Kate Endle Collage ... Washington, USA

Artist: Kate Endle
Business name: Kate Endle Collage, Kate Endle Illustration, Kate Endle Collage Illustration
Web sites: kateendle.com and kateendle.etsy.com
Location: Seattle, Washington

What do you create?
Illustrations and boutique art.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work from my home. I work whenever I feel like it. I'm mostly a night owl (no pun intended) but these days it seems like I'm working all hours of the day.

Do you have another "day job"?
Well, the only thing I've ever done "full time" is my art career and it's been an on-and-off kind of full time job – mostly with pay, sometimes no pay. I've always had weird little part time jobs. Right now, I spend about five to eight hours a week selling hard cider and exotic Japanese vegetables at our local farmer's markets. I also work about four to eight hours a week at Anthropologie helping in their visual department installing window displays, etc. Next month I start a worldwide tour with my boyfriend's band selling merchandise. I've made sandwiches, modeled nude, sold art supplies, worked as a decorative painter and muralist. I always have volunteer jobs, too. I love my weird little worky life. I never know what's going to happen from day to day – keeps me on my toes. It also keeps me from holing up in my studio – I have hermit tendencies.


Where and what did you study?
I've been studying art my entire life. My parents got me into art classes when I was very young. I never had that "What am I going to study?" dilemma. I received my BFA in Illustration from The Columbus College of Art and Design, in Columbus, Ohio.

Where do you find inspiration?
Oh, everywhere. For sure, Anthropologie – another good reason to keep the part time job. I try to stay away from blogs, but I can't help it. I can't believe the huge amount of brilliant creativity that is on the planet; it overwhelms me, which is why I try to avoid the internet. I love watching birds and hanging out in nature. Seattle is a truly awesome combo of urban, flora, and fauna. I look at lots of books and listen to music and stare into space. I had an ideal childhood and I draw a lot of inspiration from those times.


What motivates you?
Money and fame and happiness. Money pays my mortgage and fame..... well, how does the song go? "Remember my name. FAME! I wanna live forever. I'm gonna learn how to fly. HIGH!" I don't know why, but I want to be famous. Not like Madonna famous, but like my true loves – Marimekko, Orla Kiely, Lotta, Sukie, School House Rock, Charley Harper, and so on. Those artists have done such lovely work that makes everybody feel good inside.


When did you start doing this?
I started illustrating professionally while I was in college. I developed my painted illustrations a couple years out of school, around 1995. I started collaging in 2001. It took a few years to develop that style. I started selling the originals in 2004. I've been licensing and freelancing in the collage/collage illustration style for a couple of years.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I have very early memories, maybe as a toddler, of drawing on paper bags. My dad used to bring home paper from work, too – I would use the back side of his reports to draw and color with.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I started my business in 1995. I took baby steps, which is the great thing about art. You can put in as little or as much time/money as you can. Now a days, with blogs and online stores, it's so easy to get your work out there.

How did you choose the name for your business?
I like my name and I like how it sounds with "collage".


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love so many things about it! I really love the feeling of completion and knowing that everything just jives.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
One time I walked into a history museum on an island in Greece. I found myself in a gallery that housed hundreds of tiny, terracotta, primitive figurines. I had this massive feeling of chills running from the back of my head and down through my back. Then, I burst into tears. I'm not emotionally unstable, but I really lost it. Once I composed myself I started to read about the work on display. I was looking at sculpture from the Mycenaean period. I went onto read that this was the first time in the history of mankind that artists began signing their name to their work. I started to cry all over again; I'm crying now.


A book you love: Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami – that's a stunner. Lust for Life, Irving Stone. Poor Van Gogh...

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I have a dark streak – it's not very wide but it runs deep. My mother has always referred to it as my "devil look". It's not evil, mostly mischief.

What achievement are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of what I have achieved with my collage style. That's a good example of me making lemonade out of lemons. That style was developed during a very sad time in my life – both professionally and personally. To see it get out in the world makes me happy.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
I don't think I have anything that hasn't already been said – do what you love and don't worry about what other people think. Don't be afraid to screw up. Ask a lot of questions. Know all you can know about what you're selling. Down time is just as valuable as up time – maybe even more valuable. That one was a hard one for me to learn.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
PAPERWORK!! I hate paperwork!! Invoicing, putting together quotes, bills, contracts. Ugh.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I love going to see live music, spending time with my fella, hanging out with my friends and family, going to the gym, eating, sleeping, traveling, organizing, cleaning, riding my bike, museums, staring out the window, buying art... stuff like that.


