strawberryluna ... Pennsylvania, USA

Artist: Allison / "strawberryluna"
Business: strawberryluna
Web site: strawberryluna.com
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

What do you create?
Mostly screenprinted rock posters and art prints currently, some tshirts too, though I do other design work as well. And undies! I love printing on underwear, it's so fun and playful.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
That's a two-parter for me. I do my design, drawing, and creative work from home usually. I do a lot of sketches in any one of the two or three sketch books that I have floating around, but all of the final work is completed on my computer and lots of it is done on a computer entirely (I'm a Mac girl!) Then, for the printmaking aspect of my work I go to my studio which is a great shared/community space print studio called Artists Image Resource or AIR for short. It's my home away from home.


Do you have another "day job" or did you leave one to pursue your art?
At the moment, I do not have another day job. I've been doing this design and printing thing as my full-time job now for a year and half. I'm really really lucky I get to do what I love for a living.

Where and what did you study?
I studied just about everything but art. Other than art history that is, I think I took every single one of those classes that I possibly could. My education was primarily in literature, linguistics, and developmental psychology. Until I started printing, I never really thought of myself as capable of producing visual art like the people whose work I admired.


Where do you find inspiration?
Anywhere! As cliched as it sounds, it's entirely true. I am as likely to be fascinated by random patterns in a sidewalk as I am by a piece of fine art. When I am looking to recharge my batteries I'll take my dog for a walk in the small woods near our house or maybe page through an art or design book. A lot of times, when I have a project to get started I think about color first, sort of reflexively and often build from there. I really love it when I just stumble upon an old textile pattern or something completely unrelated to what I am working on, and it sparks an idea.


What motivates you?
I love my job, that's the ultimate motivation. There are certainly days where I am tired and stressed out by deadlines or feeling uninspired, but when I think about working my old day job, well, it sort of snaps everything back into place mentally for me. Before I started really working in art and design, I would have these explosions in my head where a fully formed pieces of art but have no way of getting them from inside my head out into the world. So, I always felt like a bit of a logjam was clouding my mind. I still get those explosions, but now I have a release for some of them, and that's a huge motivation as well.


When did you start doing this?
I began screenprinting in November of 2004. I had always wanted to learn how and found out that a community print studio was in my city. They offer an "Open Studio" night where anyone can come in and screenprint once a week for a low fee (currently about $5) and get a real hands on sink-or-swim go at print making. I fell in love almost immediately with screenprinting and started going weekly to work on simple art prints just for fun, just for myself with no expectations of anyone ever seeing them, letting alone buying them. One of my prints caught the eye of a guy who connects poster artists with gigs in Philadelphia and he asked me if I wanted to try making rock posters a go. While being secretly terrified about, I agreed to try. That was in April of 2005 when I did a poster for the band Garbage, and I've been making posters ever since.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I do, major big time. When I was really young I drew constantly as well as built things out of clay and legos almost compulsively. I also grew up writing short stories, from childhood through college. At some point I felt much more comfortable writing than visual arts and just tended to keep working on that rather than drawing. By the time that high school came around I'd begun to think of my creative expression in terms only of the written word. However, I continued to be in love with other people's work.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
It sounds odd, but doing design and printmaking full-time was actually almost an accident. About a year and a half ago I quit a very stressful day job with every single intention of finding another day gig. My husband, who has a good day job, was incredibly supportive and we agreed that since I had a little bit of freelance work at first, I'd work on that and put off finding a real job for a week or two and then suddenly it was six months later. I'd managed to keep finding just enough work to get me through the next couple of weeks or a month when I realized that is nearly the textbook definition of the freelance life. It felt crazy, like walking off of a cliff. Had I not quit my day job without a contingency plan, I doubt that I would have had the courage to try being a working artist for a living – and yet, here I am. It's one of those golden times where a hasty decision was in fact absolutely for the best, but there was no way that I could have known that when I left my job.

