A short journey led me to an unassuming house, situated on the corner block just a few streets back from the main road in Bayswater. As I was greeted, we walked through the entrance, I couldn’t help but notice the mauve walls that lined the hallway, the light turquoise hue’s that filled the kitchen, the large pieces of art stacked up against the walls. This was the home of an artist, and that is exactly what I was there to see.
Coffee in hand, we made our way to the studio, AKA the spare bedroom. As we entered, a sign hung prominently on the door that read “Ishtar’s room of making $$, magic, creativity and good ideas.” Instantly, I was filled with the same joy kids (both young and old) feel as they enter candy stores. I could sense this room was a hive of creativity. I immediately spotted the little corner of inspiration, the hanging indoor plants and the desk that had everything you needed to create the day away. Today’s artist is none other than Ishtar Sophia, hospitality superhero by day, intuitive artist, nature lover and occasional art nude model every other moment.
Ishtar was born into a family of creatives, her father, a talented musician and carpenter, creating incredible privacy screens with intricate patterns (amongst everything else carpenters can build). Her mother, a sewer, drawer and all-round creative, helped shape Ishtars love for all things creative. Attending a Steiner school with a strong focus on all things creative helped re-enforce the love for sewing, painting, drawing, music. The passion sort of fell into the background after finishing school. It wasn’t until a trip over east with some friends and meeting an artist named Stewy reignited the flame. Since then, she has spent the last six years developing her style and building the business.
As we took a moment to flick through her drawings, I asked her how she would describe her work, to which she replied, “I don’t know, “I guess it’s just line drawings, line work and dot work to create minimalistic textures.” This is a pretty accurate representation since she loves tattoo arts and would love to be a tattoo artist one day. It’s fair to say that Ishtar’s art frequently features the nude female form, some more explicit than others. I quizzed her on the inspiration behind it, to which she replied, “I don’t know, I just love females, they are so good to look at with all the curves. The mother nature vibe, just natural, being nude is good, it’s good for you.” I asked if being an art nude model influenced her to draw in this style, however as it turns out the art nude modelling came after the drawings but has helped with compositions, poses and other inspirations for the illustrations.
Ishtar’s art portfolio includes everything from small line drawings to bigger, colourful mural pieces, recycled skateboards, and canvases created with a wide range of media. I once again found myself in complete awe of her talents. Her next big project includes painting the canopy of a mate’s mums troopy. I can’t wait to see the results
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