I create to live: Sandra Juto

I was really excited when Sandra Juto agreed to do an interview as she is hands down one of my most favourite artists and bloggers. I visit her blog daily as her eye for detail and photography is both impeccable and inspiring, and she is also super clever and witty. If you're not already following her I'd recommend you get to it! Thank you Sandra for sharing your thoughts with us here today!

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? The journey you took to be where you are and what you're doing at the moment?

As a child I wanted to become a fashion designer, I was crazy about watching fashion shows on TV. I made skirts out of old sheets for my sister and cousin. My mother taught me how to crochet and my grandmother taught me how to knit. I didn't like to be outdoors playing, I preferred to be at home making things. And it has always been like that. For a few years I stopped being creative because I didn't know I could actually work with it, to earn my living that way, so I studied many languages and thought of becoming a translator. Then one day I discovered Photoshop and started making websites - a couple of months later I started working as a web designer, this was in the late 1990's and it was easy to get jobs. The web made me bored and I wanted to learn more about graphic design so I studied that for several years and at the same time I started drawing again and discovered how fun illustration was, so I thought I should try freelancing as an illustrator and that's what I've been doing for a few years now. It's fun and at the moment I'm doing some freelance illustration and I crochet a lot, I cannot get enough.

Why do you create? What is it about being creative (in whatever sense) that makes it something important for you to do?

Why do I breathe? To live. I create to live and because I don't know what else I would do if I didn't do it. It's what keeps me going.

Where do you look for inspiration? Who or what inspires you?

In the city, in the forest, by the sea. I more and more search for inspiration in my surroundings rather than looking at other people's work.

I'm sure on the outside, creativity often seems like it always flows easily but I imagine this isn't always the case! Are there ever times when being expected to be creative for work or on demand feels overwhelming? How do you work through those feelings?

There is always a certain moment when I panic, when I think I'm not going to make it. For every job I do, this moment gets shorter. It helps to zoom out of myself look at myself and my situation from the distance where everything looks so smaller and easier.

What are the most rewarding and most difficult parts of your work as an artist and your creative life in general?

Most rewarding: When I'm feeling satisfied with the result and have had fun on my way there. Even better if my client is satisfied too. Most difficult: To believe in myself all the way, there is always a time of doubt.

If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you like to be doing?

I would like to run a café with my husband, but he says he wouldn't let me because if I'm pissed everyone sees it. So I'd better hide in my studio and just visit cafés instead ;)

Staying Nourished and Alive: Lisa Congdon

Next up in the artist interview series is the lovely Lisa Congdon. I've been following Lisa's work for awhile now and have fallen in love with pretty much every new piece that I see by her! She's also a twitter pal, and I've come to not only love her artwork but also really respect her as a genuine and compassionate person. I absolutely love her use of bold shape and colour, but my favourite might just be her beautifully emotive animal portraits. I hope you enjoy the interview!

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? The journey you took to be where you are and what you're doing at the moment?

I started out waaaay back in the 1990's as a school teacher. I taught elementary school for about seven years, and I loved it, but I was really dismayed with the state of public education in the inner city where I worked. Inevitably I went to work for a non-profit educational change organization in the San Francisco Bay Area where I stayed for a decade. I worked with teacher leaders and principals to improve what they did for kids. I also wrote and did some research and program development. Simultaneously, about 10 years ago, to feed the more creative part of myself, I started taking painting classes and began making art in my free time. Five years ago I began showing and selling my work in shops and galleries. Almost three years ago, I left my job to live a more full time creative life. I opened the store Rare Device in San Francisco with my friend Rena and more recently I signed with the illustration agency, Lilla Rogers Studio. My time right now is split between my studio where I paint and draw (both for my illustration work and for fine art shows), my home where I do some digital illustration work on the computer, and Rare Device where I keep shop.

2. Why do you create? What is it about being creative (in whatever sense) that makes it something important for you to do?

I've only been painting and making collage for about 10 years, but I've always been a maker--since I was a little kid. Now being creative is such an integral part of my life, that even thinking about how or why it is important feels weird. It's like eating or sleeping. It's part of what I do to stay nourished and alive. That said, other parts of my life feel equally as important as being creative--my relationships are important, and physical activity is important (I am very athletic and swam competitively most of my life until four years ago and am currently training for a triathlon). It's important to me to have a balance of all those things and being creative (making stuff, thinking of new stuff to make, day dreaming, scheming, collaborating with others, etc), is part of that balance for me.