I wish that I could tell some fantastic story of having a great idea to reinvent the wheel... but the truth is far more obscure than that. I really started out by just working on what I loved and was lucky enough to make some good networking connections that provided an excellent outlet for my screenprinting. From there, I suppose more than anything it was having the support and help of my lovely husband and my studio, AIR.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Honestly? It's another less-than-glamorous-tale. Before I started screenprinting, I had been lurking on a poster/screenprinting website forum called gigposters.com and wanted to make a post, which entailed having to come up with a screen name. I believe that I stared at the wall for a moment, just string words together that sounded nice, fresh, perhaps searching for a compound word made of things that I like. Believe it or not, Chocolatepuppykisses didn't quite roll off the tongue so well and strawberryluna just kind of ended up being the happenstance choice at that moment, well before I had aspirations to start my business. Once I did sort of have to start taking my design more seriously and come up with a name for my studio and art work, I didn't feel comfortable using my real name. I figured that "strawberryluna" was feminine and open to interpretation and as good as anything else that I might come up with so I went with that. I feel like this whole interview reveals me to be a bit of a random goofball. Well, that is a fair assessment of my character, what can I do? Hee.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love getting the chance to try new imagery and techniques. I feel as though I learn something new nearly every time that I work on a new project or print.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Paris, no contest. We got to go there in late 2001 for about a week. I love the ocean and am always fascinated by any seaside places that I go, but Paris was absolutely amazing every single moment that we were there, I'm sure not speaking excellent, but getting to practice my high school French was a part of that. Being surrounded by an culture much older and so richly in love with history and art was incredible.


A book you love:
One! Yipes! Can I mention two? We Have Always Lived In The Castle, by Shirley Jackson and The Master And Margarita, by Mikail Bulgakov. Both have these constantly wavering levels of beauty and creepiness that leave you unsure about the relative innocence of the main character that is like following a quiet wooded path as twilight falls.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Perhaps that I have never had nor been able to fully comprehend something like a 5-year-plan, but seem to find my way into good situations regardless. In fact, the 5-year-plan types of questions confuse and minorly stress me out because not only is it difficult for me to form one that feels right, I also know that my life had never gone forward in ways that I could have predicted. I'm a big proponent of meandering whenever possible.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Being self-taught.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Definitely stay with your guts. If you are interested in and passionate about what you do, then stick with it. Networking is something that is so important for any business to succeed and I think that women have a natural aptitude for it, in that we are raised to be so social and interact with the people around us. But we often don't fully realize that not only is it a social grace but also an important business tool.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Meeting deadlines! In some ways it's the hardest part of my job, scheduling time for design and printing 1-2 times a week at my shared space studio, as well as answering emails and sending out any orders that I have. However, one of the great things about making posters is that the work is very time-sensitive and a piece has to be done and gone by a certain, hard date. So in a way, that's very freeing to me as I don't have the luxury/albatross of working endlessly on a piece as I might if I were a painter. If that were the case, I'd probably finish one piece a year!


What do you love to do in your free time?
Spend time with my husband and friends, giggle as much as possible and just get out of my head. I work alone and from home and sometimes that can make me a little stir-crazy so it's so refreshing to just spend time with friends and laugh.


What are you working on right now?
Other than this interview, I am very close to finishing a project that I started close to two years ago when one of my best friends wanted to have a few prints for her newborn daughter's bedroom. That was the beginning of my alphabet series, which at the time, I have to admit, 26 separate designs and prints didn't really seem like a lot. Oh, but it is! I have three left to complete in the next two weeks and I can't wait to the series all done and ready.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I'm really excited to get working on some art prints and I'd like to try and do some textile designs in the coming year. We'll see!

Mtjoyschool Studios ... Pennsylvania, USA

Artist: Debra Greenleaf CampbellBusiness: Mtjoyschool Studios
Web site: mtjoyschool.etsy.com
Location: Oxford, Pennsylvania

What do you create?
I create artwork in various media. I tend toward the mixture of paper and paint and I create a mess... every day.



Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a small studio in my home and I work whenever I can. Early mornings and late nights are the best times for studio work.

The Mt. Joy School and by association, Mtjoyschool Studios are located on the outskirts of Pennsylvania Dutch Country in picturesque Oxford, Pennsylvania. A veritable hub of intellectualism and culture!


Do you have another "day job", or did you leave one to pursue your art?
I did leave a "day job" but not to pursue my art. I held a faculty position at an art college and I left it to be home with my children, specifically my son. In late 2004 my son Jackson was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. I left my academic career to manage his therapy schedule and to advocate for him. Initially, his Autism presented as being rather severe, it was absolutely necessary that a parent be with him at all times. I began creating again and listing my artwork for sale on Etsy during the summer of 2006.


Where and what did you study?
I have a Bachelors and Masters degrees from Penn State's College of Art and Architecture.

