Abstractheart ... New York, USA

Artist: Susan Foss
Business: Susan Foss and Abstractheart
Web sites: susanfoss.com and abstractheart.etsy.com and c-scapeduneshack.blogspot.com
Location: Hudson Valley, New York, USA

What do you create?
I have a few bodies of work that I create simultaneously. I make mixed media collages of houses that are all about place and space. I paint sexy, little fruit paintings and larger, colorful, textural abstract paintings.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Recently I rented a small studio outside my home for the first time, and I go there as often as I can. In summer I work in the studio many days, during the “school year” I work on weekends and days off, but the creative process is ongoing, in my thoughts every day.

Do you have another "day job"?
At present I teach high school art.

Where and what did you study?
I got my BFA from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and I recently received my Masters in Painting at SUNY New Paltz.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find an enormous amount of inspiration looking at other art, but also in the world I see around me every day – colors and how they interact, textures, peeling paint or paper, rust, rocks. I also pay a lot of attention to shapes and how they react to one another.

What motivates you?
The feeling I get when I am creating, the satisfaction of seeing the piece come together. Frankly, I couldn’t not do this. I have to paint, I have to create, it keeps me centered, happy and sane.



When did you start doing this?
I have always made art, except for a period of a few years when my kids were very young and I was running a restaurant. I started showing and selling my work a few years ago, and started selling on Etsy earlier this year.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes, I went through a lot of Crayolas! Later when I was 10, my parents signed me up for oil painting lessons on the Jersey shore with a man named Travis Neidlinger. I learned an incredible amount from him during that time and my paintings won ribbons at local art shows.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I’ve always been somewhat of an entrepreneur. I worked freelance in NYC for years, and then moved upstate and opened a restaurant for about eight years. Now it’s time for me to merge my business ability with my passion for art making.

How did you choose the name for your business?
It’s a play on words…it started out as my user name for eBay – I was selling work on there last year before I found Etsy.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love the zone I can get into when I am absorbed in my painting. Time, stress and distractions all fall away and I find myself in a kind of dance with the piece... I begin by leading and then the painting tells me where to go next.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I have been to many fascinating places...but here’s one- sitting in the dining room of a taxi driver and his wife in Greece, and eating goat’s head with brains for dinner.


A book you love:
We just read Ahab’s Wife by Sara Jeter Naslund for my book club, it’s a fascinating story of a very strong woman.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I have a lot of really good stories.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I am proud that I have achieved most of what has been on my goal setting plans for the past few years: gallery shows, an artist residency, selling my work, and having a studio outside of my home.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Finding the time I want to spend in the studio!

What do you love to do in your free time?
Read, travel, eat good food, cook – and I am slightly obsessed with real estate.


What are you working on right now?
I have a solo show of my abstract oil paintings coming up in Beacon, New York next July, so I am focusing on that body of work.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I would love to be able to make a living solely from my art.

Tummyache ... Warragul, Australia

Artist: Julie Knoblock
Business: Julie Knoblock / Tummyache
Web sites: julieknoblock.com, tummyache.etsy.com, julieknoblock.blogspot.com
Location: Warragul, Victoria, Australia

What do you create?
Illustration for clients, personal artwork for myself and my shop. I do stray from the path occasionally and create other crafty items, but always return to the humble 2-D format.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Most of the time I work during the day in my studio which consists of a small room and what is supposed to be a dining room. My computer desk is in the small room, and I do all my painting and drawing in the dining room. I like to be in the middle of the house working and not tucked away into a corner. It's nice to work whilst my partner Jim is watching telly and we are still in ear shot of one another.


Do you have another "day job"?
I kind of have two jobs though the boundaries are quite blurred. I work as an illustrator, but also run my shop tummyache and create my own artwork, plus sell some handmade products including things such as bags and purses. It did take me a while to do art as a full time career. I've had boring and odd jobs in the past; working in a bingo centre and picking mushrooms can both be seen in my resume.

Where and what did you study?
I left school early and did a folio enhancement course which helped me to get into an illustration course where I acquired a diploma in art and illustration.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration everywhere. The silly things in life can really inspire me. Something someone says, a road sign, a comedian, a song. I could see a texture on a wall, cracked bits of paint on a door frame. Things just stand out sometimes. Menial things. Then of course I am hugely inspired by other artists, and they also inspire me to stay motivated. I see stuff other people are creating and it just drives me to do my own work. It creates an urge.