What are you working on right now?
I'm working on a lot of super cool projects right now (when it rains, it pours). My boyfriend is the singer/songwriter for The Presidents of the United States of America. His songwriting is so luscious! We want to put together a CD/picture book for toddlers. His kids’ songs are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and I've seen him turn tots into crazy dancing maniacs. I'm just finishing up the final touches to note cards for Papyrus – a dream job for me. I'm starting work on a book for Cartwheel/Scholastic called I Can Help the Earth. I have a bunch of art shows I'm preparing for and commissions to complete. All good stuff!

What do you hope to achieve next?
I need to reproduce my images onto fun products. I need to create prints for my Etsy store. I need to move onto the next bigger and better stage of things. Always moving on up...

The Dangerous Mezzo ... Nova Scotia, Canada

Artist: Nina Scott-Stoddart
Business: The Dangerous Mezzo
Web sites: dangerousmezzo.etsy.com, operatic.etsy.com, trunkt.org/dangerousmezzo lunenburgartist.blogspot.com, lunenburgartist.com
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

What do you create?
Original multi-media collages and acrylic paintings. I also make costume jewellery for myself (and sell a few pieces via Etsy, under the name Operatic).


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Usually in the evening, in my office/studio upstairs in my big old house in the historic town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Sometimes I take some of my stuff down into the nice, warm Red Room downstairs (where the t.v. is) and I'll collage while hanging out with my guy. In good weather (or on vacation) I'll take my clobber outside and paint en plein air.


Do you have another "day job"?
I left my last regular "day job" (library technician) about 15 years ago to pursue my principal art, which is classical singing. (I'm a mezzo soprano, hence my user name!) I am now a professional singer, opera producer and opera director and am pretty busy with it. But my husband David and I moved to Nova Scotia five years ago, which has given me more time to do visual art, which was my first love.


Where and what did you study?
I did a two year college diploma course in library techniques, then went to York University in Toronto for Music and Visual Arts. I have a BFA as a result of that excursion into higher education.


Where do you find inspiration?
I love old black and white glamour photography, as exemplified by photos of opera diva Maria Callas. I also have always loved typography, so I enjoy starting a collage with pages from old books or music manuscripts. For my paintings, I'm inspired by the landscape of Nova Scotia – rocks, sea, trees and old houses.


What motivates you?
Selling my work has been fantastically motivating, for which I thank Etsy. Beyond that, I have two modes of operation, artistically. 1. I plan something carefully, with sketches and studies, and execute it (this generally works for paintings). 2. I start to fling things together and something interesting (or disastrous) emerges (this generally works for collages).


When did you start doing this?
I started collaging about a year ago. I picked up painting again (after a long absence) about five years ago.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Oh yeah. My mother self-published her own text books all through my childhood, so we had, literally, reams of paper lying around. My father's father was a professional artist (an engraver and painter), and my mother's father, my mother's uncle, my mum and dad all painted, to one extent or another. I was surrounded by original art, and it was natural that I start creating my own.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I've always been the entrepreneurial type (I've started a few opera companies in my time) so setting up as a freelance artist seemed to make sense. I had been selling some of my work in Nova Scotia, but the principal demand here seemed to be for pretty sea pictures and I was sick to death of doing those. I investigated Etsy because I bought a painting by Heather Murray on Etsy, and it seemed like a perfect venue for me.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Dangerous Mezzo Productions is the name of my opera production company, chosen because of my voice type (I'm a mezzo soprano). My artist website is lunenburgartist.com, but when I signed up on Etsy it was as a buyer (to buy art, natch!). I didn't even think about opening a shop there, at that point, so I just used dangerousmezzo as my user name. About two weeks later, I thought, what the heck, and signed up as a seller. I'm really, really glad that my Etsy shop name is dangerousmezzo – it sums me up much better than lunenburgartist, which is a little too dull.


