Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Kelly Watts

Hi guys, week 3 of TAT already whoa!! This week's artist is another art journaler who I have long enjoyed the work of, her style is very distinct and I love her use of shapes & colour in her pages. I hope you enjoy:

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are 

My name is Kelly Watts and I live in Calgary, Alberta with my Husband and two teenage sons. I am a strong Christian and most of my art incorporates my beliefs, but some is just plain fun and girlie. I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil and/or crayons but I would not have classified myself as an actual artist until the past six years or so. My passion is in the process of Art Journaling and creating Art that inspires or brings a smile to people. I have been selling my art for only one year now and have been very blessed to bless others with it. I am self taught and enjoy working with all kinds of different mediums such as copic markers, watercolors, acrylic, chalks, pastels, inks etc. 

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it? 

The biggest challenge I personally face as an artist is in believing that I am talented, that I have something to share, that other people would possibly want to purchase my art work. I overcome it by getting out there, going to art sales and selling my work. Once I get the feedback from other people it feeds my soul. 

What other issues to you overcome to accomplish your art?

Many of my art journaling pages are stemmed from emotional trauma that I have faced in my life, they are personal and they are raw ~ plain and simple, they take a lot out of me. Some days it takes me awhile to recover from what my pages have brought to the surface. I overcome this by turning to God's Word, where my healing comes from. 

What do you love most / least enjoyable about your art?

The things I love most in my art process is the release... after finishing an emotional piece especially; and then when someone else finds healing through my art,or it touches their heart in some way... yes, I love that feeling most of all.

The least enjoyable is when I am trying so hard to work on a piece and it's just not working - I hate that!

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art? 

You can find my art and the meaning behind most of it at my blog at www.kellysartjournaling.blogspot.com and you can purchase my artwork in my etsy shop at www.kellysartjournaling.etsy.com

Thank you Kelly, I can so identify with your biggest challenge of believing that you are talented, but after I did the post/video Telling My Story what I understood is that we are certainly not alone in dealing with this challenge: we all share it, unfortunately it seems to be the curse of artists lol but I also think we can use it like actors use their adrenaline before they hit the stage...we can either use it to make us better, or we can crumble under it and let it take over. Many of you know now I did that for years but I see it as a choice now: a choice of containing it, or letting it contain us. Want to be a featured artist on TAT?? Click the lady on the right, she'll tell you how ;) x