What motivates you?
Like in the previous question other artists. This can also include musical artists. Just seeing people create something fantastic and thinking about how hard they must have worked makes me want to do the same.

When did you start doing this?
When I was old enough to hold a pencil! I started illustration around the years 1999-2000. I opened my online shop in August 2006.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Oh yeah. Everyone said I'd be an artist when I was young. I remember being in my room for three days (or maybe that's just how I remember it) drawing a tree and every leaf on it meticulously with my 72 Derwents that were my pride and joy. Sometimes I'd get annoyed that people would only see this quality in me. I remember an exercise we did in high school were everyone in the class had to write something nice about you anonymously. I got 28 pieces of paper that said "You are a good drawer." Ho-hum!


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Even though I love people, I hate serving them. I dislike the work environment and prefer to work on my own. It had always been the plan. Now that I'm getting into my own artwork and shop a lot more I'm moving even further away again from people's orders, which is exciting me.

How did you choose the name for your business?
I work under my own name for illustration, and Tummyache for my shop. My stuff I see as as kind of cute but weird, strange... so I needed a name that was cute, but also a bit "wrong," hence "Tummyache."


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love the feedback I get from people. I love when I do an artwork and I'm happy with how it turns out. I get excited that people like my work. The artists I love I hold in such high regard; so when people write stuff to me and say the same things about me as I would my arty idols, for a moment it puts me in a fantasy that I'm on the same level as them. Until my self-critical nature kicks in again!

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I went to China last year. I'd have to say that was pretty fascinating. So grungy and complicated. Very inspiring.


A book you love:
I always remember Stones From The River by Ursula Hegi. I'm not a huge book reader (short attention span) but I do love to read non-fictional books about anything from world issues to gardening and art. And magazines.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I was painfully shy as a kid and teenager. I had a terrible time trying to fit in at high school. I'm not so bad now, though certain people can make me revert to my old ways.


What achievement are you most proud of?
The achievement I am most proud of is finally settling into what I feel is a personal style with my art. I struggled for years and constantly felt unhappy with my work. I've been through many style changes (which my website will probably show – I really need to update it). I am really comfortable with where I am at now, and this allows me to enjoy what I do. For me it's not about how much stuff I sell, or how much money I make, but how content I am.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Don't be afraid to ask others that are where you want to be questions that you may have. A friend of mine did come across a nasty artist once when asking for advice, but I think that was the exception. I've asked advice from many people and everyone I've asked has been really friendly and helpful.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Periods of non-inspiration. These are getting fewer and further between though. Most of the time images or ideas pop into my head during the day or through dreams I have, but I do go through stages where nothing new is coming to me, nothing is exciting me. I find this can usually be remedied by getting out the sketch book and to start doodling. I'm also a lazy person by nature and find it hard to discipline myself. I try very hard not to get sucked in by cheesy daytime television!


What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to see friends and family, to hang out with my partner Jim and my two dogs. Because I work in isolation most of the time I like to just be around people whenever I get the chance. Lately I have got back into playing my guitar again. Sometimes nothing beats sitting in the backyard rugged up in front of a fire with a cup of jasmine tea, my dogs and Jim.


What are you working on right now?
Right now I am working on some illustrations for some women's rights leaflets. Also some educational publishing stuff, and always new artwork that could possibly make it into my shop in the form of art or originals. I always have a huge list of stuff to do.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I am working on veering away from illustration and to continue being my own art director and to just be an "artist" and not an "illustrator." I'd love to do a painting that I'm 100% happy with!

Fabrications ... Illinois, USA

Artist: Mary Laskey
Business: Fabrications
Web sites: marstinia.etsy.com and www.fabrications.net
Location: Chicago, Illinois

What do you create?
I work primarily with copper and silver to create art jewelry and small dishes with kiln-fired glass enamel designs.


What is involved in enameling?
Enameling is the process of firing finely ground pigmented glass onto metal in a kiln. It is an ancient process that can be traced to ancient Byzantine times. It was quite popular in the the US as a hobby craft in the 1950s and 1960s, but has since become something of a lost art that not many people are familiar with.