What do you love most about creating your work?
Getting really messy and sticky! I also love the sense of exploration I have while collaging – there are almost infinite ways the darned things can turn out, and I like trying to feel my way towards when I should stop or when I should keep going. I often get it wrong, but it's a lot of fun!

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Southwold, on the Suffolk coast of England – I could spend weeks there. It's just a little seaside town, but so relaxing and attractive.


A book you love:
This is really hard, because I'm just about addicted to reading. Okay: Jane Austen (especially Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice); E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books; mysteries and thrillers by Minette Walters; fantasy by Terry Pratchett.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
I'm not terribly interesting, I don't think. I'm either very funny in person or a complete wallflower.


What achievement are you most proud of?
Starting and running the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Just do it. Yeah, do all the planning and so forth, but don't let your fears (or the opinions of other people) stop you from trying something. We all need the courage to just jump in with both feet and risk failing at something. Failing isn't a big deal – but letting fear hold you back from even trying, that's very sad.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Keeping myself organized enough so that I spend time on all the things I want to do.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to sail: my husband and I have a very old, beat up 30-foot classic full keel Alberg sailboat (I demur at calling it a "yacht") which we sail all around the South Shore of Nova Scotia, generally with a drink in one hand... I also ride and teach riding to a few young friends of mine (I fell off my horse a year or so ago, and broke my upper arm, which has set me back a bit). I knit like a mad thing (but no socks, damnit!) and I can't stop reading.


What are you working on right now?
Bigger collaged works – 8 x 10 inches and up. I'm also planning my fourth annual Opera Workshop in Halifax and I'm preparing to sing Carmen in June, which is a huge deal.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I want to get started in encaustic – that's a technique that's fascinated me for some time. One of my favourite Canadian artists, Heather Murray, does some amazing work in encaustic and I really want to explore it. (It's the ancient technique of painting with hot coloured wax – mmm... hot wax...)

Lucie Summers Designs ... United Kingdom

Artist: Lucie Summers
Business: Lucie Summers Designs (Lusummers at the Blu-Shed Shop, on Etsy)
Web sites: lusummers.etsy.com and blu-shed.blogspot.com
Location: Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK

What do you create?
I mainly make mixed media paper collages that find themselves made into a couple of different products... sketchbooks, sketches for customers to frame, and paper quilts. The paper quilts are generally created for exhibitions.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Well, the 'where' used to be a garage, but was converted into a room by the previous owners of our house. Although I'm lucky to have a space to call my own, it's certainly no homage to high design. It's also the family dumping ground; I share my space with several hundred half-used tins of paint, unused furniture, a million magazines and books, and old toys waiting to be taken to the charity shop.
The 'when'? Whenever I can! I have two small boys (aged two and five) so my time is precious. I've actually only realised that since having children! I do the bare minimum of housework, just enough so we don't all collapse from some hideous illness, so I have more time to create. (As I type, the ironing pile is perilously close to the ceiling and if I get up I risk serious injury from treading on some form of toy tractor/truck/car.) I literally snatch any five minutes I can; while I'm waiting for the potatoes to boil, after the boys are in bed, when my youngest has a nap. It's amazing what you can get done when your time is limited. I also couldn't do this without my mum and my husband; mum has my two-year-old every Thursday and my husband has both boys on a Saturday so I can get a good run at it!


Do you have another "day job"?
Nope – mother, terrible housewife and mixed media artist, that's me! Although I do write articles for Quilting Arts magazine sometimes.

Where and what did you study?
I studied 'design crafts' at Norwich School of Art and Design, a small city art school in Norfolk, a million years ago.


Where do you find inspiration?
Oh, everywhere. Leaves are a big thing for me, and flowers. I also get very excited by text and fonts, particularly old handwriting. Architecture, patterns on old teacups, old printers' blocks, the insides of envelopes, vintage bits, everything! I made a series of small paper quilts for an exhibition in the States this past September all inspired by the stories I wrote at school when I was five or six. Colour combinations are also a great inspiration; bright pink and red, turquoise and blue, red and white. I find living in the countryside a massive influence on my work.


What motivates you?
I'm actually quietly ambitious, and that really motivates me. One day I'd like to have a whole range of products (paper goods, textile designs, house goods) available both in the UK and worldwide. I want to be a household name! So I'm not setting myself up for a fall or anything... wanting the best for the boys motivates me too. Just wanting to create something everyday motivates me.


