Wow! I Won Something?

Cindy @ 12 Tribes Giveaway

I'm so grateful to have won this piece of word art from Cindy of 12 Tribes.  As Cindy said, "It can sit on a shelf or hang just about anywhere.  The mini-chalkboard is the perfect place to put a word you need to see over and over, a character trait you are developing in your life more fully."  My word is going to be "brave".  I want to continue being brave in developing my art, brave in my blogging, brave in getting my art out there.

I love owning art from other artists.  Thank you, Cindy.

"Women Who Create Beautiful Things" - Angela and Andrea of CLaraBeLLa MuraLs

When I first met Andrea and she was telling me a little about herself, of course, we had a connection with our love of art.  She begins to tell me this story that you will read below about her and her sister.  As she is talking, I am trying to restrain from sobbing, but with much difficulty.  Anyway, here's the heart wrenching  story about two sister's love of a child written in the voice of one dedicated sister and mother, Angela.

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How did you get into painting character murals. How did it all begin?

As identical twins, Andrea and I have always shared a love for the same things, especially art.  We never pursued this interest professionally.  It was merely a hobby.  In 2003 my little girl Clara was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma (liver cancer) when she was only 16 months old.  We soon began spending countless hours in the hospital.

 

 

To make things as fun as they could be for her I began bringing my large art pads and started painting pictures. Andrea flew down for a week to be with us and with her help Clara and I were able to decorate the doors of all the children on the cancer floor.

Each time Clara was admitted to the hospital, Clara and I would pick a theme and decorate her room inside and out with paintings of her favorite characters.  In 2005 my sweet little girl Clara passed away after a brave battle with her cancer.  I was overwhelmed with the grief of losing my little girl.  


During my grieving I began to receive several phone calls requesting murals. The business could not have come at a better time.  I was allowed to do something I loved that also reminded me of the fun times with my little Clara. 

Andrea and I started painting together almost full time.  Our waiting list at one point was 8 months out.  We didn't do any advertising, our business was solely by word of mouth.  We soon decided we needed a business license to make everything official.  

In Clara's memory we named our business "CLaraBeLLa MuraLs".  Andrea and I began painting for private residences, professional businesses, hospitals and home shows.  Today little Clara's inspiration lives on through our art.

What is your favorite room and why?

We have painted numerous rooms.  It is hard to pick a favorite but it is easy to name a few of the ones we love.  "Snow White", "Alice In Wonderland", "Winnie the Pooh", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Engine that Could", and "Dr. Seuss".

It sounds like you have a pretty special relationship with your sister. How do you work together?

Andrea and I laugh when we think of how much time it takes to paint one room. We use several different techniques and the process for most of what we do is performed in layers and everything is freehand.  Andrea can look at anything and draw it to scale, therefore she will usually draw the characters while I work on the background.  Once she has finished sketching and painting the characters I will go in and add shading, put all the details in and add the finishing touches. 

Do you work on the same wall together with your sister and what parts do each you paint? 

The funny thing is, being mirror image twins Andrea is left handed and I am right handed.  Therefore it comes in very handy when we get stuck in a corner… We just call for help and the other twin swoops in for the rescue!!  We spend countless hours together with little sleep when completing a larger project.  It could be a good thing or a bad thing to be locked away with another one of "yourself".  Andrea and I have to agree that we could never spend as much time as it would take with anyone else but each other.  We are the only two people we know that can scold one another and still be best friends five minutes later.

It has been challenging since I moved away, talk about across the country!  Andrea lives in Utah, and I live in Florida.  You have to have a passion for what you do in order to make a challenging situation work.

Do you have any advice for someone who might think about doing something like this? 

Any advice we could give a young artist is do what you love!  Don't limit yourself.  When you find a talent, think of every possible way you can grow and develop it.  Andrea has not only kept her painting to walls and canvases, she now has been refurbishing furniture and hand painting on it.  It's amazing how much one can accomplish when they have an imagination!  I have been writing children’s books and am currently working with a publishing company.  Andrea and I have been able to use our creativity to illustrate the stories.   A creative mind is worth more than money!  Not everyone is able to create things, if that talent happens to come to you "don't sell yourself short" and remember there is no limit to what you can do!

