Michele Maule ... Michigan, USA

Artist: Michele Maule
Business: Michele Maule
Web sites: michelemaule.com, how2drawacupofcoffee.blogspot.com, michelemaule.etsy.com
Location: Pontiac, Michigan

What do you create?
Paintings, original prints, giclee prints, ACEOs.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I work from my apartment. I am a morning person so I typically work in the morning and throughout the day.

Do you have another "day job"?
This is it! This is my job and I couldn't be happier. I moved to Pontiac this last summer. My boyfriend was accepted into grad school at Cranbrook Academy of Art and I decided to go with him. I looked for a job for two months. I turned in over 30 resumes and 20 applications. Nothing. I did get interviewed twice for a similar position that I had in Portland, and I didn't get it... that was the final straw. I don't remember ever feeling so down about myself. I decided that while I was looking for a job I would make some small art and try to sell it on Etsy... and that's how I got started!


Where and what did you study?
I studied fine art with an emphasis in printmaking at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

Where do you find inspiration?
This is a good question for me. When I lived in Portland I seemed to find inspiration everywhere. A rainy spring day walking down 23rd with my iPod could fill me up for days... but Pontiac, Michigan... not so much. I have been relying a lot on my feelings of missing home as well as all the uncertainty that comes along with Michael, my fiance, being done with grad school. There are so many unanswered questions, and there is so much waiting for the next step. Those have been recurring themes in my work lately.


What motivates you?
Well, bills! Really, I have always had this little rumble inside telling me to do something. If there is one thing that I can never be accused of is being lazy. I always have to be doing something, and I just don't feel right when I haven't gotten anything accomplished. It's not something I can really put my finger on. My fiance likes to call it crazy.


When did you start doing this?
Like I mentioned before, I started my little business this last summer. I have been on Etsy since March of last year, but it wasn't until about October that I started to take it seriously. I posted a couple of small paintings and a print, and they sold! So I just kept it up.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I loved art as a kid! I remember my first art class in the first grade. We made little clay bears and the teacher fired them for us. It was so fun. She also gave me my first art career advice. She said, "Don't expect to make any money as an artist unless you're dead." Ha! I still remember that. I have always loved making things and have been interested in art as far back as I can remember. I remember thinking when I was really young that I either wanted to be an artist, or Wonder Woman.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Well, I have always wanted to make art for a living. Well, since I was in my junior year of college. The last few years I had been working for a small locally owned grocery store in Portland. I loved the people I worked with, but it wasn't something that I could see myself doing as a career. I would often dream about being able to quit my job and just make art full time. It's so hard for me to believe sometimes that it actually came true... and I have to stop and just take it in once in awhile... I mean how often is it that people get to do what they are really passionate about?


What do you love most about creating your work?
What don't I like? It's fun. It can be frustrating at times. When things aren't turning out like you'd like them to. But for the most part, I just love painting. It gives me a certain amount of confidence, and I really enjoy what I paint. I use a lot of collage in my work, and the tearing and gluing of paper is really cathartic for me. I tend to get lost in my thoughts.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Italy! My boyfriend and I went to Rome, Florence, and Venice a few years ago. It doesn't get more interesting than a different culture, food, and language. Not to mention the art and the museums. It was amazing.

A book you love:
The Time Travelers Wife, and always The Little Prince.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
My dad was in the Navy so I moved a lot growing up. I think I have lived in eight different states. I also moved out of my home when I was 16 and I have been taking care of myself ever since. With the help of my grandmother, and student loans, I was able to finish college. My mother and I didn't have the best relationship, and I decided to leave. Over the last few years we have definitely opened our communication and things between us are much better.

I can also touch my tongue to my nose and after a couple of beers I magically start speaking French fluently.


What achievement are you most proud of?
If you had told me a year ago that I would be making art for a living today I wouldn't have believed you or anyone! It's not every day that people get to wake up and go to a job that they love. I am so lucky. I also think that it's quite an accomplishment that I went to college to study art, and I am still making art today. I think one out of ten fine art graduates continue to make art after school. I am still here painting and creating and I think that says a lot.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Go for it! If you can manage it financially I say do it. Even if you aren't making as much money as you would at your day job, just being able to do what you really love to do is worth it.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Keeping up! It's hard for me to keep more than 15 items in my shop. Also, working from home can have it's moments. I am a neat freak, but when I am working I make a huge mess. Everywhere. Before moving to Michigan I had a studio and I could make a mess and just leave it, but I can't really do that here. So trying to adjust to having a studio at home as been a challenge.


What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to shop! I also really just like going out for coffee with my fiance and doing the NY Times crossword puzzle.

