1. Alyssa…..how long have you been arting to have amassed so many different art skills? I see you do traditional art, pencil art, clay, wood, stone, metal…my gosh you’re an ambitious gal! Are you self-taught at all of these talents?
I started as soon as I made the connection that one can create something with various objects – sticks in sand, crayons on paper, pencils and pens, etc. My family has a strong artistic bent and my mom always encouraged me. She was also very crafty and I sort of went along for the ride – so I was making my own clothes and doll clothes at like 7 and I had a massive stuffed animal collection that I made myself. My mom and I did all the typical Tandy and Michael’s (I think the store was Michael’s even then) crafts, and I learned how to work in leather, cross-stitch, embroider, crochet, rag fabric weaving, hook rugs, stained glass, fake stained glass, glass etching, painting, ceramics, pottery, porcelain painting, china painting, miniature scenes, doll houses, dolls, drawing, pretty much every one of the craft trends in the 70′s and 80′s me and my mom did. LOL.
Probably the coolest part about my childhood really. My granddad on my dad’s side had me making jewelry and doing basic lapidary as early as 5 years old. So that got me into the world of minerals, crystals, gemstones, metal working, jewelry making, carving and cutting stone, and he would make little critters out of semi precious stones and so I learned that too – so I guess in a way I was making dolls in stone from a very early age LOL. From him I learned wood carving, and manipulating natural materials and a bunch of other things – he also grew and did gourds.
I was just extremely lucky to have a family that exposed me at insanely young ages to things their hobbies so they had the finances to explore so I had my hands on things that likely most kids don’t get a chance to normally. As a result I wound up with a wide and very expansive list of hobbies and interests, and that’s just talking about the art end of things.
But yeah, mostly self taught – in the sense that I didn’t take classes – but the reality is that I often had folks I could ask questions of around me and I often had someone older than me for me to bounce things off of, so not entirely alone in my self teaching. If that makes sense.
2. You have quite a few websites that are either yours or you are the steward or assistant-steward of…how do you manage to manage them all? And do you find it an advantage to keep certain art themes separate vs. lumped altogether? (I’ll list them here for anyone to visit!)
http://ElfWitch.com
http://CollectibleACEOs.ning.com
http://HalloweenArtists.ning.com
(still working on this one)
(just an admin/mod for)
I’m sort of addicted to websites. LOL! does it show? That’s actually not all the sites I have – but those are my “art based” sites – along with the art based sites that I either co-run or help with. It can get to be a lot of work sometimes, yeah. Many times I think I am just insane. LOL.
I do not know if there is a certain advantage to having themes or not – it’s really more due to my addiction to making websites – I LOVE LOVE LOVE creating a new theme or website – so it’s one reason I like building stuff for others cuz once it’s done I can go onto the next one without adding to my extensive personal website collection. LOL!
The dragonlings site was just because they are planned to be a series – and I thought that they had enough potential to be streamlined and polished enough of a theme/series that they would warrant or deserve their own space. I expect at some point that I will launch into a resin series of them – though I will also always create OOAK dragonlings. And sort of the same thing for the HeebieJeebies and the Halloweenie HeebieJeebies … they just seemed to lend themselves to their own line.
3. I was especially intrigued with your in-depth fairy wing and mermaid fin tutorials…beautiful! How long, and how many attempts did it take you to arrive at these clever designs?
I mostly did the tutorial because at the time there was NO such tutorial in existence that either clearly explained ALL the steps or had clear and high quality pictures, and actually clearly listed all the supplies one would need. I spent TWO years chasing those wings because the artists doing them were not revealing how – or were only doling out pieces of the process and I just was so annoyed that it was so easy to do and that it took me 2 years of fiddling and chasing down false leads and being misdirected that I swore I would share it once I found a way to duplicate it.
The main thing for me was just in letting the glue dry entirely before messing with the film … but either no one said let it dry, or they said you could do it immediately after gluing. I just wanted to help artists that wanted to get that particular effect they were looking for and prevent anyone else from having to jump through the hoops like I did.
I still need to do one specifically for mermaid fins. Also Angelina film can be used instead of the Fantasy Film since they are basically the same thing.
4. Please tell us how you arrived at your charming name “Elf Witch” for your main website.
I’m going to be lazy, LOL, and just cut and paste from my site … hope that is okay!:
“Many people have asked why I chose “ElfWitch” as the name for my site. I chose that because I do find sculpting and drawing to be sort of medicinal, as well as magical. Medicine women were often commonly called witches in the old days and art is sort of magical all on its own so it just seemed like a great name. The image that name called to mind is the drawing on the right, an elfin maiden who is also a medicine woman versed in magics. Plus it just rolls off the tongue and I just like the sound of it!”
5. You mention that metaphysics and meditation play a key role in your creativity process….can you tell us more about what you practice, any tools or schools of thought you particularly embrace, or care to share?
I’m just sort of seeking my truth, and my path. I’ve had a really severe creativity block that lasted near 18 years that I’m emerging from, and I do think it is tied to a lack of meditative space in me and in my life. I’ve been starting to study a shamanistic path currently as that really feels the most “right” so far for me.
