All In Good Time
It's pretty common to grow up with one or more family members who work from home. It's more uncommon to have half your childhood home occupied by your mother's letterpress print shop, and to grow up constantly surrounded by artists and craftspeople and 1200-pound machines. No matter what happened, two things were always available in abundance: art supplies, and encouragement.
Those two things haven't always stayed in reach, of course, but I credit my perseverance to that strong foundation. Little by little I've improved my skills in a broad range of arts, from sewing to painting to sculpting. My favorite thing is combining multiple techniques into a single piece -- like adding clay pieces to a fabric doll, or making jewelry from wire and papercrafts. I see every piece as an opportunity to learn more. That's why so many of my pieces are one-of-a-kind -- I'm always looking for ways to improve, to personalize, or to customize my crafts!
These days I make almost all my art in my one-room "studio" -- the second room in our 2-bedroom apartment. Which, oh yeah, is also my home office for my day job, and the guest bedroom. It's messy, it's crowded, and it doesn't get a lot of light, but it's my space to create. I can spend hours there doing research, experimenting with techniques, or fiddling with a challenging bit of art. When I sit down to start creating, the only boundaries that matter are the limits of my skills and my imagination.