Where do you find inspiration?
I work on several different series simultaneously. My Paper Landscapes are obviously inspired by the land around me, which is quite lovely. My "Home" series was inspired by the great big new house that was built overnight in front of my little antique cottage, virtually destroying my view of the country that inspired the series previously discussed. That series has since evolved from a negative commentary on sprawl and consumerism to a nice little folk series glorifying the family home. I decided to be cheerful about it, basically. My past, my roots and origins are closely linked with Pennsylvania. Dutch Folk art. My grandmother was raised as a Mennonite and she was an oil painter in a naive, folk style. My series of florals, which I'm calling Mod/Pop/Folk was inspired by Pennsylvania. Dutch Folk art, my Grammy and my childhood in a conservative, agriculturally-based community in Southern Lancaster County. I am also inspired by my son. He loves geometric shapes, patterns and bright colors. Most of my pop pieces are for Jack. He will stare at length at a pattern of brightly colored circles. He loves shapes and he loves to count – all elements that find their way into my art. My sources for inspiration are all over the map!


What motivates you?
I am fortunate to have a great education in the fine arts and I don't want it go to waste. I have a lot of creative energy and ideas and I want to use them for good. I also want to make money!

When did you start doing this?
I joined Etsy to buy handmade goods at Christmas of 2005. I did not start listing my own work until July 31, 2006. I do exhibit on occasion, but I have never sold through another online venue, only Etsy.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
As I mentioned my grandmother was a painter, she taught me her oil techniques and style beginning at age 12. I do remember excelling at art always and loving it. I also took classes in sewing and crafts through 4H. I remember being absolutely in love with crafts. I was a macramé whiz in the '80s!!

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
My son Jackson eventually entered a pre-school, in an Autism-support classroom and I had some time to kill. I began painting a bit – a few abstract and making a few landscape collages. While browsing Etsy I decided that my work was good enough, comparable and I decided to list a few pieces just to try it out. It mushroomed and now I have a business!


How did you choose the name for your business?
My house is a restored and "augmented" red brick, one-room schoolhouse dating to 1885. In our region of Pennsylvania, one room schools were often given really happy, Utopian names, usually somewhat biblically derived. My home is the Mt. Joy School, it's carved on the key-stone, over the front door of my house. When my parents were newly married and I was born, our first home was a schoolhouse too – the Mt. Eden School. My mother actually went to school in my home in the mid-1950s. This house is unique, it's funky, it's historic and it's where my studio and family are!


What do you love most about creating your work?
It's varied; unusual and always changing...like me. I don't subscribe to the antiquated notion that to be successful you have to have one signature style or stick to one media. Our personalities are not predictably consistent or one-dimensional, so our artwork shouldn't be either! I love to have ideas, to write them down in my journal – several a day, to work them to completion and to hang them upon a wall.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I've traveled a fair amount, especially while in school. I'd have to say, though, that the most fascinating place that I've been was to dinner in an Amish household. I was one mile from my home, but I felt as though I was on a different planet.

A book you love:
Oh man! I'm not sure that I can name just one. I read at least two books at a time. I just finished Nobody Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July and I really appreciated it. It was well written, thoughtful, sexy and sufficiently random.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
I'm not sure that it's interesting, but it is important: I'm a really excellent friend.

What achievement are you most proud of?
This may sound odd, but I'm most proud of leaving my teaching gig to be at home with Jackson. It was the most selfless thing I've ever done.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Be persistent and do not be afraid, or too proud, to ask for help. Women entrepreneurs are refreshingly supportive of their own.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
BURN OUT!!! I can always generate ideas, make working sketches and compose something cool. The actual labor though, the grunt work and the effort that is required is often difficult for me. My life is tiring: little kids with special needs, a home, therapy schedule, meetings, Etsy and my private students...from time to time I need a break. I care about myself enough to take a break when I need to.


What do you love to do in your free time?
Free time? When I carve for myself, a tiny niche of relative inactivity... I like to talk to my friends. I also read, watch movies and drink tea. I like to write too. I love having a blog, although I have trouble keeping up with it. My other "guilty pleasure" is painting in watercolor.

What are you working on right now?
A couple of larger abstracts, a pop art piece similar to things that I've done in the past, but in an palette of browns and Paper Landscapes in anticipation of Christmas.