What are you working on right now?
I am currently working on a show that I have in Portland in April. It's at a little coffee place called The Fresh Pot. I am also painting some little painting for my Etsy shop. I am also working on a second degree in graphic design.


What do you hope to achieve next?
Well, I am hoping that I can get gallery representation in the future, and that I can continue to make art. I'd love to go into graphic design and work for a small company again. Either way, I know I would be just as happy.

Johanna Wright ... Oregon, USA

Artist: Johanna Wright
Business: Johanna Wright
Web sites: johannawright.com, johannawright.etsy.com
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

What do you create?
Paintings!


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I paint and draw in my lovely studio in south-east Portland, usually five days a week, unless I have a big deadline. I tend to do other creative stuff, like playing music or writing, when I'm kicking around the house.

Do you have another "day job"?
I'm lucky enough to be a painter full time.


Where and what did you study?
I went to the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where I studied puppetry and children's books. When I moved to New York after college, I took a few children's book writing and illustration classes at SVA, which were incredibly valuable to me.


Where do you find inspiration?
Mostly from childhood memories, nature, and playing with my niece and nephew. I recently moved back to Oregon (where I spent my childhood) after living in Brooklyn for nine years. I feel like I hit some kind of creative spurt when I came to Portland. I've been flooded with nostalgia and inspiration by everything that surrounds me here.

What motivates you?
Hmm, well... if I'm not working on something creative, I feel jittery... like I have ants in my pants. Painting and writing are very soothing to me.


When did you start doing this?
As a career, in 1998.

Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
I really liked to draw as a kid, especially people. Actually, I just really loved to draw girls. I remember watching Fat Albert and copying a hairdo that one of the girl characters had. All of my old doodles from childhood are of women in weird 80s outfits... big shoulder pads and big hair. I would write long meandering stories to go with the drawings. I also loved to illustrate songs that I liked, or that my sisters liked. Songs that told a story, like Copacabana, or Maxwell's Silver Hammer.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
Well, in 1998 I started selling my artwork on the street in New York. At the time I was just trying to make enough money to eat and pay rent, but the more I did it, the better I got at what I was drawing, and a lot of wonderful things started to happen (job offers, freelance work, press). That time was very exciting and difficult all mixed together. It took a long time for me to think of what I was doing as a business, but once I did, things got a lot more organized and a lot easier.


What do you love most about creating your work?
I love the actual painting process, a lot. I like to watch all of the crazy stuff that water can do to with a bit of acrylic paint. I also love it when something I've made resonates with another human, it makes me feel like I'm on the right track.


What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Hmm, that's a tough one. I'd say it would be a tie between two entirely different places; the winding streets of a tiny town in Morocco, and the tide pools on the Oregon coast. I could spend hours staring into a tide pool. There's a whole universe in there!

A book you love:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime


What is the most interesting thing about you?
I'm easily hypnotized.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Keeping my heart open and free, even when it wants to close.

What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Read Martha Beck's book, Finding Your Own North Star. It has been so helpful to me over the years.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Taking downtime. Unplugging. Turning off the part of my brain that feels like it needs to work all of the time.

What do you love to do in your free time?
Going to coffee shops to write. Swimming (especially in lakes and rivers and oceans), playing music. Hanging out with my hubby and friends and family, knitting with my sister, playing 'squirrel family' with wee ones, Tetris, watching TV on DVD, going to thrift stores, listening to audio books, yoga.


What are you working on right now?
I'm finishing up my very first children's book for Roaring Brook Press, Secret Circus, and getting ready to start my next children's book, Rabbits on Skates.

What do you hope to achieve next?
I hope to get a bit more organized with my artwork prints, and I want to launch a card series this summer. I would love to get back into puppetry and try a bit of animation. But otherwise, I just want to keep making up stories and painting and growing and feeling inspired!

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!

erinzam ... Kansas, USA

Artist: Erin Zamrzla
Business: erinzam
Web sites: erinzam.com, erinzam.etsy.com, erinzam.com/blog
Location: Hays, Kansas, USA

What do you create?
Hand-bound books and paintings and more.



Where and when do you do your creative work?
Here and there. I have a small studio where I paint and I will shamelessly sew books anywhere... especially when waiting in line.

Do you have another "day job"?
As of yet, nope! I recently completed graduate school. In the meantime I've had enough of a taste of "self-employment" to cause me to take my sweet time in entering the rat race.



Where and what did you study?
With an emphasis in graphic design, I also studied painting and art history at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.

Where do you find inspiration?
All over... often in the little things that I see and use every day. I love giving a new purpose to something that's considered mundane or even junk. I'm also very inspired by the artists in my life, especially my husband. He is a designer and illustrator who is always creating something fantastic. Here's a shameless plug for his cool website at benschlitter.com.