Best of luck to all of you!

Thank you Angela and Andi, for sharing your amazing story with us. I am truly grateful.

Readers, I will be taking a little break from the series, but please contact me if you would like me to interview you in the future.  I'm always interested in your stories.  I really do love learning from your experiences and successes.  From the series, I gained enough nerve to enter a Art Show and to put my art up in a coffee shop.  See what a positive influence you have been in just me alone!  Thank you all!

Sneak Peek Friday

Hurray!  Two of my entries got into the Randy Higbee Gallery 6" Squared Show in Huntington Beach, CA!

Thank you everyone for helping me by voting when I posted my entries here.  Because you unanimously were all so random, it made me think I better bite the bullet and enter all 5 of them.

The Gala Artists Reception will be Saturday, April 16.  I know I'll be there with any friends and family I can drag there and my camera in tow!  Whoopie! 

On Sunday, you must stop back for my "Women Who Create Beautiful Things".  This is a heart wrenching story about how something positive can come from tragedy.  Come read about  twin sisters,  Andrea and Angela and their creation of CLaraBeLLa MuraLs.


Once again, I am linking up with Studio JRU and all of you lovely Sneak Peek Talents!

Green Earth Coffee Shop Artwork Display

Some cheesy shots showing my artwork on display at the Green Earth Coffee Shop in Lake Forest, California.  My daughters and I worked so hard all day Saturday in order to display my artwork.  You might think, "How hard is it to hang up a few  pieces of art".

Well, a previous photographer had hung or should I say glued their work to the walls and the owner had told me that I was welcome to hang my work if I could get the photos off and repair the wall.   So, we started in an area not so noticeable and when we pulled the picture off, so came half the wall!  These pictures were not going anywhere even in an earthquake!  I had thought, "Oh my gosh, what did I get myself into?".  We had to run to Home Depot for spackle and matching wall paint.

So, after that one, I felt so defeated that  I was ready to throw in the towel.  Anyway, my daughter encourage us on (thank God for the energy of the young) and the next one we used a razor blade to cut the picture free from the glue tape.  This time, we got it off without any damage to the wall.  Once the picture was down, it wasn't over.  There was a residue of glue left and we had to use our fingernails to painstakingly pick it off. 

Me and my work crew

I won't bore you with all the sticky details, but we were there to almost closing.  The girls took shifts working with me throughout the day.

My profile page on the right with business card below

As you see, all this was a great exercise and experience in displaying my work.  I needed to make a profile page to talk about myself and put on the wall.  I chose the wall you see coming out of the bathroom.  Remember buying art is an emotional thing, and hopefully, other people from town might connect with me and my art.

I also had to figure out pricing cards and I did a small info handout that someone could take with them.

I love this picture of people gathered in the shop with my artwork in the background. 

My support team

We finished up on Sunday and enjoyed a couple of well-earned coffees. 

Women Who Create Beautiful Things - Elizabeth Gonzalez - Borboletas

It's been such a pleasure getting to know some of my fellow bloggers better lately, and really I get the secret advantage of thinking up the questions I've always wanted to know about our creative friends.  Hopefully, you wanted to know, too.  As I've said in my last post, I'm am a big admirer of my next guest ceramics and mixed media art. 

Without further ado, I am very pleased to post this interview of Elizabeth Gonzalez for my "Women Who Create Beautiful Things"....

Tell me a little about yourself. 

I have loved the process of creating since I was a child. I grew up in a very big family, eight girls and 5 boys with artistic talents, mostly in music. Since I am the tenth of thirteen, I grew up watching my grandma, my mom, my aunt, my older sisters and brothers in many different forms of art like sewing, drawing, painting, singing, playing instruments, writing lyrics or poems.  My mom and my aunt taught me crochet when I was nine. Later I learned sewing, needlepoint, embroidery, paper work, glass work, ceramics and recently painting and collage. For different reasons I ended up in a professional career as Industrial Engineer and college professor.  It is interesting that when I tell people about my teaching experience they ask if I teach art.  It is so funny watching their faces when I tell the list of courses I teach like probability and statistics, operation management, math, organizational theory and so on.   

