Interview with Violette of Violette's Creations

She lives in a magic cottage and is known as the local eccentric!  Today I’m delighted to introduce you to Violette, our neighbor to the north in White Rock, B.C., Canada and the creator of the Violette Glitter Girl’s shop on Etsy, author of Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash your Inner Eccentric, as well as the spirit behind YouTube channel Creative Boho.  I promise you’ll feel inspired and uplifted reading her interview...

Meylah: Please introduce yourself & describe how you get your ‘Creative Juices’ flowing!
Violette: My name is Violette, I'm a mixed media artist living in White Rock, B.C., Canada.  I live in a purple magic cottage!  My first book Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash your Inner Eccentric came out last year. Even though I'm best known for my art journaling I pretty much love doing any kind of art and craft and inspiring others to do the same.  How do I get my Creative juices flowing?  Well that depends...if I have a deadline I sit with the supplies in front of me and simply BEGIN...and trust that the muse and my intuition will visit me once I jump in.  You can't really afford to WAIT for inspiration to hit...you might be waiting till the cows come home for that to happen.  Walking in nature is a good way for me to be inspired.  I get ideas from nature, colors, patterns and interesting juxtapositions - that can inform my work.  Or just simply being out in the fresh air is beneficial to getting the creative juices flowing.  Another thing I love to do is flip through paper arts magazines, art books or even perusing other artist's sites online to jumpstart the creative juices.

Meylah: You’ve mentioned your book (Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric) which is full of inspiration for the creative community, can you tell us about your motivation in writing the book and about the process of putting it together?
Violette: My motivation in writing Journal Bliss was to help creatives to not fear the blank page when making an art journal page.  Since I often am looking for a template "for life" I look for an easy step by step way of putting things together to reduce things to their simplest form.  In Journal Bliss I wanted to do this by teaching the reader how to create backgrounds, borders, lettering, faces etc. and then put them all together to create a unique and personal journal page. And the irony of it all was that while creating my book I was ACTUALLY paralyzed with fear of beginning because it was simply too daunting a process.  So basically I had to follow my own advice and break things down to their simplest form...I had file folders for each chapter and then filled the folders with my art and writing.  When I did that things fell into place.  It's sort of like the saying "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!"

Meylah: Tell us about flying your freak flag!
Violette: Well flying your freakflag is all about being true to yourself, your quirky ways, manner or dress, where you live and how you show up in the world.  I live in a purple magic cottage and have a giant dragonfly perched on the front.  It's made from papier mache.  The inside of my home is a riot of color.  My Magic cottage was featured on the TV show Weird Homes and my glittergirl van (which is retired and living in my driveway) appeared on the show Head Over Wheels (a show about artcars). I'm known as the local eccentric for a number of reasons I'm guessing.  The point is though to just be yourself, embrace who you are despite what others might say. At the end of the day you have to live with yourself so why not be authentic?  Your creative spirit will thank you for it!

Meylah: You’ve unleashed your creative energy throughout your home, studio, and even your car.  Please share your experience about adding life and energy to your surroundings.
Violette: The minute I started to live more authentically the happier I became.  I surround myself with brilliant colors on the walls, glitter on the counters, draped fabric in the bedroom ceiling and artwork and inspiring words everywhere!  When I first bought my Magic Cottage 14 years ago my friends who I call my Bohemian Tribe encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to my home.  That PERMISSION was very important in what followed……a riot of color, writing on the bathroom walls, art everywhere and an art career that blossomed.  I can't tell you how important it is to surround yourself with people who believe in you and your vision.  These folks are like gold!

Meylah: What tips do you have for the aspiring artist?
Violette: Basically I would encourage you to be yourself and be authentic.  It's okay to be inspired by other artists but take what you "get" from them and turn it into something which you can call your own. Draw or create every day.  Keep a journal of your progress (you can either show it to others or simply keep it for yourself).  Don't forget to have a notebook where you jot down your ideas. I have several of them.  If you don't jot down your ideas you will lose them.  Later when you feel as if your creative well has run dry you can always flip through your "idea book" and begin a project based on one of your ideas from the past. I've developed projects that I had kept in an idea book 2 years ago!  Another thing I recommend which I just spoke about is to surround yourself by your tribe - people who you can trust to encourage you and cheer you on to greater success. When you have created a painting, a scrapbook page or sculpture make sure to show your creation only to those who you know will give you positive feedback.  Another thing I recommend is to create art with a young person and follow their lead.  Your art will take on a naïve quality.

Meylah: What’s brewing in your mind for your next artistic venture?
Violette: I'm about to launch a new website which I hope will better reflect my personality and will be easier to navigate.  I'm creating several different products as well which I hope to release soon.  There will be more prints and artful products for sale on my etsy site too!

Thank you Violette for adding so much color and inspiration to our lives today!