3. Where do you look for inspiration? Who or what inspires you?

I live in San Francisco and this city is a constant source of inspiration. There are amazing cultures here, color everywhere, interesting people, delicious food, writers, fashion, art and music everywhere. I am never bored. It's impossible. So I just take it all in. And then right outside the city is the gorgeous natural landscape of Northern California--trees, hills, mountains, ocean, lakes, birds, animals. My work is very inspired by nature, and the California landscape.

4. I'm sure on the outside, creativity often seems like it always flows easily but I imagine this isn't always the case! Are there ever times when being expected to be creative for work or on demand feels overwhelming? How do you work through those feelings?

I don't necessarily have a problem with being creative. I have no shortage of ideas. My problem comes in executing them in the way that they exist in my imagination. Sometimes I get some ideas and I try to draw, paint or make them and I have to scrap them, either because I don't have the technical skill (I never went to art school so sometimes I feel like my lack of technical art skills hold me back) or the money or time or space to execute them. That is the frustrating part for me. Sometimes things are just prettier or grander in your imagination than they are when you try to make them real.

When I do experience frustration, I work through it by trying to see what I can learn, even when things get messy or don't turn out the way I planned. I think part of the reason I have been able to make art with very little training is that I use my experience as my guide, and that includes taking stock of what didn't go well or what I wasn't able to execute. I either decide to figure out how to learn what I don't know or to give up and move on to something else. I don't allow myself to stay in a place of frustration for long.

5. What are the most rewarding and most difficult parts of your work as an artist and your creative life in general?

The most difficult part for me is the constant need to "pimp" my work so I can make a living. It gets exhausting. Self promotion is a necessary part of self employment and I do what I can so that I can make a living, but for me it feels hard and most of the time I'd rather just crawl into my hobbit hole and have some tea by the fire.

The most rewarding part of what I do is when people let me know that they love my work or that they are inspired by what I make. I get emails a lot from people letting me know this, or people come into my store and tell me. That makes all the work and effort worthwhile.

6. If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you like to be doing?

I cannot imagine anything else, except maybe to be a world traveler. I'd like to do what I do now AND travel the world.

Thanks so much, Lisa! Be sure to check out Lisa's awesome Collections Project and also her store if you'd like to snap up one of her prints for yourself!

A Weird Craving: Lisa Romero

I've mentioned often here that I am interested in not just the finished product, but the process. I love seeing the middle and the why's and hows of why people create. I love the messy details and being challenged and inspired by learning about what drives people in doing what they do. So I'm really excited to be starting a series of interviews with artists and other creative types to get a bit of insight into why, how and what it is they do and what motivates them. First up, one of my favourite Twitter pals, fantastic artist Lisa Romero of Paperbullet. I love Lisa's use of colour, her commitment to using all found and reused materials and bright vibrant style. Enjoy!

Can you tell us a little bit about your background? The journey you took to be where you are and what you're doing at the moment?
I’ve always loved to draw, and when I was in high school I really wanted to be a fashion illustrator. I went to art school, but I can’t sew and I’m not a very good student (I’m really more comfortable teaching myself things) so I dropped out and kind of forgot about art for a while. About six years ago I needed a hobby and sort of fell back into painting. I picked up clients here and there and after I had my kid two years ago decided not to go back to the nine to five. Now I don’t think I could go back if I tried.

At the moment I am doing things for private clients on the web, blog graphics, print work for an online scrapbooking company and printer, and collaborations with other artists. I’ve done a tee shirt collaboration with Locomotive, that should be out soon, and the new Artful Agendas were just released with one of my cover images.

That and spending time with my lovely crazy two year old and my wonderful husband Isaac.

Why do you create? What is it about being creative (in whatever sense) that makes it something important for you to do?

It’s a weird craving. Almost like something I have to do instead of want to. Something in my head is always thinking of how to make something out of something else. Even when I mess something up I see something else that can be done with it. So I start painting over it and going in a new direction. If I don’t paint or draw for a few days I get really cranky. I’m super lucky I live with someone who understands that. What my daughter is going to think of it when she gets older I don’t know.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Thrift stores! I love finding things that give me ideas that I can pick up for a dollar or two and put in my studio to inspire me. Old things, cracked and peeling. Wood. Glass. Very elemental and primitive things. Happy things, kiddie things, primary colored things. Bright, smiling, friendly faces. People who go to thrift stores are usually there because they have the same mentality- why buy new when there’s so much out there that can be had for half the stash? And it already has that lived-in cushiony feel.

