Betsy Walton ... Oregon, USA

Artist: Betsy Walton
Business: Gridplane, Inc
Web sites: morningcraft.com, betsywalton.etsy.com, flickr.com/betsywalton
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

What do you create?
Paintings, drawings and illustrations.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work in my home studio. I work at different times depending on my schedule, but I try to get some drawing or painting in every day when possible.


Do you have another "day job"?
Not right now. I left my last job to work on my art and illustration business full time.

Where and what did you study?
I studied printmaking at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Graduated in 2000 with a BFA.


Where do you find inspiration?
I had a teacher once who said that inspiration comes from work. I really try to develop my inspirational momentum by working as often as I can, even when I feel totally flat. If things aren’t flowing, I usually try to get a change of scenery. A walk outside or through Powells books here in Portland usually snaps me out of it.

I’ve been doing my own sort of religious/cultural/philosophical studies course by cobbling together books, podcasts and conversations with friends. I think this has really informed my work over the last several months also.

Nature is always amazing to me. Traveling to a new place is also great for inspiration. I also look to aesthetic traditions in different cultures and lots of art for inspiration. I like to keep my eye on design too. I love to look at other artists work also, both old and new. Ultimately though, I get most inspired by the chase – trying to find that new image and story that can show me something I wouldn’t see otherwise.


What motivates you?
A combination of curiosity, fear and joy.

When did you start doing this?
I started to focus solely on my art and illustration business in 2006, but I have been making art since I was a little kid.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yep. Seems like I was always taking some type of class, and I did lots of coloring and drawing at home and at friends' houses. I went to ceramics class and made weird little sculptures. I was into carving soap for a while.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I made the leap to art-making full time in 2006. I really love the freedom of being self-employed. It's full of surprises.

How did you choose the name for your business?
I use my own name mostly, since name recognition is so important in this field. Technically, though, my business is part of Gridplane Inc, which I co-own with my husband. He has been using that name for several years.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love that it is engaging on lots of levels. It can be so much fun and so challenging, often at the same time. I like to get immersed and lost in the process. I like that I can work on my own terms, and I can do lots of different types of things.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
The ocean.


A book you love:
There are lots. At the moment, I’m getting reacquainted with a book I got in college called Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art. It’s a collection of artists' writings about their work, and it’s really great for getting a sense of perspective.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
Hmm, I have a freckle in my right eye.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I’m just thrilled to be at this point in my career, I get paid to draw and paint and make stuff!

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Give yourself the benefit of the doubt.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Decisions, decisions. Both on the creative side and the business side.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Catch up with friends. Wander through junk shops and bookstores, maybe get a coffee and take a walk in the forest. The best is to get a beach house or a cabin or a campsite and get out of town for a couple days.


What are you working on right now?
I’m working on my May show at Rare Device San Francisco. I also just started a new project called Today's Painting Progress. My goal is to document my work at the end of each painting session and post it on my Flickr page.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I have some ideas for little 3-D versions of my characters that I want to explore. And I want to grow some vegetables.

Swallowfield ... Maine, USA

Artist: Jennifer Judd-McGee
Business: Swallowfield
Web sites: swallowfield.etsy.com, swallowfield.typepad.com
Location: Portland, Maine

What do you create?
I make a little bit of many things. Right now I'm mostly doing mixed media collage, drawing and gocco prints.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Anytime and anywhere that I can squeeze it in! Technically, my studio is (for the moment) in my basement, but I draw at meetings, waiting for my kids on the playground, and in the middle of the night if I can't sleep. There are sketchbooks, pens and little scraps of paper all over the house.


Do you have another "day job"?
I worked for Planned Parenthood as a women's healthcare advocate for many years, but I left my job in June to pursue my art and be more involved in my children's school. It has been a big scary change! And it's making me really happy, and I know the kids like having me around more.

Where and what did you study?
I went to College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. I did a fair number of wonderful art classes there – 2-D Design, Printmaking, Ceramics, and that was my only formal training. I also studied political science and women's studies.


Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! Maine is an especially beautiful place. I find myself noticing the subtle patterns in nature a lot right now, and loving things like lichen, moss, pinecones, sea urchins, bark and wild flowers. I love looking at natural light and shadows. I adore mid-century modern design, lovely old fonts, and dreaming of new ways to look at older objects. I get a ton of daily inspiration from Flickr, where I am lucky to be pals with some incredible artists and craftspeople.


What motivates you?
Knowing that my art makes people smile is a huge rush for me. Up until recently it has only been something I've done for family members or friends, and I was actually very shy about it. It was a pretty big leap for me to put myself out in the public domain on Flickr and Etsy. I feel like it's helping me grow a lot to keep on putting stuff out there. I'm getting braver and more confident and that feels good on so many levels.

