jen lemen - Home

I’m not quite sure how I found mixed media artist and kindred spirit Kelly Rae Roberts–it might have been right on Etsy or maybe through Laini’s site. In any event, I’ll never forget sorting through her archives and realizing that over the course of less than a year, her life as an artist had taken off. As a serious procrastinator, this little fact meant the world to me and made me want to get to know Kelly better. I recently asked her to share her story for this blog, and she kindly agreed. Enjoy her wisdom along with the possiblity of winning one of her prints. Contest details follow the interview below.

One of the things that blows me away about your story is that in some ways art is a recent discovery for you. That before you started working with mixed media you had an entirely different focus for your life that had nothing to do with making art. Would you mind giving as a brief timeline of your life with art–what you were doing before and what you’re doing now.

Absolutely, it seemed as if my life’s trajectory completely changed in a very short amount of time. In a nutshell, it happened like this (oops, this may be longer than “in a nutshell”):

In the fall of 2005, while I was working full time as a medical social worker, a friend of mine sent me a link to Sabrina Ward Harrision’s website. I had never seen her work before and I was immediately and completely drawn to it. I loved how she collaged her own photography with her journaling and how it was messy, but truthful all at once. Nothing had quite inspired me like her work. I felt a whisper inside nudging me to experiment with art. So, I started to visit crafty stores and began making Christmas gifts
involving scrapbook papers, photos, and words.

By January 2006, I had discovered an entire world I never knew existed: the world of mixed media art. I discovered Cloth/Paper/Scissors magazine and the various Somerset magazines, all full of a kind of art I had not seen before. Through the web, I found the works of artists like DJ Pettitt, Claudine
Hellmuth, Anahata Katkin. I had also discovered Illustration Friday
(illustrationfriday.com), and started participating in their weekly challenges. During this time, I found myself spending a lot of time researching, discovering, and immersing myself with what I had found. I felt a compulsion to create and to expand my work beyond scrapbooking. I wanted to paint.

So, I began to experiment with painting faces in February 2006 and I would stay up into the wee hours of the night experimenting, playing with paints, with ideas. It felt like a huge burden had been released when I finally started putting paint onto paper, a sort of healing if you will. In those early works, I was humbled by my creations, and was trying to find my style. It was difficult and joyous all at once.

I had heard about ArtFest and had the opportunity to attend in March 2006. I was still quite new at creating, especially painting, but it was during those few days at that art retreat that I had some very real clarity about what I wanted to do. I was surrounded by people just like me. People who
were inspired and compelled to live a creative life. I came home from that event with a focus and a level of inspiration I had never known before. I was ready to quit my full time job as a medical social worker and make art 24/7. Of course, that didn’t happen. I kept my job, but spent most of my free time creating and learning about the process.

In August 2006, my husband and I moved from Portland, Oregon to Oakland, California where he had been accepted to graduate school. I decided to take the opportunity that moving had to offer and forgo getting another full time job and would instead get a part time job doing medical social work while I pursued a career in artmaking. It ended up being a wise decision, though I remember worrying about how we would financially make it with just one of us employed part time while the other attended graduate school full time, especially given the much higher expense of the Bay area compared to Portland. Nevertheless, I thought the timing was perfect and I just went for it, with the support of my husband. That same month, I opened an Etsy shop
and began to sell originals and prints. The response was good, but not earth shattering! During this time, I was doing a ton of research about printers, epson papers, scanners, shipping options, computer software, etc. It was a
never ending period of questions to ask and decisions to make. During this time, I also applied for, and was accepted as an emerging artist for a popular San Francisco Art Festival (Celebration of Craftswomen) to be held in November.

In September 2006, I launched my website (www.KellyRaeRoberts.com) after a friend told me about Freeway, a web designing tool for mac users. Having a website out there in the world proved to be invaluable. It seemed things really started happening after that. I continued to learn more painting
techniques, both in books and at art retreats, including Art&Soul held in Portland in October 2006. And I continued to sell my pieces on Etsy.

In November 2006, I had my first booth at an art festival in San Francisco (Celebration of Craftswomen). I sold prints, originals, cards, and I remember being in heaven, the feeling that strangers were buying my work and with such enthusiasm and connection. It was a validating couple of days for me.

Around the same time, Christine Mason Miller (aka Swirly girl) asked if I
would be a part of a group gallery show to be held in LA in February. I jumped at the opportunity, again and continually amazed at how quickly things were happening. The show went very well. The momentum now of the life I was creating was really beginning to sink in. I was loving every moment of it.

An editor contacted me just before the show in LA and asked if I would be interested in writing a book about art and inspiration and the creative life. She had been reading my blog and following my story and felt it would translate well to a book. I am currently in the joyous throws of putting that book together now! It’s tentatively titled Taking Flight: Projects & Ideas that will Make Your Spirit Soar and is set for release next fall.

One year after attending ArtFest, I returned to the event again in March 2007. It was an incredible experience to look back at where I was just one year prior as a person who had just discovered the art world and who now was selling her works on etsy, at ArtFest vendor nite (an incredible frenzy of people and buyers), at art festivals, at a gallery, and now writing a book. I am continually amazed at the lesson of getting back what you put in. It’s been a dream come true.

So, there you have it. That’s my timeline (so far)!

I think this is so encouraging because so many times we want to try something or do something, but it’s so far out of our realm of every day life that we talk ourselves out of it before we even get started. What convinced you to give art a chance? How long did you overlap before you decided you could cut back on your other job?

