Hey, I'm Thistle (the brunette one). I am a polyglot, much like Leonardo DiCaprio who was both an artist, philosopher, and mathematician. Or he was in Interception I can't remember which. I digress. I like painting, drawing, badly playing guitar, and going for a run.

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My main source of inspiration is music. Artists like Portishead, Mitski, The Marias, etc. all have a sour, gritty, lustful tone to their songs that's incredibly indulgent. I hope to capture the same yearning and wallowing in my art. In terms of painters I really like John Waterhouse. His portraiture is dramatic and romantic, and for this I take a lot of inspiration from him. I also draw inspiration from Khadija Mbowe, a formally trained opera singer who pioneered Operatika, which blends Opera with pole performance in a beautifully sensual and queer way. They are documenting their 'artist development' where they basically woke up one day and decided that instead of longingly thinking about their wildest hopes and dreams, they will make active steps every day to get there, now. When Tammy first asked me to start FishJunkie with her, I had my reservations because she's a trained artist studying Illustration at Uni, whereas I finished my artistic education at GCSE (and I'm sure anyone who also did GCSE art can back me up on how shit it was). But art is an expression and I think the idea that anyone can create