We at the Capital Region Etsy Street Team (CREST) are having our very own Blog Carnival in order for the community to get to know us better. The topic this month:
How I Got Started With My (Various) Craft(s)
I have been writing, drawing, painting, gluing things together, and experimenting all of my life. All through school, my favorite classes were always art or any class that allowed me the opportunity to be creative. In the 90s, I went through a period where I was a very prolific painter. From the late 90s through about 2007, life circumstances conspired to keep me largely away from my art, but I did a pretty good amount of writing during that period. I have a lot of beginnings that will one day be spun into stories, poems, and perhaps articles.
In the very late 90s and very early 2000s, I did briefly have a venture with a friend. We spent one evening a week and whatever weekend time we could manage in her studio, creating different items, which we sold. We did craft shows for a couple of years. Sadly, in 2007, for reasons I'm still not really clear about, we parted ways, and I struck out on my own.
It was then that I started taking photos with the idea of selling them. In 2008, I started my little company, JenniferLynn Productions, LLC. In the time I was working with my friend, I became very excited at the prospect of taking risks and stretching and challenging myself, but clearly she had a different vision. On my own, I've been able to move forward with my plans.
I started selling crafts, because while I wanted to create, I also wanted to offer people things that they could use and that could help to beautify their living and work spaces. Also, because I'd been away from brush and easel for so long (at least 10 years,) my skills had become rough, leaving me feeling unprepared to offer my paintings. (I am planning to offer prints of some of my work from the 90s, but I have not gotten there yet.)
I have always had a drive to create. Except for that rough period I mentioned, I have just never been able to not make art. It is like breathing. It is something I must do.
What I have on offer now will no doubt change as I further define my style, find my market(s), and clarify where I want to go, artistically.
I am grateful to be a part of CREST, because I know that mentors, friends, and colleagues are just an email away, and that there will be events I can attend, where I can sit down with other people to create, like I used to do with my friend. I know that there are people (besides my wonderful boyfriend) who are rooting for me and will lend a hand, a shoulder, or support if I need it. Community is powerful.
Making connections with other people is the main reason I create!
If you want to read more about how people have been inspired to start with their art, you can visit these links:
Sandi Volpe Designs
Birch Tree Jewelry
Sew Artsy
Collage and Clover
Life As We Live It
The Twisted Cow
Wild Hare Daily
Turquoise Angels
Crazy Mokes
Sapphire Child (The Plant Geek Chronicles)
Of Cats and Crafts
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4 comments:
Nice feature. thanks for sharing
Glad you liked it.
Really--looking back, it seems there was never a time when I was not doing something creative.
aaaahhhhh Jenn -
you are full of interesting surprises :) I am glad to have met 'cha!
Linda
Likewise, Twisted! :)
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