INTERVIEW: French Artist Raphael Seygnovert

Raphael Seygnovert

French Artist

Dear Gentle Readers,

What a treat I have for you today! The wonderful French painter 

Raphael Seygnovert has taken time away from his easel to be 

with us this morning and I am thrilled to bits, fingerling all over 

the place.

Good morning, Raphael and welcome to Vision and Verse, the 

place for Art and Authors. I am a big fan of your work. It is my pleasure to have you here with us. Tell us a little about your work.

When I realize a work, I try more to express a feeling than to 

follow strictly speaking a figurative approach with as a theme the landscape. 

I use an archaic graphic language impregnated with all my experience, all my musical and pictorial artistic influences. It is 

as if I were trying to express a distant memory that would not 

have root in our present life. As a vision the eyelids closed.

What is your favorite medium?

I love all the pictorial techniques. It is a real pleasure to apply and work the pastel with 

the fingers, I also like acrylic but I use it recently; I have a preference for oil, it is 

a very complete technique.

So what does our favorite Frenchman like to eat?

I appreciate French cuisine but as I am a vegetarian it is a bit 

complicated; I also love Asian, Indian and Japanese cuisine. 

Vegetables, cheeses ... And I love cooking too.

Coffee or tea?

I drink tea and coffee, but more coffee; In the north of France 

we drink a lot of coffee.

Pizza or ice cream?

The both!  Pizza "Sicilian" and Lemon ice cream.

What piques your interest?

I love everything about ancient cultures, ancient civilizations, mysteries ...

Favorite kind of music?

I love acoustic guitar, folk music, mystical music, relaxation music, traditional music and Celtic music. I listen to many different things, I would hardly say my favorite artist.

What makes Raphael Seygnovert laugh?

I laugh easily, I like to laugh with my friends. The imitators make me laugh, the hidden 
cameras too.

This is my very favorite of all your works. I have a small print 

of this hanging in my bedroom. You call it bluebells, but in my 

part of the world, we have tiny pale violet clusters called bluettes, or Quaker Ladies, that only bloom in the wet, wet spring, only in the woods or parks. 

They are my favorite flower. You cannot buy them in a store. You can't order them online or by phone. You can't get them from a florist. You must tromp through the wet woods and get all muddy to find these little beauties.

How old were you when you began creating art?
I started to paint very young, then being an adult I stopped for a 

long time to resume after. But painting, art, is not a craft strictly 
speaking, it is a way of life. It's not a choice one day makes 

saying  "it's an interesting job", or "I can make a lot of money like that!" Or "I will be famous." This is necessary to us, for we need 

to create, to express ourselves in this way, because it is part of 

us. I need, as an auto-therapeutic way, to paint, it is my medicine ...which heals my soul. 
I think the important thing is to be in agreement with ourselves.

We all like to draw, paint, glue rocks together, snap photos, etc., but we are well aware we couldn’t make a living doing it.  When did you know you made the right decision?

I am comforted in my choice by all positive feedback from the people I meet.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Nature is a constant source of inspiration, walking in the middle

of the trees has always done me good, it is resource, we should 

try to preserve as many natural spaces as possible. 

My spirituality is also a source of inspiration.

What do you do when you get an artist block?

The artistic blockages I see more like moments of reflection that 
allow to take a new beginning, to have a new eye. We are all the time, internally, dying and reborn to evolve, to grow. Like the 

chrysalid and the butterfly.

Favorite artist?
I like many different artists, I like the Impressionists, Monet, Van Gogh, Cross, Corot and also Modigliani ...

If you were not an artist, what would you do for a living?

If I was not a painter, I would have liked to be a professional guitarist, 
a singer, or a social job.

Who has influenced you most in your life?

The person who has influenced me most is hard to say; I have a 

thought for my father ... he was a great person ... courageous and much more, my mother too.. but I do not forget the others, all those people 

who cross your path and illuminate it even for a short time. 

I think we are all like sponges, every interaction, every encounter, 

changes our life in its own way.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be an artist?

I will tell him to paint more and more, it is by forging that one 

becomes a blacksmith.I would tell him to expose ever more, meetings 

and criticisms are always very useful to evolve.To have his own 

opinion about his work and that of others.And getting to know one self, 

is the best way to be authentic.

Links to follow our favorite Frenchman:

twitter: @seygnovert

my site: http://www.raphael-seygnovert.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seygnovert/

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us today. We at Vision and Verse wish you continued success in all your endeavors. Come back and see us again!

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