What motivates you?
Internally, I have a little creativity motor that must keep running. If it stops, I get grouchy.

When did you start doing this?
I first learned bookbinding about seven years ago through a college course. For some reason, I never took a painting class until I entered graduate school. When it was time to choose a minor, I picked the one that would irritate my sensitive skin the least... and fell in love with acrylic paint.



Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Heavens yes!

When and why did you decide to start your own business?
It kind of happened accidentally. I taught a book design class when I was a graduate student and as I created examples to assist my students, the books began to pile up. I thought I'd try to rid myself of them via Etsy. It didn't take long for me to realize that I could continue to make books (and other stuff) and not have to store them (yay!).


How did you choose the name for your business?
I couldn't think of anything cute or clever and my last name is virtually unpronounceable. So, I went with a non-cute/clever abbreviation of my name.

What do you love most about creating your work?
As much as I love the process, there is something extremely satisfying about completing a project.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
Israel... it is a country full of contrast and mystery.


A book you love:
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

What is the most interesting thing about you?
Interesting... or strange? I grew up in a town of less than 300 people in the middle of Kansas. I went to space camp. I don't eat beef, even though I'm surrounded by cattle ranches. I have an affinity for contemporary Icelandic music. I love going to grocery stores.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Anytime someone enjoys something that I created.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Take a good inventory of your goals and your personal needs. Once you know that you're headed in the right direction, give it your best shot! Things change quickly and often, so it is important to be flexible and willing to learn.

What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Creating is the easy part. Keeping my mess to a minimum is a challenge.

What do you love to do in your free time?
I love to cook and I love to eat! Thank goodness I also love to ride my bike.


What are you working on right now?
I'm just about done with a book made from a fantastically cheesy Tiffany cassette tape.

Suspect Shoppe by Mati Rose ... California, USA

Artist: Mati Rose McDonough
Business: “Suspect Shoppe” by Mati Rose
Web sites: suspectshoppe.etsy.com and matirose.com
Location: San Francisco, California, USA

What do you create?
I create paintings, primarily with acrylic paint that incorporate collage and silk-screen. I like to re-invent things: cut up lace doilies and make them elephants, birds made out of silver leaf, found fabrics and vintage photos reclaimed. I hope to make art that is beautiful, colorful and has an unsuspected narrative.


Where and when do you do your creative work?
I do my creative work in my studio behind my home called Compound 21 that I share with eight other artists. I create any time of day, depending on what else I have going on – always with music loud, making a mess, and with many tea/coffee breaks so I get built-in perspective.


Do you have another "day job"?
I currently do not have a day job and am at a point of transition with where my art and work are going to lead me. My art collective called Beehive is looking for a space where we can teach art classes to create a more steady income. While I was in school I worked at several incredible San Francisco restaurants and ate like a millionaire on an art school budget, but I left two months ago and vow to never work in food service again if I can help it!


Where and what did you study?
I majored in Latin American Studies at a small liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota called Macalester. I minored in Art, but didn’t see that as realistic to pursue being an artist, plus I had so many other interests like Spanish. I ended up merging the two in ways by studying abroad in Bogotá, Colombia and teaching art classes to women in prison.


My favorite semester was one January term, where it’s 20 below in Minnesota, and I signed up for an intensive painting class where I lived and breathed oil paint all day every day for a month and was so happy. That should have been a clue! I got a second degree at California College of Arts (CCA) in painting and illustration and just finished six months ago.


Where do you find inspiration?
My neighborhood the Mission is very colorful — the street signs, dollar stores, taquerias with papel picado (cut paper) hanging like streamers and open markets full of fruit and flowers. San Francisco in general has so many pockets of inspiration – Chinatown, Japantown, the ocean, urban gardens, hidden stair cases, art museums like MOMA, Yerba Buena, De Young and tons of galleries and murals and street art. I love the Bay Area, and I’m getting inspired just thinking about how much there is to be inspired by!


What motivates you?
Other artists I admire in books, galleries and museums: Beatriz Milhazes, Amy Cutler, Margaret Killgallan and Kiki Smith to name a few. My studio-mates, my fiancé Hugh D’Andrade, my three-person art collective Beehive, my artist friends and of course art and craft bloggers! I also have to mention my mom, she is forever crafting and motivating.


When did you start doing this?
I had my first show in a local gallery in 2002 that was sort of my coming out as an artist and it surprisingly sold out (mostly to friends, but still, it gave me hope!). Shortly after that my fiancé and I moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for a few months. Oaxaca is a very artistic and inspiring city and we made our own artist retreat by renting a little place and painted, mostly watercolor because it was lightweight. I applied to art school the following year with a portfolio made mostly from that time, and just recently finished in January, so I’m finding my way again.