When did you start doing this?
I started by having a simple website made and tried to sell my personalised name wedding and birth samplers two years ago. I literally sat back and waited for the orders to flood in because I knew I'd got a good product. The trouble was, they were too expensive on their own... and I didn't sell one. Not one. So I decided to design and make smaller personalised 'plaques' for kid's rooms and opened another 'shop' on a UK site called notonthehighstreet.com this time last year and did much better. Then at the end of august this year I opened my Etsy shop selling completely different products which has worked much better for me, so I've dropped the other site. I'll probably add the personalised stuff to Etsy early next year.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I come from a long line of women who sew, so I grew up with fabric around me. I can't specifically remember getting into art, it was just always there. I had a doll's house that didn't have dolls in it (I'm scared of them) but I used to change the decor all of the time. My boys actually still play with the little bits and bobs I made, vintage fabric covered beds, and funny little curtains made with matchstick poles.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Just after my youngest son was born, so two years ago. I must have been mental, what a ridiculous time. I blame the hormones! I've made tons of mistakes, some of them quite costly, but I've learnt a lot. I decided that if I was going to be a stay at home mum, I was going to have to find a way of earning some money that used the skills I knew I'd got that didn't take me away from the kids. And it sort of works, most of the time.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Erm...well, my name is Lucie Summers, and I design stuff.
'lusummers at the blu-shed shop' came about because we have a blue shed in our garden that I can see while I work at my laptop, but I decided that it should be 'blu' rather than 'blue' because it was more like 'lu'. Complicated, huh?


What do you love most about creating your work?
The weird inner peace I get and the little funny fuzzy feeling of excitement in my tummy when a piece is working well. I almost have to remind myself to breathe.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Ohhh, good question. I've loved lots of places, but I've just come back from a weekend in London and while I've been there lots of times, this was the first time with the boys and I suppose I saw it through their eyes. It's an incredible place, around every corner is something new to see and experience. It's so full of history, it's amazing.


A book you love:
Oh, crikey. Just one? Probably Echoes by Maeve Binchey. I first read it as a teenager and I must have read it ten or so times since. I was so in love with Gerry Doyle. I get sad when I finish a really good book, it's like friends leaving you. What a sap.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Hmmmm... I've known my husband, Sam, since I was about five years old. We went to school together and (according to my mum) one day I came home and told my parents that there was a boy at school with the most lovely name, Sam Summers, and I was going to marry him. He lived on a farm and, aged five, I quite fancied being a farmer's wife. Then I did marry him 20 years later and I am now the worst farmer's wife in the history of farmers' wives.


What achievement are you most proud of?
Apart from the obvious answer of my boys, who I'm soooo proud of, this year I had two big achievements with my paper quilts. One, called Revealed 2 won a big award at The Festival of Quilts exhibition in Birmingham, UK. Also, a series of five paper quilt collages (boringly called 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, 2/2 and 1/1) made it through to the final of Quilt 2007 at the same exhibition. It's a huge, huge honour just to chosen. That was amazing.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do what you love. If you put your heart and soul into something, it will shine through. Don't give up if you know you've got a good product. I was so low before I joined notonthehighstreet, but I knew I'd got a good product, so I modified it, made it more accessible and they sold well.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Probably getting enough time to do everything. I feel terribly guilty that my children don't live in a perfect home, with perfectly ironed clothes and a kitchen floor so clean you could eat off it.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I try to spend Sundays with the family and we'll go to the park or swimming or visiting friends. If I get time completely to myself, I love to shop!

What are you working on right now?
Right now I've got more sketchbooks to make for Etsy. I've also got an exhibition with a group of other textile artists in Ely Cathedral next year...I've not done much so far, but that's at the top of my never-ending 'to do' list.


What do you hope to achieve next?
Ohhh, so much! My short term goal is to get to 100 sales on Etsy. (I'm at 98 at time of writing!) I've also got plans to do a collaboration with another paper goods artist that I'm really excited about. Next year I'd like to start supplying my sketchbooks to indie and lifestyle shops. My long term goal is really as I mentioned previously; I'd like lusummers to be a household design name.

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.