By the time I decided to enroll in a ceramic course I was working as a part time industrial engineer consultant, part time Executive Director for an engineering association with 26 countries as members and a part time college professor teaching mathematics and I was raising my kids. From all those things I was doing the only one I was enjoying was raising my kids. Going to basketball and soccer games and all the activities related to them as babies, toddlers, teens and now as young men is what makes me feel grateful, blessed and alive.  In fact, I love family life.  The most valuable treasures I have from my childhood are the family reunions on Sundays at my grandma’s whose house was far away from the city with lots of chickens, hens, dogs, cats, pigs, pigeons, vegetables, and lots of cousins.   

It is no surprise that my designs are inspired by a truly passion for nature and family life.  I am in loved with my three sons of 29,27and 25 and my two adorable grandchildren Javier André (2) and Aliany Gabriela (7 months).

What’s it like living in Puerto Rico.  Have you always lived there?  Has it been beneficial to your art career?

Puerto Rico, called the “enchanted island”, it is the place I was born and I have lived all my life.  The beneficial part is the tropical climate and the richness of color we have for the 365 days of the year.   We can be inspired in a beach or in a forest or in a dessert in this 35 x100 island. The green mountains and trees with flowers are always present in our live.  I love the tropical flowers and fruits. In the art area we have many talented artists and art teachers in almost any area who inspire me.   The not so beneficial is that we are indeed small. We don’t have a Michael’s or Ac Moore or anything similar to that.  We have a lot of stores, BIG stores but not for art supplies.  Art supplies are found in a few small stores and Walmart but it is not the same.  Added to that, sometimes we feel “small” as it is our island. It is common to think we can not reach where others living in big countries can.  We have to overcome this feeling of being small if we want to succeed.  I keep looking at people born in Puerto Rico like Ricky Martin, Raul Julia, Rita Moreno, Tito Trinidad, Jennifer Lopez, and many other talented artists who dreamed big and succeeded.

Tell me about how you started in ceramics.  How did that come about? 

 

I got madly in love with ceramics a little late in my life when I was raising my kids and after a trip to the Old San Juan. Actually, it was the store that sells my art since 2001 the one I visited more just to admire other artist’s work.  I used to walk the store and dream that someday I could have something there made by me.  Finally, in 1996, when my kids were 14, 12 and 10, and I was struggling to find something I could do with passion, I enrolled in a ceramic class. The class was for a specific project but that was all I needed.  This was the beginning of my creative journey and the first steps for my now creative business. 

The most important thing I learned in that workshop was that I could transform that clay in almost anything I wanted. After that class I began a creating process and I started practicing braveness. In less than a year after that ceramic class, I took some of my first projects to a lovely store in my home town I the owner was impressed and bought everything and asked for more.  I was so emotional that I almost cried!

 

How did you get your work in a couple of stores in Puerto Rico?

As I said I practiced braveness a few times. In 2001 I got divorced and I wanted to make some extra money aside from my salary as a college professor and I called the Old San Juan Store.  We made an appointment and I took some of my work, even some broken pieces.  The owner said:  “I like everything, can you sell it to me today? WOW, I was blown away. After that awesome experience I did the same with another store, now in the BIG Mall Plaza Las Américas, and the experience was the same.  Both stores were selling everything and they kept ordering again and again.  The Plaza store closed but I have a lot of good memories. It was a very important store and still today people see my work at shows and ask me if my work was in that store, Nostalgia, because they have one or a few pieces.   The Old San Juan store, PR Arts & Crafts still sells my ceramic work.   Other stores contact me after a fair or a show.  I can tell you that this is the best way to sell to a store, they see your art in a show and they get interested.   

That was what happened to me in November 2010 with my collage painting. I don’t want to sell any more ceramic work on stores, just in a few because I get bored of making the same piece again and again. I need to create new things every day and I have so many different designs that is impossible to make them all by myself or to supply for all the stores that want to have them.  The Poets Passage and Patchouli at the Old San Juan are now selling my collage painting prints and original and two more stores contacted me recently to begin to sell them, too. These two saw my collage painting in the San Juan store.  

