Finding My Style

Hey there! I can’t tell you how good it feels to sit down and write again!

First things first, let’s catch up…

If you’ve been around for awhile, you may have followed along with my old blog, Gav + Ro. I had that blog for 7 years and, unfortunately, lost it abruptly last fall. Without getting too technical/website-talkie, there was a misunderstanding about web hosting on my part, the site became archived, and would have taken more money than I was making from it to retrieve. I was sad but also relieved. I was kind of burnt out in the hustle of blogging and, to be honest, not doing a great job. I wasn’t putting the effort in as much anymore because I wasn’t seeing the growth and results I desired.

At this point in my life, I had decided to pursue art as my full time gig rather than my side hustle. But without the blog, my business name kind of didn’t make sense anymore. So that’s how we’re here.

I’ve always been a creative. From a very young age I always made stuff from whatever I could find. I kept every shoe box, toilet paper roll, and scrap piece of paper because I could possibly reuse it. My poor parents, they had a trash hoarder for a daughter! fast forward a couple decades and I’ve honed in on my wheel house working with paint and embroidery. *Spoiler Alert: That’s how I got my shop name!* Finally finding what I feel the best doing is so freeing, creatively speaking. I love to experiment with different materials but always come back to those two elements, paint and thread.

Now that I narrowed myself down to two mediums, I had to find my style. As an artist, you want to have your own style. I draw inspiration from so many places. From flowers to stars, rainbows to whatever seems to be trending. I also look to other artists that I enjoy for inspiration. I was hesitant to try to paint like those that inspire me for fear that I’d just be another copycat. That’s a death sentence for artists. Not to mention that whole stealing intellectual property problem you’d run into. So what could I do?

I sat down, multiple times, and tried to paint like them anyway. *GASP*. I know! But, it made me see which parts of their work I liked best. I had to find my own ways of recreating techniques I liked. For example, I love the color blending and gold accents of Hannah Joiner’s work and the bright and playful vibe that Etta Vee’s art invokes. So I worked on that. Then, I started using Pinterest and Instagram to save images that spoke to my creative side. I’d go back to those inspiration images and figure out what I liked and felt I could incorporate into my own style.

And that’s kind of where I’m at…

I don’t think I’ve completely nailed down my style and I’m not sure that I ever will. It will probably keep evolving as my tastes change and trends change. But, there is something so powerful about creating something that you love to look at. Something that makes you excited to create again. Finding my style has really helped spark a new wave of ideas and I hope you’ll follow along with me.

XO, Kelly