When did you start doing this?
I opened my Etsy store in late March of this year, after getting some encouragement from Flickr pals to try it out. I had a booth at Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn last summer and made some great connections there. And here we are!


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Aside from being handy with the play-doh fun factory, not really! I always thought of my sister as the artist in our family – she is very talented at everything she touches. I got into it more in college.

How did you choose the name for your business?
Swallowfield was the name of the old farmhouse where my mom grew up, and I've always loved it.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I get a kick out of the fact that I never know exactly what the end product will be. I'll have an idea, but I often come back to things and keep adding layers here and there until I think they're really done. I love the feeling of surprise at the end, where I scratch my head and think I can't believe I made that.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
I am a big fan of Portland, Oregon. All of the lovely bridges and green spaces, the art+craft+diy movement, great local food and crazy wonderful architecture – it always blows me away. I love bungalows. If I were to live anywhere else, it would be the 'other' Portland.

A book you love:
Oh, it is so hard to pick just one! I am a book nut. To make it super simple, right now I am loving Craft Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco. It's very relevant to what I'm up to right now, and I love the interviews with the different designers and craftspeople.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Oh dear. I'm not terribly interesting. I can touch my tongue to the tip of my nose. I'm proudly left handed. I can do crazy math in my head.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Well, I am pretty tickled by the fruits of my loins. (Do all moms answer this way?)They are incredible, interesting, funny, artistic little people who keep my on my toes for sure! I'm trying to do my best job with them and hopefully minimize whatever they'll pay for therapy down the road. I'm also proud of quitting my day job to pursue my hope of making art a career.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
I recommend spending as much time as you can ahead of time studying the business side of what you want to do. Don't quit your day job until you're burning the candle at both ends doing your new business idea and it's going well enough that sleep is starting to seem like an evasive proposition. Ask for feedback and be open to hearing it. Put yourself out there in ways that might make you feel shy.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Finding the balance between work and home is very tricky, since my studio is at home. It's easy to wander off on another tangent. I am also a messy, spread-it-all-out worker, and spend a lot of time dreaming about the ways I might organize myself.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I have really great friends, and I'm always happy to get the occasional night out with them to catch up without the kids. I love to read, explore on the beach, go to thrift stores and yard sales, and to try new recipes. I read a lot of cookbooks. Getting regular exercise clears my head and helps me sleep better. I'm going to take an encaustic painting class this fall, and I'm pretty jazzed about that.


What are you working on right now?
I am working on a couple of commissioned illustration projects and working on collage, drawings and gocco for my first solo show for Edith and Edna in Portland, which will be up in November/December. I'm pretty excited about it. I am also working on a limited run 2008 calendar.


What do you hope to achieve next?
I'm super excited about learning encaustic painting. I think it is a medium that lends itself well to collage, and will combine a lot of my skills and push me in a good way. I also want to learn some web design this year, and to get more familiar with Photoshop.

yellow monday ... Sydney, Australia

Artist: Linda Kruger
Business: yellow monday
Web sites: yellowmonday.etsy.com, yellowmonday.blogspot.com, trunkt.org/lindakruger
Location: Sydney, Australia

What do you create?
I make images on paper, and textiles.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
Aahh! The question at the heart of most art practice, especially for those of us who live in the city. We have to be prepared to fit into whatever spare space and time there is.

For many years when I was doing lots of etching, I used a community access studio here in Sydney. Lately I’ve become more interested in other ways of making images which can be done in smaller areas and require less equipment, like screen-printing, drawing and painting, and I also love using the computer.
I do the computer work in my little studio (ie spare room) at home.


Painting, drawing and thinking and planning can be done almost anywhere – in the garden, in a café, in the lounge room. Printing textiles (or paper) is a bit trickier, but I have worked out a system for doing that on the dining room table – unfortunately not three-metre lengths of textile like I was able to do in college, but smaller dining table size pieces.

I also love to go away for weekends or holidays and take lots of stuff for painting, printing and drawing, because it’s so nice to be away from other distractions.


Do you have another "day job"?
Yes, I am a video producer.

Where and what did you study?
I studied film theory and practice, and printmaking (etching), and textile printing and design.


Where do you find inspiration?
Being around people who are passionate about what they do, people who like to have fun, people with a generous spirit. Eccentric animals. Beautifully made and designed domestic objects – particularly mid-20th century furniture and kitchenware. Pattern and colour in nature. Amazing shapes in nature. Handmade objects. Walking in alpine areas. Tokyo.

Inspiration can come from anywhere really. Actually it often seems to arrive at the most unexpected time and in the most unexpected places, and I think the surprise of never knowing where it will come from is part of what makes it inspiring.