My glass enamel designs are created on copper or fine silver with multiple layers of different colors of glass enamel powder and require a series of firings (three to six on average, sometimes more). My kiln is quite small so each piece is fired individually, not in batches like ceramics.

The glass enamels I work with are ground to the consistency of powdered sugar. I apply the glass powders to the metal surface by using small sifters and sifting on an even layer of enamel, then I fire it in an electric kiln at 1500 degrees Farenheit. A firing usually takes about 2 to 6 minutes depending on the size of the metal piece. The powdered glass granules melt and fuse together to create a glossy solid layer of glass which is fused permanently to the metal base.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I share a studio space on the north side of Chicago with my husband, Grant, who is an artist and photographer. When possible, I generally spend my evenings and weekends in the studio. I also have a work room at home where I can assemble and finish pieces. There are so many hats to wear when you have a business that it seems like I'm almost always thinking about some aspect of my work.


Do you have another "day job"?
Presently I work during the day as a digital production artist for a large Euro Design home furnishings company.

Where and what did you study?
I have a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Art) in Photography from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. I also spent a year studying abroad, doing Visual Studies at Oxford Polytechnic in Oxford, England.


What inspires you and what motivates you?
I'm super attracted to mid-century modern designs 1950s-70s, so I'm really in my element with all kinds of mod stuff being back in style! I especially love the space-age and futuristic designs of those eras. I also love looking at nature and often find organic themes to incorporate into my work, especially textures and patterns one finds in plants, flowers, pods and the like. In the realm of art, I'm most inspired by the work of Alexander Calder, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro, Barbara Hepworth and June Schwarcz.


When did you start doing this?
I started making jewelry in 1990. I became a full-time metalsmith and enamelist in 1998.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I have always loved art projects, drawing and making things at a very young age. I still have a little quilt that my mother helped me sew when I was five years old. It's made from fabrics that my grandmother used to make clothes for my sister, brother and me.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I've always loved jewelry and have a large collection of costume jewelry. When I meet people, I have a bad habit of noticing what jewelry they are wearing before I register anything else about them. I started making my own jewelry for fun just after I graduated from college. I didn't have any training at all, so I recycled vintage jewelry and reused the beads to make my own pieces. I would wear my creations to work and some of my co-workers liked them so much that I began to sell my jewelry to them from time to time.


I quit my full-time job in 1996 to become a freelancer and have more time for my own creative projects. I took a one-day enameling workshop at a local art center and totally fell in love with the process. I also started taking metalsmithing classes. I met several people there who were artists successfully selling their jewelry at art fairs. I was inspired by them to try it myself. In 1998, I launched a website and my business, Fabrications. I've been extremely fortunate to have tremendous support from my family and friends and as well as some very loyal customers.


How did you choose the name for your business?
One of the definitions of the word fabrication is to construct or manufacture something made of metal. I also frequently imprint fabric textures onto my metal pieces to add texture, so there a sort of play on words involved.


What do you love most about creating your work?
Some of my best designs have just popped into my head, out of the blue. I love it when that
kind of spontaneity happens. Also, enameling is often quite unpredictable – I never know exactly what's going to come out of the kiln. I guess you could say that I love surprises! I've always enjoyed working with my hands, and there is just so much basic satisfaction in creating things.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I know I should say someplace exotic... and I've been to some fantastic places: Peru, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico. I love to travel, but there are so many distractions that I feel like I can't really get to know a place unless I spend a lot of time there. So truthfully, some of my favorite places to go are rather mundane. My favorite haunt at the moment is a prairie meadow near where I work. There are walking trails through it and I go there almost every day because it's different every day – new plants growing or blooming, different birds, animals and insects. There are constant changes and shifts in light, cloud patterns, sounds and smells. I
love it there because I feel like I can recapture the curiosity that you have as a child, when everything around you is fascinating and you can spend hours playing in a puddle.


