Owl Spotlight: SquareJane

After being inspired by fellow painting Owls and on some prompting by them as well, I have recently delved back into the land of painting.

At one time in my life, it was a maniacal passion. I began experimenting with paint when I was in art classes in high school, trying water colors, and oils. My mother was once a painter as well and perhaps there is something genetic there. I gave up paints after school in favor of working to survive and forgot about it for awhile. Around the age of 20, I met an amazingly talented artist named Rob Nelms and we became inseperable friends. He showed me painting need not be quite so collegiate but instead more like gorilla warfare. Rob showed me how to stretch canvases made from disposed of items like cupboard doors or old box springs. Together we would pitch in our change and buy large cans of latex house paints and would prime our hand stretched canvas with drywall sealer paint. It was messy but it was INSPIRING. We would have our own art shows in our house we shared with two other roommates. It got to be a big deal and we sold alot of art, even making it into local papers. I heard the word "artist" floated around connected to my name and for the first time did not flinchquite so much in self-effacement.

I adore working with paints. I don't simply see painting as a way to create something attractive but more a way to capture a dreamscape from within my mind and share it with others. What my friend Rob taught me all those years ago was to be in tune with that inner crazy person because THAT is the person who paints things that others cannot. Sometimes it can mean an artist tumbles into madness as history has shown us over and over so I do my best to temper that with much more mundane daily life. Sometimes my paintings are whimsical in a fairytale kind of way and sometimes they are more gritty, hard and messy. They are almost always touched with my love of the absurd.

Currently, I am working on a series of small acrylic original paintings from my "One Crazy Spring" series laced with softer and bright colors

and a real sense of whimsy

Anyone can paint. Not everyone can draw but absolutely ANYONE with supplies and a desire can paint. You would be astonished to see what textures and colors the visual world of paint can lead you to. Please, even if you've never thought of yourself as an artist, try picking up a brush and some paint and get to work.

Stellar Seller: Belle and Boo

This week's Stellar Seller is Belle and Boo. She was nominated by CorkysCookies who bought some precious prints from her shop for her daughter's room! We contacted Mandy of Belle and Boo and requested she share her stellarness with the Etsy community. Here she is, enjoy!

Tell us and the Etsy world a bit about you, anything you'd like to share...

My name is Mandy, I live in North London with my partner Russ, who is an incredibly talented animator (& my tech support!) We own a lovely one bed garden flat & recently had a HUGE studio built in the garden. It takes me 8 seconds to get to work, so its a blessing I have to go the post office so often & interact with the outside world!
I run the business with my friend Kate, we make a great team, she is very business minded allowing me to be the flaky arty one !
I have a naughty expensive habit of buying a decaf latte from the Italian cafe almost everyday & I never miss an episode of the Archers.

How did you meet Etsy? Was it love at first sight?

I was first introduced to Etsy by a friend I was staying with in Sydney, she had recently opened a shop peepbags & had also bought a lot of really cool stuff.I was immediately hooked & started planning what I would sell. Once I had returned home to London, I spent a week sketching out ideas and in Nov 07 uploaded my first illustration 'Serenity Blue' I actually thought I had done it wrong as it quickly disappeared, after a frantic 20 mins or so I realised it had sold & that was he beginning of my Etsy story.

How did you get into making what you make?

I studied illustration at Leeds University & my final show was a collection of paintings of children. I went on the exhibit in small galleries, illustrated a number of children's books & worked a lot in the greetings card industry. The wonderful response to my etsy shop gave me the confidence to draw from my heart, I feel lucky everyday that this is my job.

Describe yourself in 1 word: nostalgic

Do you have a favorite:
word or saying? hug
color? red
book and/or author?Milly-Molly-Mandy
holiday?a long one !
Etsy seller? mrseliotbooks

Owls Spotlight, LuckyTwentyOne

Luckytwentyone has been on Etsy for almost two months and we are hooked. As the general "shopkeep", I (Andrea) do the research, promotion and any other business portion of running the store. Justin is the main artist, creating the items and concepts. Together, we are luckytwentyone. Though we are new to Etsy, I feel like we have already gone through different "chapters" of evolution as artists selling their fare.

We sell on and off Etsy, but our Etsy store has been our main avenue for sales. We hope to transform our shop into a full-time business for Justin. It's been his life dream to be an artist for a living. At this time we sell ink drawings and both acrylic and oil paintings but we hope to expand very soon. Our store is almost exactly a 50/50 ratio of drawings and paintings. Custom requests are always welcome - I feel like we are always working on something for someone and it is a lot of fun!

We will be adding sculptures, ink drawing notecard sets and ACEOs in the near future, so watch for that! We will offer anyone who makes a purchase after reading this blog FREE shipping (domestic OR international) on any item in the store by just mentioning you saw us in this article.

LuckyTwentyOne is a first for us as a team, they are 50% male! Though Andrea's really the active member of our team, Justin's part of the gang too! Be sure to check out their shop for more of their great artwork, the items pictured in this article are just the beginning!!!