What do you hope to achieve next?
This is a tough question for me. Right now, most of my goals are for my children and I am very content with what I've achieved this year professionally. I love painting illustrations in watercolor and pen and ink, sort of a more modern version of Tasha Tudor or Beatrix Potter. It's just so different from what I currently do, but I love it! Watercolor is relaxing and challenging. What I make is really good, and also totally unexpected by those that know my artwork. I would love to illustrate a children's book in that manner.

Amy Leong ... Alberta, Canada

Artist: Amy Leong
Web site: amyleong.etsy.com
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

What do you create?
Paintings, photographs, drawings and I also write in my spare time.

Where and when do you do your creative work?
Every chance I get, but there is never enough time in a day. I find myself planning out paintings and other creative concepts every time I lay down at night. Some of my best ideas come to me right before I fall asleep. I am constantly coming up with new project ideas, I just wish I had the time to execute all of them.


Do you have another "day job"?
I am currently in university doing my last year of my after degree. It is tough to juggle both school and art sometimes. The more exposure my art gets, and the more sales I generate, the more difficult it is to abandon art and get into school mode every September. I make a living in the summer by selling my work, but I continue to get numerous commissions throughout the year. It is hard because I do have to turn down many great art-related opportunities during the school year.


Where and what did you study?
I finished my BFA at the University of Alberta in 2006 and am currently in my fourth year of my Education after degree.

Where do you find inspiration?
I would have to say that I find other artists to be my inspiration. Not just a select few, but all artists in one way or another. There are so many talented people in the world. Right now I am experimenting with a wide range of mediums and subject matter. Other artists continually challenge me to push the envelope, to try new things. It is important to never let yourself get too comfortable with what it is that you are doing, then your work loses its spontaneity and a great deal of its intrigue.


What motivates you?
It always helps when other people appreciate what I do. It motivates me to keep trekking along. It's a great feeling to know that so many people have brought a part of me into their homes by hanging my art on their walls.

When did you start doing this?
I have been selling my work for the last seven years in various venues ranging from art galleries to hair salons and I just began selling my work online a little over a month ago.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
From my earliest memories I have always loved art. I would sit and draw for hours when I was a kid. I also remember meticulously filling in coloring books with pencil crayon, taking great care not to venture outside the lines. My grandmother's house had a large den with a counter that ran along one entire side of the room. It was always overflowing with my sketches, various craft projects and poems. Art has always been a very important part of my life.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I sort of fell into selling my art in a way. In the beginning of course, I wasn't overly business-savvy. I would say it hasn't really become a business until the last two years or so. I am starting to understand more about the complexities of selling. I realize now that it takes far more than just talent to be a successful artist. It is largely about promotion and confidence, and it takes a long time to figure out even basic things like how much to charge for your work. I realized however, that if I was to devote adequate amounts of time to doing art, I had to find a way to make a living at it too. Working a 9-5 office job wouldn't have allowed me to pursue my art career to the extent that I wanted.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love the experimentation. Working with new materials or new subject matter is always exciting. Sometimes it doesn't turn out at all and I fall flat on my face, but then there are the times when I discover something new and create something that is really successful. That's the best feeling in the world. To look at something and know that your hard work has paid off and that you are growing and improving as an artist. It's that feeling of limitless potential that I love. I am always striving to do something great, and once in a while when I do, it makes it all worthwhile.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I travelled to China this spring. The history there is amazing! It was definitely a place where I encountered a sensory overload.

A book you love:
The Time Travellers Wife. I had a lump in my throat for an entire day after I finished it. I haven't met a woman yet who hasn't loved it.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
That is a hard question to answer but I would have to say that one of the unique things about me is my background. My father is Chinese and my mother is Irish, Scottish, Welsh. After immigrating to Canada in the early 1900s my Chinese grandfather opened a store as a practicing herbalist, my grandmother was an accomplished musician. On my mother's side, my grandfather owned one of the first photographic studios in Edmonton. The name was McDermid Studios, and the majority of Edmonton's early history was recorded by photographers in my family. My parents came from two very different places but growing up was a unique experience because of this. My beliefs, values and perceptions come from such a wide range of influences, and I feel fortunate to be a part of two very distinct cultural backgrounds.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I am proud that I have come as far as I have over the last while with respect to selling my work and gaining exposure. Mixing art with the business world is a bit daunting at first, but I think I have begun to find a place for myself amongst all the confusion. I just turned 25 and think I am a lot farther ahead than I was even a year ago.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
I think confidence is key. When you are first starting out it is all that you have. I really think that if you believe in what you are doing, other people will too.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
The biggest challenge I face in my work is how to balance creativity and business. Sometimes I will paint something that ends up being extremely commercially successful. I know that if I keep producing the same thing that they will likely sell very quickly. After a while though, an artist can become like an assembly line worker. If you stick to the same thing over and over, you lose a passion for what it is you're doing. It is not good for art to become too formulaic. When paintings are predictable, I believe they are no longer successful. I think it is really important to balance business (what the customer wants) and the need to explore and experiment and continually challenge yourself as an artist. It is never easy, but in order to be successful, it is necessary to find that happy medium.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I love shopping in decor stores. It's an addiction! I also really enjoy trying out new restaurants – mostly I go straight to the dessert menu!

