I have been wanting to do a continuing series of featured artists on my blog for a long time. After posting last week with the question *what inspires you to create?* with the intention of just sharing some of the answers I had received and posting a little write up about the artist that participated, my idea has changed a bit. There were other questions I wondered about. How did these creative souls begin their journey as artists? What do they love the most about creating? I begin my series of featured artists today with Rachel, of RachelLovesPeace.etsy.com.

Rachel is a fellow member of the Etsy PeaceNiks. She is an upbeat, talented and inspiring artist that truly creates from her heart and her paintings will brighten up even the cloudiest of days. Here is my Q&A with Rachel.

Q. Tell us a little about yourself.

Q. When and how did you start creating your art?

A. I have been painting and creating things since I was little either coloring the bars of my crib or the walls of my room. Me and my sister were always coloring together. I officially started selling my art on Etsy in January this year- it was actually my new years resolution and I actually did it haha. It actually all just started happening at once. I found out about a Art & Music Festival (Open Grass) that was local to me that was looking for artists to paint live and display there art. I decided to go for it and for the first time I got to see how others enjoyed my art. I have always made handmade gifts for my friends and family and always love the feeling of giving something to someone that you put all your love into. So I decided to start creating for strangers also because why not try and make just one more person smile because of my art. I painted at Open Grass and loved it. A couple of the paintings I did went to some friendly faces at the festival and all the other paintings I painted at that festival all went into my Etsy shop and that is how it all started. Now I am adding more and more.

Q. Where do you get the ideas and inspiration?

A. Inspiration for me comes from how I view life and how I want to see things change for the better. I paint things that make me happy and I hope will make you happy as well. I use the friendly Peace Owl as a role model I guess just doing fun things like riding his bike, dancing to a record player, and blowing bubbles. While he does anything fun he always remembers to spread peace and love. Inspiration really just comes from inside me. I get the most inspiration when I am feeling free: just really happy, being on a road trip, or with friends, or family, or friends that are family, or even strangers that make you smile, people that inspire you just for being themselves.

To learn more about Rachel and her desire to spread peace and love through her art, visit her blog. www.RachelLovesPeace.blogspot.com

Her beautiful paintings and prints can be purchased in her Etsy Shop. Thank you so much Rachel!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pm and is filed under mosaic pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.