Rebecca Guay

By now, you all know about the Illustration Master Class that Boris and I taught at a few weeks ago. And you're probably also familiar with the beautiful lady who is the driving force behind bringing the Master Class to reality, Rebecca Guay. I've always admired her art as well as her strong, graceful form and her background in classical ballet (not to mention that she's a sweetheart!), so I've asked her to answer a few questions to share with all of you!










Me: How does your background in ballet affect your paintings?
Rebecca: One of the things that dance really gave my was an attention to detail and an awareness of the small things that make a pose beautiful when things are done well or awkward if they are not.
There is such scrutiny to detail in dance- the perfection of the line, the gesture of the body that leads the viewer out into the visual space surrounding the dancer. My training is in ballet, and although my anatomy is is totally wrong to have ever been a dancer in any real way myself, I did get the opportunity during years of classes to pack my visual memory with the beautiful forms and lines of truly gifted people. If I cannot have that "line" myself in life, I can have it in my art.

Me: How does your background in ballet affect your fitness routine?
Rebecca: I think I have a really good sense of body awareness from ballet that helps immensely in doing weights and cardio- as well as really good balance and core strength for things like kickboxing, which I love.

Me: Is it difficult to keep your fitness/nutrition routine consistent when you're under the pressureof deadlines?
Rebecca: Yeah- I'm bad with sugar, especially under stress- it's a problem. I try to use TRUVIA ( a derivative of stevia)- but I fall off the wagon.
If I keep a lot of fruit around I'm better, the summer is better overall.

Me: I heard you had a cool fitness breakthrough recently (pullup). Can you
tell us how great that was and how ecstatic you were?
Rebecca: I've been doing a rotating weights/cardio/ weights/yoga/weights/cardio routine in the last three months that includes a lot of pull up and chin ups ( assisted mostly with a chair).
I've always had lean looking arms, but not strong arms, now I can actually do a pull up un-assisted- which seems like diddley squat to most people but makes me totally giddy!

Thanks Rebecca!