Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Deb Terry

Hi guys, welcome to a *royal* edition of Tell All Tuesday ...what? I'm pretty sure it's mandatory to stick 'royal' in everything this week based on my inbox, which is FULL of all kinds of ridiculous baby-related spam:

'it's a boy, now buy a toy'... well actually I made that one up, but I'm sure it could have been used!

The only royals here though is the artists and this weeks interview is from another lady in California (I think you guys must just have some excellent art groups there, there's just so many of you arting it up over there) anyways enjoy this weeks share:

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.
My name is Deb Terry. I've been married to the same wonderful man for 25 years. We have called many places home, including Germany for a few years and have recently settled in California. For the last couple years I have been fortunate enough to be able to stay at home and dive into the artistic lifestyle I have craved for so long. I consider myself a 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None'....There is not a craft or artistic technique I wouldn't like to try. But if there is one thing that feeds my soul it would be drawing. A pencil, eraser and paper and I’m entertained for hours, creating the images I see in my mind....sometimes they don't always translate well but then that's what the eraser is for.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?
I am my biggest challenge. I am my own worst critic. It is a challenge everyday to silence the voices that say what I create is not good enough. I am a people pleaser. People's reaction to my art is very important to me...too important. I try my best to temper that aspect of my personality and realize the only person I have to please with my art is myself. I have the Vincent Van Gogh quote; “If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced" taped to my work table. The more often I fight through my insecurities and put paint on canvas the more confident I become and confidence is a beautiful thing.

What is your hearts greatest desire for your life as an artist?
To sell a piece of art. To know that someone liked a piece of my art enough to purchase it and place it in their home and that it brought them joy to see it every day.

What daunts you most as an artist?
Figuring out how to sell my art. There always seems to be so many roadblocks. Between business licenses and selling permits there's a lot of money that needs to be put out before you even know if your art will sell. It's quite an investment in oneself and I haven't reached the confidence level to do that yet.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?I make regular posts at my blog. My blog has a lot of art on it but also flower gardening and the travels I take. The stuff that makes up my life.

Thank you bunches for sharing Deb. I won't speak for everyone but I certainly feel like I'm 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None' sometimes and if I'm honest I think to some degree that is often the lot of an artsy craftsy type. We may focus on our one or two main loves but we want to know a lot, to try our hand at different things and the time spent doing that can make us feel like we're 'dabblers' rather than 'proper' artists. But my opinion is also that by doing all of the things we want to have a go at it makes our skills more complex, our imagination open to more possibilities and our end results more creative, so we should get beat down on ourselves too much for being dabblers. 

Variety is the spice of life.

Do you want to be a featured TAT artist??

To be featured email me or find all the details here =)

(this week I've not caught up with TAT emails as planned, again don't worry I'll try and clear by inbox in the next week, once I've cleared all the royal stuff that is ;) )