Studio Update // Spring 2018
If you can believe it, I've officially been in business for two years now. So much has changed in that amount of time - I've gained a website with a shop, an additional medium using pastels, I became a co-leader for the TuesdaysTogether Creative and Chronically Ill group for chronically ill creative small business owners (my co-leader who started the group is the amazingly talented painter and fierce disability advocate, Kait, of Larkspur & Laurel), and I have launched my North American wildlife collection in both prints and notecards. It has been a difficult two years with a lot of sacrifices made in exchange for getting things up and running, but I can say that I'm finally starting to see my business heading in the direction I want it to for the long-term.
One of the most drastic changes I have seen in the past two years was in my own artwork. I started this business happy with where I was at, but with the intentions of refining my skills over time so I could learn to capture animals more accurately and with finer details. In search of fulfilling that goal, I set out to improve at least one thing with each piece I completed. I experimented with different ways of achieving different fur textures, with layering colors, and with how to achieve even finer details, refining my process as the time has gone on. Because of my history as an environmental educator and birder, I have a strong passion for capturing animals in their natural state. It's not everyone's cup of tea - some people have a preference for more creative flair in their pieces - but for me, I feel like each piece is a study of that individual species. I get to study the texture of the fur or the structure of a bird's wings. I get to find the small differences that make each species unique and I can capture a perfect representation of what I love about nature and what I love about companion animals.
I am so excited to see my own progress over the past two years and it makes me very excited for the future and what it brings. Managing my health has been my full-time job for many years now and while I am still going through surgeries and extensive treatments regularly for my lupus and related complications, it has been a pleasure to be able to provide clients with portraits of their beloved pets, in addition to bringing more of nature into this world. I am so thankful for the people who have entrusted me to capture the memories of their four-legged friends and I am beyond excited with each print and set of notecards that gets sent out into this world with my name on them. Thank you so much for being a part of my journey.