Following you on Twitter I've been lucky to see many of your works in progress and I'm sure to most of us it seems like it always flows easily but I imagine this isn't always the case! Are there ever times when being expected to be creative for work feels overwhelming? How do you work through those feelings?

Yes. I think everyone who has a creative job feels that way at some point. Here, monkey, dance. Dance, I said! But I like to dance, so I dance. Sometimes I try to remind myself not to think so much. Pushing hard is the best way to stop up my creative process. I pause, pour a cup of coffee, out on a good movie and pull out a magazine. I try to let things I enjoy saturate my sponge and then start to let things flow. The more I do something, like working under pressure, the more my brain is able to repeat the process. I try to remember that even though I may not feel I can do it, I CAN. I just have to believe in myself.

What are the most rewarding and most difficult parts of your job and your creative life in general?

Totally easy question. Working from home after so many years of working a 9-5 I see how easy it is to forget about having a life outside of work. Those worlds are so intertwined for me I know that I’ll never be able to pry them apart- what I do is who I am. It is the reason I could never go back to the “straight job” world. It is hard to have time for yourself when you work this way but I’ve realized I’d be doing this regardless. I do feel that being immersed in it has made me grow more as an artist- that really looking at it from this perspective has made me realize what is really important to me and what is totally superfluous.

If you weren't doing what you're doing now, what would you like to be doing?

I’m really interested in set and production design. Because I’ve been thrifting so avidly for so many years I’ve accumulated a nice conglomeration of things and a real feel for staging. I wish I had a bigger house, I’d play dress up with it all day.

To see more, check out the studio visit and inspiration post with Lisa over at ML4U.

Thanks so much Lisa!

WIP Wednesday: Errands

After reading this post over on Enhabiten, I decided that I would walk my errands today instead of taking the bus. I even put this crazy pedometer app on my iPhone so I could see how far I walked, how many calories burned, how long it takes, etc. Really I mostly care about the steps and distance as I am terrible at guessing measurements of any kind and as soon as I get into the thousands it sounds really exciting and impressive to me, haha. I'm lucky to live in a really pretty neighbourhood which makes going for walks all the more enticing, especially at this time of year with the rambling flowers all over the place.

I actually have some more errands to run, including picking up a package from the post office (yay! mail!) and going to meet with a lovely local woman to talk about craft as activism, which excites me to no end. But first, have you seen these bird houses over at My Love For You? So great! Meighan always has such fantastic stuff on her blog and I really love her Process series, as you know I'm all about the work in progress. See more here!

WIP Wednesday: Wooden bunting (and where I've been)

Wooden bunting in the making, soon to be in the shop!

Why hello there! We've been a mix of busy and a little under the weather over here, hence my absence for the past wee while. After an initial quiet few days, people went completely nuts over our guitar picks (huge thanks to Jan for featuring them on Poppytalk, I have no doubt this lead to the many orders!) and we were rushing to keep up so everyone could give them to their Valentines on time. Hence almost all of the weekend sitting in the living room, blender penning, sanding, cutting, packaging and watching some great movies (almost all of which made me cry).

I've started a Flickr group for WIP Wednesdays, if you'd like to join. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to edit it soon so it can have it's own photo (and no spelling mistakes, argh). It's all pretty loose, mostly I'm just really interested in seeing how people make and create, their processes and what finding satisfaction and beauty in something that is unfinished. It doesn't necessarily have to be a craft project, it could be a meal, a drawing, an outfit...anything! If you do play along on your blog, let me know as I'd love to see!

I hope you're all having a lovely week!

WIP Wednesday - Shop Update

Don't get tricked, there hasn't actually been a shop update, despite me promising one oh....about a week or two ago? I've found it so hard to get photos that I'm happy with lately due to all the grey weather, so here are a few outtakes from the past couple of times I tried to get some good shots for the shop. A shop update work in progress. I'm going to try and post something I'm working on, something in progress, every Wednesday here on the blog. Edit: I will tell you that guitar picks and these two Valentines bookmarks are now available in the shop though. More to come, including some new projects I'm excited to show you!

I'm always intrigued to see not just what but how others are making, I love the in between shots. Perhaps you'll join me? If you do, please let me know as I'd love to see!