What are you working on right now?
I recently tried my hand at illustrations. I became inspired by '50s images of children from old storybooks. I am currently selling these prints online. I am also in a bird phase right now, but my most recent project is a series of collages using blown up old stamps and other vintage ephemera.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I am so overwhelmed with ideas right now that I hope to be able to devote as much time as I can to my art over the next while. My next project in the way of selling my work online will probably be to begin posting some larger works. I sell mostly oil and acrylic paintings in and around the city, but I would really love to reach a larger audience.

My goal is also to be able to combine my two degrees and find a full time position as a high school art teacher. That way I can concentrate a lot more on what I love most. I think it is so important for youth to be able to express themselves creatively. It is a freeing experience and something I hope to share with as many young people as I can.

She Rides The Lion ... California, USA

Artist: Sonia Romero
Business: sheridesthelion (she rides the lion)
Web sites: soniaromero.com, sheridesthelion.etsy.com, myspace.com/soniaromero
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

What do you create?
I create many things, including mixed media linocut prints and paintings. My subject matter currently includes animals, trees, children, food, life in Los Angeles, my strange humor and hopefully a little magic.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
My studio is located at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains in northeast Los Angeles. It’s the best of both worlds, city and country. My house is a live/work converted garage. I work all days at any times.


Do you have another "day job"?
I am a fine artist full time and always have been. Occasionally I teach or do guest workshops. I teach children, teens and adults, in general art and printmaking.


Where and what did you study?
I studied at the Los Angeles County Highschool for the Arts, in visual arts, and the Rhode Island School of Design, in printmaking. My education continued in the Los Angeles art scene, where another set of skills is needed, such as press savvy and relationships with artists and galleries.


Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration from Google images, antique paper goods, museums, news, people I meet, social situations, fairy tales, illustrations, special moments in my day to day life.

What motivates you?
I have always been motivated. I think its because the alternative is utter boredom and sloth, and that doesn’t make me happy. You have to be self-motivated to make it as an artist.


When did you start doing this?
When I was conceived.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I grew up in a family of artists, including both of my parents. I have been creating artwork from the beginning, and showing and selling artwork since I was around seven.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Well, if we are talking about selling art, I have been doing that for many years. However, I just opened up my online Etsy store in May of 2007. My Etsy store showcases my smallest and most shippable work. I thought it would be a great way to increase exposure. Web presence is becoming increasingly important to artists in today’s society. New customers can link to my regular site (www.soniaromero.com), and my regular customers can conveniently make purchases with credit cards and shipping.


How did you choose the name for your business?
She Rides the Lion is a continuing motif in my work. I am very attracted to the sweet and innocent/strong and ferocious duality. Yes, I am a Leo.

What do you love most about creating your work?
It gives me a sense of satisfaction and allows me to interact with the world in positive ways.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I spent a year in Rome, Italy, which was very inspiring and exciting.

A book you love:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Read it!

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I’m an artist, I’m talented, and I do something with that talent.


What achievement are you most proud of?
My artwork has brought me many great achievements throughout the years. I met President Clinton and had a show at the National Gallery when I was 17, I had my debut solo show last year, and I am working on my first permanent public art piece as we speak. I guess what I am most proud of is that feeling inside of me that this is what I should be doing.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Create a wonderful product that you love, make an excellent presentation of it, and learn how to promote it full time.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Myself.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to squeeze babies and frequent farmer’s markets.


What are you working on right now?
I am creating 13 linocut designs that will be blown up into 13, 4 x4 foot tile mosaic murals for the Macarthur Park metro station in Los Angeles. Public art, baby!

What do you hope to achieve next?
I am applying to grad schools this year. Onwards and upwards!