6. Your clay Heebie Jeebies are such charming little buggers! Do you have your own kiln to fire them? And please tell us what your art area is like to organize so many crafts you do! Do you have any links to studio photos?
They are done with polymer clay – so they do not need a kiln. I do however have a dedicated convection oven to bake all my polymer creations in so that I am being as safe as I can be. Right now all I have to work on is a folding table in my living room. I am a severe hoarder of art goodies though – and I have enough to fill studio. But we’ve had to move 3 times in 2 years so most of my stuff is all in boxes buried in the garage because I am a pack rat and I have WAYYYYY too much stuff. So I make little “forays” into the jungle safari that is my garage every so often when I need something that I know I have … out there … somewhere…. I still haven’t been able to organize or root through all my stuff so gods knows where everything is. I want to set up the second bedroom as my art room – but am terrified I’ll get it all set up only to have to move…. again … and that just gives me nightmares. So everything stays in boxes so far and I just root for items every so often.
7. You are of Native American heritage…Choctow, I believe you mention on your site….do you feel you bring your ethnicity to your arts in any way, and if so, how? Is there any family lineage to your crafts?
Yeah – I’m an eighth Choctaw, (I’m a mutt – what can I say? I have an interesting lineage I guess – but in the end, I’m still just a mutt! lol) and have been trying to teach myself their language – so far unsuccessfully, LOL! I think at some point, being partially native American will play a part in my art, but right now I feel like I’m just “playing” mostly, more of my stuff is light hearted, doesn’t dig deeply into anything, doesn’t have meaning or messages from me any way, but I think at some point that will come. Right now I’m just getting used to being creative again as a regular or daily thing.
8. With so many art skills….are there arts you’d yet like to tap into and if so, what’s on your To-Do List?
Sculpting in stone, fiberglass, wood, and metal – on museum level in terms of size. I want to do LARGE pieces. The reason I do polymer is just because I do not have the funds to own or run a kiln or have a place where I could actually sculpt in marble or whatnot. I pretty much want to dabble in everything LOL. I love glass blowing but only done a little of that so far. I want to do more work in metal crafting too. I’ve always wanted to learn how to forge and how to build a forge from scratch and maybe make blades and swords. I also want to learn carpentry and woodworking – I have an insane desire to build my own furniture and do inlay work. Puppetry also fascinates me and I have an urge to explore that as well. I just want to play with everything. LOL!
9. What is your most successful mode of selling/presenting your art and what advice do you have for up and coming artists inspired by your work? Do you feel it is an advantage to have so many types of art to offer, or is it easier for you to focus on one thing at a time when your mind is moving in a a direction on a project?
eBay has been good to me relatively. I’ve been kicking around offering prints and originals on my site – but I think I might actually give that a shot since all it would cost me is time. LOL. I have yet to sell anything on Etsy and not much off Zazzle to date. I can’t imagine anyone being inspired by my work LOL – I really find most of it sooo tame and mellow, it’s not edgy or punchy or complex or even really meaningful. I hope that might change someday though!
My biggest mantra to new artists is <b>YOU CAN DO THIS</b>. The ONLY thing that makes artists different from non-artists is that we have the drive and motivation to keep trying even though we fail over and over at capturing what is on our heads. If you practice ANYTHING every single day for years on end -n you cannot HELP but gat the very least get somewhat adept and decent at it. It’s just a matter of doing it over and over and over even when you fail, getting up and doing it again – THAT is what makes someone an artist in the end. JMO.
10. Can share with us what your favorite brands of materials are to work with for all of your arts?
I try to never pick favorites in anything – I think it winds up limiting you, I try to keep all doors open and ready for me to walk through – as I might not be in the right space to do well with a particular medium but years later might be RIPE for it. Watercolors being a perfect example. I avoided watercolors for decades because of an unsatisfying experience when I was much younger, and if you had told me I’d enjoy watercolors and be using them so gleefully and with as much joy as I am now like even a year ago – I’d have laughed in your face and thought “Yer craaaazy!!” to myself LOL. Turns out, the time just wasn’t right for me to accept and be interested in that medium until late summer of 2008. Go figure. LOL.
11. Where do you envision yourself being with your art, and doing what, in 10 years ?
Hopefully I will be a lot closer to the highly ornate and complex pieces I have glimpses of in my head. I want to do pieces that reach inside and outside myself. I want to rip pieces of my soul and of the world and my imagination and arrange them and hang them up is unexpected ways and just step back and go THERE. Lookie that sucker, weird one isn’t it? LOL
12. Who or what have been the three most influential forces upon your art inspiration?
Wendy Pini I think would be one – she was the person that captivated me with her art SO much that I simply HAD to learn to draw like her. The other influences come and go – maybe my mom would be one, cuz she really opened a lot of artistic doors for me. Maybe Kandi – who was my best friend and drawing buddy and introduced me to Wendy Pini’s art – and who with her and our buddy Mike taught ourselves to draw while tracing ElfQuest lol. Maybe I haven’t meant my other two yet – or maybe they are always meant to be in flux and ever changing.