A book you love: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I don't think of myself as a mystic, but I once had an out of the body experience. I was about five years old and I was running down the stairs at a neighbor's house and I tripped over a vacuum cleaner that had been left on the stairs and tumbled headlong down to the bottom. As I was falling, for a split second I was also standing at the bottom of the stairs watching myself
fall, as though the momentum of the fall actually carried me out of my body briefly. Luckily, I wasn't hurt, but that is probably the most bizarre thing that has ever happened to me. I think that experience has made a lasting impression on me.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I'm very proud of running my own business and doing what I love for nine years.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Always be confident and optimistic – especially when you're unsure of yourself. Positive qualities attract positive reactions from other people and will reinforce your goals.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Keeping up with the flow of ideas. I can't always drop what I'm doing to work on a new idea at the moment it occurs to me, so I always make sketches and notes about new designs or ideas, so I can revisit them when time allows. My sketchbooks are a great source of inspiration when I feel like I'm in a rut.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Take nature walks or hikes, ride my bike, play tennis, ski (if there's snow), read, take pictures, watch old movies with ridiculously naïve plots, spend time with Grant and our spoiled cockatiel, Sprout, and our families and friends.


What are you working on right now?
I'm working on a completely new line of jewelry pieces that combine my two of my favorite things: color and texture. The new pieces will have brightly colored geometric enamel shapes and mixed metal pieces that have a lot of hammered texture. I'm really enjoying the interplay of the geometric and organic qualities.


What do you hope to achieve next?
Besides having a clean house and a great summer, I'd really like to start a website or a blog about enameling. It's a wonderful process that deserves more recognition and I think it's overdue for a revival. There are many marvelous artists out there working with glass enamel and creating the next wave.

Curbside Treasure ... California, USA

Artist: Annie Yu
Business: Curbside Treasure
Web site: curbsidetreasure.etsy.com
Location: San Francisco, California

What do you create?
I make collages out of papers that I collect from everyday life. I have a weakness for maps and bus transfers, the blue insides of envelopes and old text pages from books.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I usually do my artwork at night, in my attic studio/bedroom. I have a huge amount of paper dumped in a drawer and I sift through for papers that appeal to me. I rip and cut and arrange and then paste when the composition appeals to me.

Do you have another "day job"?
My day job is being a student at a community college – I am an English major. I consider myself a college student by day, an artist/crafter by night.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration on Flickr, there are so many talented artists sharing their work there. I think so many things inspire me, such as my favorite poems and books, people out on the street, when I ride the bus, finding new paper. I also love trading with other artists on mail art groups because I love having a small art gallery in my room.


What motivates you?
I think having my own time and space to create stuff motivates me. Being inspired by other people's art and craft and pushing myself to keep creating new art motivates me. The support of my family and friends and other artists is wonderful as well.

When did you start doing this?
I am a self-taught artist and I have only been making collages for four years. I started doing visual journaling by filling up pages with collages when I was 14 and I kept going at it. I also started trading my art with other people around the world through mail art forums.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
As a kid, I had a hard time with drawing. in fact I hated to draw because nothing came out the way I wanted it to and nobody had taught me how to draw in the first place. I think as a child I only thought of painting, drawing and sculpture as art. Now that that I am a bit older, I realize that there is so much more to art than that.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I decided to start my own business at the end of January 2007. It was one of the goals I had for 2007 – to open a shop online and sell my work. I definitely didn't know what I was getting into when starting my Etsy shop, but I have had a lot of fun so far and I love the community on Etsy.

How did you choose the name for your business?
Curbside Treasure comes from a favorite novel of mine called White Oleander by Janet Fitch. The main character starts to look at flea markets for old suitcases to make assemblages.


What do you love most about creating your work?
What I love about making my collages is that it's very soothing, it helps me relax and feel less stressed. I also like how fun it is to use junk and turn it into art.

A book you love:
A book called Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier. The story is about a seventeen-year-old girl who is confused about her identity and is an aspiring photographer. I love how descriptive and magical the writing is.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
I am a city girl, being born and raised in San Francisco. I love public transportation and riding buses is always an interesting adventure with all sorts of characters.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Starting my shop on Etsy was a big leap for me. it is always wonderful to realize people enjoy my work and want to give it a good home.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Don't give up even if you think you want to. So far it takes a lot of persistence, promotion and patience. Wow, three Ps...but seriously, it's a lot of work getting my shop out there.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
The biggest challenge is feeling stuck when I start a piece. Another challenge is trying to balance school and making art.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I like to read and I go online too much. I also love (window) shopping.

What are you working on right now?
More artwork, of course... and whatever strikes my fancy. I also work in my art journal, which is a nonjudgmental messy place to collage.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I hope to keep moving forward with my shop by promoting more and having fun with it all.