Do you remember getting into art as a kid?
Yes. I cut up socks and stuffed animals and put them together again Frankenstein style, swapping different heads with different bodies. In grade school we made books out of cereal boxes and wallpaper and volunteers typed them up and this seems formative for me in my desire to illustrate and write books. And later on I tried to replicate “Teen Beat” and “Seventeen” by making my own magazines with actual perforated tear out ads for “Baby Soft” perfume and '80s hilariousness.


When and why did you decide to start your own business?
I got laid off in 2001 when the San Francisco economic bubble burst from an administrative role at an Art Law firm, where I was supporting all these amazing artists and living vicariously through them, but felt really sad about my own career path.


When I got laid off I started making messy explosive art on my kitchen table, much to my roommate’s annoyance, and decided to take some art classes, and specifically loved a children’s book illustration class (and repeated it three times!) and decided that I wanted to be an illustrator. I then took a very practical class called “Starting Your Own Business” and saw how much further I wanted to go and went back to school for illustration. I also (gosh I’m realizing how much research I did and forgot about) found a creative coach who was amazing, to work with me towards my goals.


How did you choose the name for your business?
Suspect Shoppe was a name I put on my first creations — I made magnets and silk-screened underwear with little images of suspicious looking girls and a cat with a patch over its eye. Suspect things. Other words that come to mind are curious, surprise, twist and unexpected.


What do you love most about creating your work?
Freedom and being my own boss. I love being able to roam the streets at any time of day and bring big packages to the post with turquoise sharpie script, doodles and stickers on them to send to my people. The whole thing makes me very happy and like I’m regressing to my childhood, but I think there’s the bliss.

What's the most fascinating place you've been?
My friend Jessie and I drove cross-country from Boston to San Francisco and there were some places in the deep south of New Orleans near swamp lands and gator tours that I found fascinating.


A book you love:
So many! I like to read about five books at a time, and literally fall asleep with a few lying on top of me and Hugh has to pick them off of me. Lately these have been wedding centered. Recently I read Chronicles by Bob Dylan and surprised myself by loving it. I especially liked reading about how hungry he was for knowledge of folk music and that time period of the old ballads. He would study old headlines of newspapers in the library and soak up the information and said he could “send a train back later” for the information. I love that idea of learning and letting it seep in for later use, instead of worrying it’s going to pass you by. I am also a big fan of writing in your books, highlighting, dog-earing the pages so that you really feel like you own them. I learned this by example after borrowing books from my artist friend Sabrina Ward Harrison, who is another inspiration to me.


What is the most interesting thing about you?
Hmm. I am simultaneously cautious and a risk-taker. I am shy and yet very outgoing. Fearful but bold. I use a lot of self-trickery.

What achievement are you most proud of?
Going back to art school even though it was incredibly risky financially and felt a bit like an old lady turning 30 with kids who were just having their first legal beer, but I really am happy I gave myself that time and luxury to grow.


What advice would you give women starting their own business?
Interview people like crazy. And then interview again when you’re at another perhaps smaller crossroads. That is something I have to remind myself is that you can always jump off your particular trajectory, and start anew. Also, find your support systems. Whether it be bloggers, studio mates, or friends who will listen to your trials and triumphs.


What's the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Focus. I like to dabble. I grew a lot in art school and have a bigger skill set than I once did, and sometimes I feel it is helpful to have limitations and to push those limitations. Right now I’m feeling like I have too many brushes! Obviously I can see the advantage of this... another challenge I have is that I always see both sides to every coin, and because of that it takes me a long time to make decisions. Fortunately when I do make those difficult decisions they are authentic.


What do you love to do in your free time?
If I could have my perfect day I would go with one of my friends to our neighborhood French bakery Tartine and talk art and life over a bowl of a latte and a morning bun and then thrift or go to a fabric store (specifically Britex) or SCRAP (recycled goods) or even Anthropologie for inspiration and then go home and create, later on in my perfect day I would have a date with my man Hugh and go to a movie and dinner. I also love to kick-box, cook, read and ride my bike.


What are you working on right now?
In all honesty, planning our wedding in a couple weeks! Since my fiancé and I are both artists it is definitely a creative party from the invites to the table cloths to the tissue paper flowers we are amping up color!


What do you hope to achieve next?
First, I am dying to build a new portfolio website come fall. I dream to publish a children’s book — write and illustrate one. I would also like to have a solo show someplace exciting, like Italy! Mainly, I would like to figure out a balance of creating art and living off it in a steady fashion, so we’re not sweating to pay the basics.