We have a very special artist date post today! You must’ve seen by now the gorgeous Artist-to-Artist collaboration by our talented SA designers with the amazing artist Kelly Barton. So let’s get to know a little bit more the artist behind the inspiration.
Kelly describes herself as 
“a girl living in middle earth. I paint. I design. I believe in human rights. I love color. On a good day, I am in my studio where I get to be most creative. I also love to laugh and to say…’dang!’
I wondered about her creative process. Has she always been creative and “artsy” as a child? Where, oh where, does she get her inspiration from?
“When I was really tiny, I would watch my mom draw out Dr. Seuss-esk blooms while talking on the phone. I dig Dr. Seuss…. and of course then I would try to replicate hers with my broken crayons from the old ice cream tub. I would get lost in daydreams just watching her hands move across the paper. I am a lefty, so I always would have pencil all over the side of my hand.”
“Most of my inspiration comes from… well, my crazy, colorful mind! I am a color freak. I love big bright colors though I do find myself migrating to a lot of turquoise, pinks and orange.”
It must be nice to be able to spend a lot of one’s time on art projects, freely expressing oneself and seeing creative thoughts and ideas come alive.
“Are you kidding? I wish I could say I head up to the studio every day, and stay there a full 8 hours. But it never seems to work that way in the land of freelance. Any day that I am productive is a good day. I would just dive in and allow my mind to go. I love seeing what pieces were there when I was done. I turn up the music and just start creating. If you go to my blog, you will be able to enjoy my playlist along with me. I love old rock, Queen, Aerosmith, Steve Miller. But I could sit and listen to Ben Harper all day.
I enjoy working with acrylics and found papers and little objects. I have also started making baubles and I love working on those. But I r.e.a.l.l.y dig encaustics. I hope I can soon find time to give those a whirl. “
You can learn more about Kelly via her artful blog, The Camp and her etsy shoppe, The Happy Girl Shoppe. We’ll explore more of her shoppe next week as we try to see what she has to say about her art.
If you have any questions for Kelly, just leave them in the comments below. I will send them her way and get them answered in next week’s post.
Until next Wednesday…
Joy
January 6th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Woohoo!!! What a great interview… thank you Joy! Kelly it was so much fun working with you and now, getting to know you a bit better! I really enjoyed playing your blog music while I worked on our Artist-to-Artist stuff this month too…xoxo Nan
January 6th, 2010 at 7:44 am
PS – I have a question for Kelly! What is “encaustics”? LOL!
January 6th, 2010 at 9:05 am
encaustic painting is down with beeswax. you layer the wax onto your canas
[ wood, a panel canvas] and you can use paper within the wax layers. color
the wax with oil paints or encaustic colors. i love the look. have the wax. now just need to get some oil paints to use for color and start!
you should google it and look at some of the work.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:01 am
You are an awesome inspiration Kelly and glad to know you a little bit better, I loved working with this month’s A2A products, it brought out things in me I never thought would happen. And I’m so inspired to do even more!
January 6th, 2010 at 11:33 am
ohhhhh, i am sooo inspired by kelly’s blog!!! thanks for sharing, joy, nancie and kelly!! into my studio i run!
January 6th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
dang – someday I will be a cool as you! thanks so much for sharing your artistic love with us!
January 6th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
you are so inspirational Kelly! I love your designs and your etsy shop is fabulous! I have had so much fun working with the products this month!
January 6th, 2010 at 11:57 pm
thank you so much to each of you. your kind words, welcoming faces and all the new pieces have truly meant so much. i am so humbled.
peace.
kelly
January 7th, 2010 at 8:29 am
I too have absolutely loved working with the A2A products you helped to inspire this month. I’ve done about triple the LOs with this months products that I’ve done with our collabs in the past… if that helps to illustrate how much I love them! The colors are especially inspiring. It’s been great to get to know a little more about you and I love your playlist too!
January 7th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Oooh I am going to have to check into that !! Beeswax? Where do you buy it? I am off to google! I would love to drive down to Indiana and see your studio sometime too!
January 7th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
nan. i bought it online from a bee farmer. it has been sitting in the closet for over 3 years. think it is time to start?
you are welcome to come anytime and hang with me. we could create!
January 9th, 2010 at 11:48 am
…this was a great interview kelly. i enjoyed learning a few new things about an artist i love.
congrats my friend!