What convinced me to give art a chance was the constant nagging of my inner voice begging and pleading for me to do it. I was losing sleep over the “what ifs”. What if I don’t take this opportunity NOW? What if I wait and 10 years go by and I regret that I didn’t start living the life I had dreamed of? What if my life becomes burdened by regret? In essence, I couldn’t bare the “what ifs”. I had to give myself and my art a chance. I also realized that it’s never a good time to make any changes in one’s life. We’ll never have enough money to buy that first house, to move to that city, to have our
first child, to go on vacation, etc. I just couldn’t bare the idea of money limiting the potential for my life. What I’ve learned since is that we do have control over our efforts. Once I convinced myself that effort leads to great changes, things started falling into place. All I had to do was do the work. And the work (making art) happened to be something I was in love with.

I am still overlapping my art life with my part-time job (though I was able to quit my full time job right around the same time I started selling on Etsy). I expect to continue this for awhile, at least until my husband is done with graduate school!

You’ve covered a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. When I see other people doing that, I’m tempted to think that that kind of trajectory is only possible for other people, that I need to spend more time in the trenches, pay my dues or something, before I can let myself really succeed. This might seem like a crazy question, but how do you keep taking the next steps (showing your work, writing a book, etc) without totally freaking out and shutting down the whole process? Do you ever get scared that things are going so fast?

Well, I do freak out! I’ve had random thoughts of “I wonder what would happen if I just stopped. If I just one day deleted my website, my blog, and just stopped.” I think it’s normal to sometimes be overwhelmed by all of it, by the personal expectations, by external expectations, and by the pressure to produce and make things happen. When I start to get worried or overwhelmed, I try to be intentional about taking a break. Getting out of the house. Going on artist dates. Walking around San Francisco is one of my favorite things to do. Getting some perspective outside of my apartment or
my studio is great therapy for me. I try to remind myself that this isn’t a competition. There will always be time. There will always be art. It’s ok to rest! I don’t ever what this to feel like a burden.

What’s a regular work day like for you? Do you work on several projects at once or do you choose one thing and go with that from start to finish?

I currently work 2 or 3 days a week at my medical social work job. On those days, I typically come home from work and try to get my orders ready to be shipped out, or I’ll work on the business side of my art life, such as applying to shows or researching opportunities. On the days that I’m not at my part time job, I typically spend my mornings walking my dog, catching up on emails, and my afternoons and evenings working in the studio. Sometimes, I work on just one painting from start to finish and other times I work on several backgrounds all at once. I suppose it depends on my mood. I do find that whenever I’m in the studio, I lose time. Hours go by without notice. The music is usually on , the windows open, my apron is on, and I’m happily getting very messy!

I try to give myself one day a week off. That means no art, no job, no computer. Instead, a full day off to relax & regroup. Some weeks are better than others. I have a fear of becoming a work-a-holic. I don’t want that for myself, so I work very hard at balance.

Is there any one person, idea or thing that you keep coming back to and saying to yourself–”Oh my God, I don’t know if this would have happened without blah blah blah?” Or is it more of an internal process for you?

Yes, I often say to my friend Brooke Butler, “If you had not sent that email to me with Sabrina Ward Harrison’s link, I don’t know where I’d be!” Or, I often credit blogging with opening up my world to all the creativity and inspiration out there. Sites such as Illustration Friday have been huge in my journey.

Also, the idea that we actually can transform our lives with one little step at a time has been huge for me. That we don’t have to live our lives in a job that isn’t nourishing to our souls. That we can have some control over our decisions and efforts. That we can make postive changes, little by little, towards our dream life. I just love it. I have learned in the past year to be better at not allowing fear to dictact my decisions.

Favorite music these days?

Brandi Carlile
Jack Johnson
Mason Jennings
The Weepies

Favorite snack?

Chocolate. In any form.

Do you read blogs? Any favorites right now we might not know about?

Of yes, I read many blogs. I recently discovered bloglines which has really
helped me get organized in blogworld! I especially love reading the blogs of people I actually know in my real life. Having my friends (and family) start blogs has been a treat for me. It’s another way to stay connected. I also
love all the crafty blogs out there -it’s a huge inspiration for me to see all the creations being born out of fabric right now.

I’m having a hard time staying off Etsy these days. I think Etsy alone might drive me to PayPal bankruptcy. Do you buy art from Etsy or do you use it solely as a seller? (You were my very first introduction to Etsy, btw! I had no idea what it was until I followed the link from your blog.)

Whenever I really start to explore Etsy, I get entirely overwhelmed with all the goodness. I have a hard time making any decisions when it comes to buying anything on there! I have recently started asking vendors at various craft markets if they have an etsy site, and I’m amazed that most of them do! It’s such a great idea, that site and I’m happy to support it.

What’s on your list of Mondo Beyondo dreams these days? Anything you’d care to share?

My current Mondo Beyondo dreams would be to travel more, to get back to Italy. To have an art show in San Francisco before John graduates and we move back to Portland. To pour myself into this book I’m writing and for it to be a success.

Kelly has graciously agreed to give a print of her work to one of our gracious commenters–and I’d love to give a copy of Artist’s Way along with a zine to someone in the comments as well. So the “contest” is as follows! Guess what is the most common name of all those who comment on this blog, win a prize. Or. Delurk and have Madeleine pick your name out of a hat. I hope you all are as inspired by Kelly as I am. I’m off on a 12 hour field trip this morning–with 50 second graders! Wish me luck.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 7:04 am and is filed under Journal, art, beauty, creativity, friends, inspiration, interviews, kelly rae roberts, links, mondo beyondo, process, questions, zine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.