean, Casey Weldon and Christina Mrozikart, all of whom work within the realms of animals, surrealism or naturalism. I think if you look at those artists you might see exactly where my ‘style’ started. I am also very much in love with the oil paintings of the old masters, and that comes through sometimes I think, even if it’s in weird ways. 

Do you have a piece that stands out for you? 

I have two. If we’re talking about my favourite piece I’ve done recently, it would be my ‘bald birdy’ painting. It was the smallest piece in my graduate exhibition, but something about it just entranced me. I think it was the only piece I have ever made that turned out exactly as I wanted it to from the start, and it embodies the level of work I wish I wish I could accomplish in every painting. 

The second is an art piece I did when I was a toddler. It is a drawing done on pink paper in chalk and glitter of a cat, with 5 legs. The fifth leg was definitely a mistake, but I think it is a hilarious prophecy of what my work is now. Sometimes I tell people the fifth leg was on purpose.

Do you prefer commissions or your own creations? 

I will be forever grateful to every single one of my commissioners, past and present. Commissions pay the bills and are a very important part of my career right now. But I of course prefer to create work of my own mind and making 

What is the process for creating an artwork?

My process has multiple ‘starting lines’. It could be a sentence in a book, an image on Pinterest, a random thought, something I see on the street, a situation, a phrase, a story, etc. It also depends on what work we are talking about. If it’s my more ‘serious’ oil paintings, I like to create bodies of work revolving around a central theme. The only rule I have for myself is that ‘making’ takes priority, and thinking can come later. My usual mode of coming up with imagery is when I have a certain idea, and I will search Pinterest for images related to that idea. I find pictures that catch me in some way, then start smooshing them together on procreate, until I come across a composition that says something.

Where do you look to get inspired for your critters? 

Everywhere! The natural world is so weird all on its own, I just enjoy splicing things together even more. Hybridity has such a rich history, we have juxtaposed parts of different creatures since the dawn of humankind. The way that you can take two or more separate things and put them together, and tells a different story all of its own, has always fascinated me. Someone holding a Sandwich is a normal sight, a fat white pet rat is a normal sight. Put them together, though, into a fat rat sandwich, and the meaning changes entirely. I like anything that toes the line of the uncanny, really. Anything that speaks to the loveliness of all animals and how much I adore them, but also to nature’s innate savagery. Frogs are seen as kind of ugly and slimy and even evil sometimes, while fairies are light and sweet and mystical. So, fairy frog! Sometimes I paint critters that represent an injustice I’ve seen in the world (rat sandwich) and sometimes I paint the things I desperately wish were real (fairy frog.) 

Are any local artists on your radar? 

So many. to name a few: 

• Rosie Mudge for her absolutely beautiful colour fields and a certain piece that shocked me by bringing tears to my eyes,
• My cousin Shaun Dean for his insanely amazing tattoos.
• Laurel Ann Holmes for her beautifully delicate handling of natural themes.
• Gabriele Jacobs for his mythological multi-headed chicken sculptures, and literally everything else he does.
• Bubblegvm illustrations for her inspiring business, and the loveliest illustrations you have ever seen.
• Richard Dean Bothma for his absolutely magical landscapes.
• Rae Smith for dream-like paintings that I am obsessed with.
• Ruby Swinney for her ethereal, emotional, glowing paintings.

That are the few I can think of off the top of my head! But the list could genuinely go into the hundreds.

What does a typical day look like for you? 

I work part-time at Norval Foundation gallery on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but that wouldn’t be too interesting so I will talk a little bit about the in-between days. I like to get up with the sun, have a coffee with my boyfriend or go out for a breakfast with friends, and then write a good old to-do list for the day. I will usually write in the morning, because I feel like that is what takes the most brain power for me, and then transition into painting later in the day. The last thing I do around the end of the day is to pack all recent orders from my little store so that they can be picked up and shipped out the next day. And then I’m a total granny because I cannot think of a better night than delicious food and a good series, followed by youtube and knitting or reading in bed! Granny and proud!

What are your plans for the upcoming months? 

I have many plans, and I always do. How many of those will work and how many will crash and burn is the real question! In general, I am at the very beginning of creating a new body of oil paintings, which is tending toward themes of animals, mythology, religion and storytelling. It’s time for me to disappear into my cave of creativity, for now.

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