What motivates you?
I think I am mainly motivated by the fact that I really enjoy doing this. It’s lovely to sell work and to know that someone has appreciated what you do, but really I’d be doing it anyway, just for the sheer pleasure of it.


When did you start doing this?
I started printmaking about 12 years ago and did a course in textile design in 2005. And drawing and painting always.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes, anything and everything! I’ve always loved it.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
For many years I did occasional exhibitions and group shows, but it wasn’t until very recently that I was told about Etsy, this great online venue where people sell all kinds of handmade objects. I had an enormous backlog of images and sketches and ideas for images that had never been exhibited. And so it seemed like a really nice project to prepare a group of works to put on the site. I decided to rework or develop a lot of the images and once I’d started, I found I was really getting into it, and really enjoying myself. I finally opened up shop a few weeks ago under the name yellow monday which is the name of a particular cicada found only in Australia.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Just sitting around with a friend talking about how her nephews were collecting the discarded shells of cicadas, and my partner said he used to collect them too, and that the most prized ones were called yellow mondays. It tickled my fancy. Especially since it’s an Australian cicada.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love it when things come together as I imagine, but I also like to be flexible and change direction as the piece develops. I also love it when the materials or process or a clumsy brush intervene to give an unexpected outcome that after all is pretty good – maybe even better than I imagined.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Toss up between Tokyo and the Warrumbungles (an incredibly beautiful eruption of ancient rounded hills in northwest New South Wales).

A book you love:
There are lots but most recentlyAudrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
My partner thinks I know what dogs are thinking. He always asks, “What’s that dog thinking?” But that’s really something interesting about him. I don’t know. I’m pretty boring really. Although I am capable of drinking twice my own body weight in tea over a 24-hour period.


What achievement are you most proud of?
I think it’s great that I still love making images. I don’t know that it’s an achievement exactly, but it’s something that gives me happiness.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Do something that you love, and then you will be happy to work hard at it.



What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Finding enough time and space.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I live near the beach and I love to walk along the coast. I love to swim there in summer too. Travelling as often as I can. Hanging out with friends and family. Drinking tea. Reading, films, music. Yoga. Beer.



What are you working on right now?
I have lots of things on the go at once. I have a huge backlog of ideas and sketches for paintings and prints. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks setting up the Etsy store, and also the Trunkt site and blog. It’s all been a very steep learning curve, and quite exciting too, but I think I need to get a bit of a routine and make sure I actually leave enough time to produce more work.



What do you hope to achieve next?
I’d like to develop the Etsy shop more. I plan to do more painting. And I’ve been working on a range of textiles and pattern-based artwork.

Jennifer Davis ... Minnesota, USA

Artist: Jennifer Davis
Web site: jenniferdavisart.com
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

What do you create?
Acrylic/collage paintings and drawings.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I have a studio in the spare bedroom of my home so I can paint whenever the mood strikes me. I try to paint everyday.

Do you have another "day job"?
I have been making art full time since i was layed off from my job in October 2003. I was the office manager at an advertising agency.



Where and what did you study?
I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing – and a minor in Art History.

Where do you find inspiration?
I am inspired by art, artists, music, books, films, travel... all of the usual stuff. Specifically, a lot of my art work is inspired by found images. I collect vintage books, magazines and postcards.


What motivates you?
I’m not sure. My favorite thing to do is paint. I just enjoy it. (I suppose the fact that I rely on showing and selling my art to make a living is also a big factor.)


When did you start doing this?
I didn’t start thinking about art as something I could really do until college. I finished all of my general requirements and still had no clue about what I wanted to “be.” I took an art class and was instantly hooked. After that I took every kind of art class offered at the University of Minnesota: ceramics, sculpture, photography, print making, painting, drawing.



Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
My mom says that I was always a creative kid – drawing, “coloring” and talking to myself (yikes!) but I never thought of it as anything other than play.

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Getting laid off from my job (in 2003) was a lucky break for me. It nudged me into taking the leap toward doing what a really wanted to do. It gave me the courage to try what I had been wanting to do. I took it as a sign.


What do you love most about creating your work?
Painting is a rush. It is fun. The high only lasts for a little while though – then I go back to painting and try to find it again.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
A vacation to Italy: Florence, Rome, Venice... beautiful, inspiring.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
My best advice would be to continually and actively pursue new opportunities. Waiting around for things to fall into laps takes too long.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to walk. I take a looooong walk every morning. I also like to eat, drink cheap beer in bars, go to art openings, look at other people’s art, dance, watch movies, read...


What are you working on right now?
My next big show is in January 2008 with Amy Crickenberger at Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis. Rosalux is a cooperative gallery that I have been working with since 2002. Amy and I are just getting to work on the paintings for our show.