‘Barbara Kelley grew up in Charleston, West Virginia and has been creating art ever since her mother gave her a pencil and ream of manila paper to keep her quiet. After completing a baccalaureate degree in architecture at the Miami University in Ohio, she transitioned into the fine arts, beginning in oil painting and then spilling over into watercolors. Photography has become one of Barbara’s mediums for expression. With the unlimited potential of computer generated visual art in our digital world, she has fallen in love with altered photography.’ (source: EdgesOfArt.net)
1) When did you first know you wanted to be artist and what are your inspirations?
Barbara Kelley: I was quite young when my mother bought me “reams” of paper to draw on and I have never stopped.
2) If the sky’s the limit, what type of watercolor would you create?
Barbara Kelley: Faces, lots of faces, as big as possible.
3) You have the artist’s block today, what do you do to get unstuck?
BK: Just paint and paint and paint and it is amazing what shows up sometimes.
4) What LIVE celebrity would you like to send your creation for FREE and why?
BK: Johnny Depp, his face can take on so many different facets.
5) What obstacles did you face when starting up your business? Any new challenges when creating your art/product lines?
BK: Getting the word out about my abilities. I don’t focus on one thing
well. And , of course, the pricing end of business. I have a tendency to
go low.
6) If you want to branch out your business, which stores / venue would you like to carry your products?
BK: I would like to get into mail-order catalogs with caricatures and
pencil sketches and perhaps have watercolor prints available.
7) What would you do differently for your products to stand up your competitions?
BK: Nothing I do is very conventional, which is a blessing and a curse. My watercolor is not soft and flowing, They are more..in your face.
(8) What advise would you give to the newbies (fellow artists who want to turn their artwork to business)?
BK: Follow your heart not the dollar, but stick with it.
9) What’s in your tool box?
BK: Anything that might push or pull the paint, including toothbrushes, credit cards and best of all fingers.
11) What else would you like the readers know about your work and future business plans?
BK: I own a relatively new shop and am busy trying get it going. It has
forced me to get into LinkedIn and Facebook while trying to work on my website (edgesofart.net).
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