Meet the Boomers!

We are pleased to have and interview Carol, from yankeegirl.

1. What is/are the name of your shop/s?
yankeegirl

2. What kind of items do you sell?
Original watercolors, prints and photography prints

3. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?
I've always been creative and dabbled in different forms of painting, but I've been painting watercolors seriously for about four years.

4. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?
Somewhere in between. I would like to be leaning a little more towards professional though!

5. What inspires you?
Nature is my biggest inspiration. I'm one of those people that notices and appreciates everything in the world around me.

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio?
Well, because I have another job that pays the bills, there is no typical day in my studio! Whenever I do have time, I head in there and organize, sort through my photos for ideas or work on my latest "masterpiece".

7. What keeps you company while you’re working on a project?
My Golden Retriever Amber and my ipod.

8. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
I'd have to say the painting itself. Just watching what the paint does on the paper can be so magical at times....and not so much at other times!!!

9. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?
Photographing it!! I really haven't mastered that yet!

10. What are some of the venues you use to promote your shop/ware?(Do you blog?(To which teams do you belong? Do you use other sites? Which ones? etc.)
I have a blog but it looks the same as the day I started it so I can't really include that!! Besides BBEST I belong to Watercolor Works Etsy Team and Interior Design Team. I I'm nowhere as active with them as I am with the boomers though!! You guys are much more fun!!! I've also been involved with local shows and I have some of my work in a local shop that donates some of the proceeds to charity.

11. Related to your craft, tell us about a funny, strange or unusual situation you found yourself.
The very first painting I sold was on Ebay. On a complete lark I literally took a picture of a Hydrangea painting that I had hanging on the wall of our living room (I didn't even take it out of the glass!!) and posted it. I never in a million years thought it would sell but there was actually a bidding war for it!!! I still didn't get very much for it but what a hoot!! I probably never would have signed up with Etsy if that didn't happen!

12. Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t necessarily know about you by talking to you in the forums.
That's a tough one-I'm kind of an open book! Maybe the fact that I had dreamed about taking up watercolors for many years after admiring the work of someone I know through my work. I really never thought I would follow through with it but after I lost my one and only sibling, my brother, at the age of 52 did I ask myself what I was waiting for.I believe he gave me a kick in the butt from above to get me going! I started taking lessons within 6 months and the rest is history!!

13. What’s your favorite book and why, favorite movie and why, favorite kind of music?
I'm actually not a big book or movie fan-there's not enough time in the day to do either one! I am a huge music lover though. I'm a rocker chick-Springsteen is my fave!! I also love Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, The Eagles...I could go on and on!

14. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or crafters?
Just do it!!! Like I said, I wasted years thinking about being a watercolor artist instead of jumping in. Also, if you enjoy the craft, whatever it is, do it because it makes you happy!

Please leave comments for Carol as she would love to hear from you!