Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Caryl Park

Hi guys, it's a Halloween edition of TAT today...or at least it might be disrespectful to this weeks artist to call it 'Halloween-themed' lol we definitely have the timing right, but there is nothing ghoulish about this weeks interview, in fact it is one of those mega 'holy crap that was inspiring!' reads for me. It also touches on an issue I've had on my video to-do list for-ever, which I'll talk more about at the bottom, for now though here's the wonderful Caryl Park...

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

Well I am a mother of 3 beautiful daughters and grandmother to 3. Divorced for the 3rd time :o( but very happy to be single especially when it comes to my art. I now have plenty of time to do all the things I love. The 4 things that I do that I am passionate about, Journaling is my first love and have kept journals since I was 14, now 61 that is a very long time. My first journal was a Dear Diary, then transformed into scrapbook type journals similar to a Smash Journal. The they became travel journals. I have been fortunate to travel almost around the world so my travel journals are so interesting. Then my journals became heart aches and secrets.. I call those Waterfalls and Rainbows. I was in an extremely abusive marriage and my heart and soul went into my journals. Finally my journals have become art journals and I love All yours by the way :o)

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

Working as a full time artist and Pewter teacher the biggest challenge for me is having the confidence to market myself and my work. How do I overcome that... I have no choice... just get out there and do it. My home is covered with ‘post it’s’ to encourage, inspire, and push me to believe in myself with confidence. I also have little mantra’s... I am worthy, my art is beautiful, I am a successful artist and people love and accept my work and what I charge for it.

What other issues do you overcome to accomplish your art?

I have been a crafter all my life but did my first real painting when I was 47 and have sold more paintings than anyone in my artistic family put together. I would NEVER have called myself and artist, but the day I did was when everything changed. That is when I started making money out of my passion.

What is your greatest personal achievement either in your art, or because of it?

Without a doubt ... I wrote a book which was published in 2007 AND I AM NOT A WRITER.. but my therapist read my journals when I was struggling with my abusive marriage and divorce and she encouraged me to write a book. WITHOUT A DOUBT MY ART SAVED MY LIFE. I suffered with PTS for 10 years and had it not been for my art I could well have been an alcoholic or addicted to prescription drugs, sleeping tablets, anti depressants etc... I chose to do art to heal my soul.

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

On all my blogs:

http://eezy-peezy.blogspot.com/

http://caryls-heart-art.blogspot.com/

http://pewter-passion.blogspot.com/

http://caryl-park.blogspot.com/

http://table-one.blogspot.com/

http://abuseisnoexcuse.blogspot.com/

Here in South Africa people are nervous to use Pay Pal which is so sad and therefore I don’t have a Pay Pal button which I am busy working on right now. Most of my work sells by word of mouth.

Not only is your work beautiful Caryl but I am so, so, so inspired by your story. The video I mentioned at the intro of this post is about why we come to journaling/art/creativity in the first place, and more often that not I believe it is because we NEED it, it's for the therapy of it. Since I posted my Believe In Yourself video, where I shared my personal story of how I came to be creative I have had so many emails from ladies telling me their story and often is it because they have suffered abuse as you have, or loss, or some other personal inner issues of some kind. In the video I mention how it was due to stress from my job/lifestyle that brought me back to art, but what I didn't mention was that I was also dealing with bereavement and discovering journaling and art again helped me live my life outside of the pages, by finding the courage within. Thank you so much Caryl, awesome interview!

Want to be a featured artist? Please click the link on the right for more details >>>