My Art Evolution
My art evolution has been a life-long creative adventure. The adventure began before I can recall. It grew into my blossoming art business.
My Childhood
The beginning of this journey was nurtured and encouraged by family. That gave me a boost into a fun hobby.
I started drawing before I can remember. My grandmother would perch baby-me on her lap and help me draw. She would wrap my fingers around a pencil and hold my hand while drawing. As I grew I didn’t need her to hold my hand as much. Later, and much to the chagrin of my parents, I began “drawing” on the side of my grandmother’s wood desk with hand tools.
Eventually I began drawing my toys. Tracing shadows. Looking at child drawing books with animals and monsters. Drawing my own created animals like dragons and sea monsters. My uncle told me to look at pictures of animals to draw them more realistically. He gave me a book of animal drawings to reference.
Highschool
I had three amazing art teachers. They got me into the Advanced Art Placement class. They helped me do more with art than I would for a long time after highschool. I was also an avid fantasy book reader. This is where my love of drawing animal-people would bloom. My love of fantasy books would land me on book forums on the internet. Specifically, the very first home of the Gryphon Guild. It was here I met similar artists. It was here I first heard of “furrys”.
My creativity exploded.
College
I attended classes for my Associates in Arts from 1999 to 2001. From 2001 to 2008 I pursued my Bachelors of Fine Arts and studied sign language interpreting. No one told me at this time that a business degree would also be helpful. Later I found out that interpreting was not for me. I kept the language skill.
2008 I was introduced to carving bone.
Paraprofessional
In 2004 I had began working with public schools. I did art part-time; once in a while landing an art commission. It was a few hundred dollars a year, nothing substantial.
There has to be more to life
In 2013 I met my mate. I also saw a small business he worked at close up and personal. It was floundering and should have been a success. I realized that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to have a successful business. It was becoming financially necessary; paraprofessionals aren’t exactly paid a living wage. I had half the skills I needed: creative skills. I lacked the business skills. But, I had the internet! With zero start-up finances, I dived into research and web site building.
Bone Jeweler was a struggle. For two years I sharpened my teeth on it. I learned a lot about caring for a website and starting a business. Near the end of 2016, Bone Jeweler became Root Inspirations. This was to include my partner in life and business into the business brand. While I do love to carve bone jewelry, I also draw and sculpt. Bone Jeweler was not depicting any of the other aspects to my creativity, and said nothing of my partner’s art.
The Future
I feel like it might be time to draft a business plan and start setting realistic goals for us. 🙂