I understand your artwork is being looked at by a distributor.   How did you make that happen?

Back in 2002-2004, AVON Puerto Rico contacted me because they saw my work at the Old San Juan Store PR Arts & Crafts .  They wanted to reproduce two of my Christmas Collection pieces.  I made the pieces and they sent it to China to be reproduced and the result was astonishing.  They made the piece in resin but it was almost identical.  They sold 4,000 pieces in only one week before Christmas season and they ordered more.  They sold a lot. After that experience they bought 9 more designs.  I didn’t have the experience and knowledge on this kind of business and the decision didn’t bring me good money but the experience was excellent. My photo was included in all catalogs selling my designs and that was awesome.  Still these days I find people that can recognize my work because they bought one of those reproductions.   

The company they contacted to make this project encouraged me to do other pieces with them.  The same company, now sold to one of the partners is the one I contacted to distribute my collage painting prints and my casted set of butterflies which will be on the stores in 4-5 months under the trademark Borboletas. The distributor is very positive and grateful that I gave him this opportunity. Another seller from Puerto Rico who lives in Philadelphia wants to represent my work out of Puerto Rico. Now that it is easier with collage painting we will be meeting soon to make this happen. Today I have an important meeting with the owners of two stores located at important mall in the metro area who once wanted to sell my ceramic but now I will show them my collage painting prints and the possibility of other products made from them.

What are your dreams and goals for your future?

In my creative life, licensing is what I have been dreaming for a few years since I worked with AVON.  After KRR E-Course and the support of the community I am part of now, I know I can make it happen. I would like to see my ceramic designs casted and reproduced in high quality materials selling in big stores like Bed Bath and Beyond or Macy’s or any other store.  As Tara Reed says…Painting in my pajamas is what I dream.  I would love to see my art in many products. I dream of designing lots of decorative and functional products that can bring smiles to people enjoying them in their homes. 

When people tell me that my art make them smile….I know the hard work and the patience has paid off.  Now I have more faith in my work and a strong desire to have more time with my family and I believe that my creative business is taking me where I want to be.     

Anyone wishing to purchase Elizabeth's products, check out her Etsy Shop or her Blog for some of her beautiful things!  Thank you so much Elizabeth!

Sneak Peek Friday

So excited to be hanging my art at the Green Earth Coffee Shop this weekend.  I'm sure I will need to make a few trips deciding what goes where, buying frames, etc.  I enlisted my art lover friend for some help and company in figuring it all out.    Knowing the owner like the more mixed media style, I made this little piece by printing the tree from the commissioned piece I did and then adding some more collage pieces on top of it to give it an original feel.

I also found this quote from the Oprah magazine in the index pages and liked it...  "You are the creative type.  We all are -- even if we don't know it yet".

Many of you will recognize my next interview just by this painting, "Enjoy the Ride".  Please come back for this Sunday's interview, "Women Who Create Beautiful Things", of one of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth Gonzalez of  Elizabeth Glz. I was one of the lucky ones to receive a beautiful ceramic ornament this past Christmas, and the detail on it is so beautiful.  I just love it.

Once again, I am linking up with Studio JRU and all of you lovely Sneak Peek Talents.

Happy Dance News!

Green Earth Coffee Roasters, Lake Forest, CA

What?  Did you hear the news?  Diana Mulder's art on display at Green Earth Coffee Shop in Lake Forest?  Just amazing. 

Well it will be amazing when I get all my stuff up there.  I'm very excited. I met with one of the owners today, and she liked my mixed media work.  There is already a photographer's work on display, but I can fill in my art on some of the other walls. 

I have to give a special thanks to all my friends and bloggers, who gave me encouraging comments supporting my art.    It was all of you that gave me the courage to finally say when I opened my mouth, "I am an artist!" and not, "I'd like to order a latte".

Of course, I will take pictures once everything is in. Doin the happy dance over here!  Woot Woot!