Cally's Creations

*Where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am from Birmingham, England, but currently living in the City of Wolverhampton with my amazing musician boyfriend Jamie and three wonderful cats Percy, Albie and Izzy. I am currently working part time as a cleaner while I try and build up my mini art business Cally’s Creations.

*How did you decide on your shop name? Why did you start your business?

I didn’t really think my shop name through, or my business! I sold my first painting in March 2011 through a website called ArtGallery.co.uk and that inspired me to make a Facebook page to advertise through. I never thought I could ever sell a painting and was so happy I’d sold one, it gave me the confidence I needed to take that next step. I called my business ‘Cally’s Art’ at first, but though that ‘Cally’s Creations’ would be better because it’s catchy, but because if I wanted to expand and do different arts and crafts it would still be suited.

*What are 5 things you want people to think when they see your product?

I mainly want people to see that everything is beautiful – even the girl without hair, or lines on her face, that not everything has to be ‘normal’ to be beautiful and that imperfection can be just as brilliant as ‘perfection’! I want the women/girls who like my art to know that they are beautiful even if society is against you. I am perfectly happy knowing I am not what society would class as the ‘norm’ and I want everyone else to feel that too!

Other than that, I want people to see happiness, to somehow relate their feelings, thoughts and lives to my paintings somehow.
Many people have described my work as ‘Child-like’ and often feel I would be offended by this, when it’s quite the opposite. I want the people who view my work to find the child within them!

*What’s your supply addiction; is there a specific color or type of supply you just can’t pass up?

I cannot stop buying Pinks and Tea/ Turquoise l shades of paint. It is rare that I do a painting without these colours – which is weird because if you asked me a year ago what my opinion of the colour pink was, I’d have laughed and said I despised it! But since developing my own artistic style, I have become to love it.
PVA glue is also another supply I can’t go without! You need plenty when you’re texturing a canvas with paper and card.

*What do you do when you’re not being an artist? What activities do you enjoy?

I love to read. Mainly books from women authors such as Sophie Hannah, Tana French and Gillian Flynn. I love how women write thriller and crime; it feels more passionate, somehow!
When I am not reading thriller/crime books, I am spending time at home relaxing, watching movies and listening to music with my boyfriend and three wonderful cats. As my boyfriend is a musician, I enjoy nothing more than listening to him composing a new song. It gives me just as much thrill as creating a new piece of artwork.

*Which item in your shop did you enjoy making the most and why?

I loved creating my original painting ‘Flowers to brighten your day.’ It was a lovely sunny day in July, and I sat in the window of our living room with the blank canvas, paints and paper, with no ideas whatsoever in my head! The colours of Summer inspired me to do the flowers and the happy woman is how I was feeling that day.

*What keeps you motivated?

I would love to be able to make a living off doing something I love and enjoy. Just enough to get by, I’m not interested in making lots of money, but to be able to work from home and build an art business would be wonderful. When (in the very far future) we decide to build a family, I do not want to be a working mom who goes out every day to work and hardly sees their family, and I think with a creative business from home, a mixture of the two would be bliss.
Not only that, I just love creating new pieces. I never used to be confident in my artwork, and I still do have relapses where I think it’s nowhere near good enough (as most artists do) but I love the feeling I get when I have a new idea and I just have to get it down – it some ways it relaxes me.

*If you could give a piece of advice to a new shop - what would it be?

When I first started on Etsy I was scared of not getting any sales or views so I gave up before I had even started It is only in the last couple of months where I have really tried to promote myself. My advice would be to not be afraid to speak to other Etsy users. Join as many teams as possible and get your shop out there whilst having fun and meeting fellow members!

*Are there other places on the net we can find you?

You can find me on facebook at www.facebook.com/callyscreations and my twitter page is twitter.com/#!/callyctartist.
I have also recently started up a blog www.callyscreations.wordpress.com. I had a website before but it wasn’t getting enough traffic so decided I’d try something new – it’s working out so far!