featured artist: Deirdre Butler-Derby

introducing the first featured artist on wunderbug for 2009 - deirdre butler-derby of costello's.

one of my favourite things about her photos is the muted colours and the sense of serenity. all of the photos featured in this interview are currently for sale in her shop; clicking on the image will bring you back to the etsy listing.

enjoy, and happy monday! what fun things did you get up to this weekend?


Name: Deirdre Butler-Derby
Location: Minneapolis, MN

01. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec by Irish parents who couldn't speak French but had the foresight (or was it the governments' insistence) to send all 5 of us to French school -needless to say, I was a tortured bloke. I moved to Minnesota with my son who is now 17 in 2003 after marrying the man I truly (and literally), nearly fell down for.

02. What first made you want to become an artist?
I've always been an artist in some form or another whether it was drawing, writing, sewing... I really used to think that it was all just girls stuff but began to notice that a good number of my friends were just not that into it. It's all but second nature I think.


03. Tell us a bit about how you first discovered photography.
When I was 10, I received a old Brownie Camera for Christmas and that was it. I was hooked. Trouble was, my allowance of a whole 25 cents per week wasn't enough to buy and develop film or pay for the flash bulbs. Desperate times called for desperate measures and so I got a job delivering a weekly suburban newspaper which lasted a couple of years. I had to quit it when I went into deficit on what I owed the paper each month from my collection and tips. It was not a pretty day. By high school there was the darkroom and creative teachers and photography competitions, yearbook photography committee and class excursions. Life was good again until.... film and developing became a huge expense again and I had to put my Nikon FE 2 down until I could find a half decent job. Within a few years I was back into the scene with my new Nikon F60 and now, in this digital age, a D50.

04. Where do you draw your inspiration & motivation from?
I am a self-professed Photoshop junkie and love to create dreamlike images using textures and layers and when that happens, it's spontaneous. Nothing is thought out at all --the image just begins to take shape effortlessly. Every so often however, I will take a photograph that I just can't do a thing with because it is in my eyes quite simply and purely, beautiful.

05. Apart from creating things, what do you do?
Unable to sustain a viable living through photography sales, I work full time for a large Photography company as an admin. While it's a corporate environment, there are so many incredibly creative and talented people around me every day. I could do with less paperwork and scheduling but, it could be worse.

Another hobby / talent is cooking and I do mean from scratch! If there's a crowd, all the better but 3 does me fine. When I moved here I opened up a brick and mortar shop called Oregano believing that everyone loved the finer foods in life but, I was quite sadly mistaken. I have however taken those mistakes and tweaked them just enough to think about opening up another Etsy Shop which is called Kitchen Stories and offers (almost) ready to eat or bake delights.


06. What's your favourite item in your shop?

Into the Sun is by far my most favourite.
{All of the images that accompany this interview are a few of her other personal favourites}.


07. Can you name a few undiscovered artists that you'd recommend to the world?
Bomobob, Hew Design, Uncommondepth, BrookeBart, ELBFoto, and Keynoter.


08. What's something unique/interesting about you that you've always wanted to mention in an interview but never found a way to work it in?
I will always and forever be an artist and entrepreneur at heart. I may get discouraged along the way but I am quick to recover.

09. What's the best advice you have ever received?
Your thoughts and feelings create your life; it will always be that way.

featured artist: Amy Abshier-Reyes

i was running behind schedule on my weekly featured artist, but have decided to post them now on saturdays instead of mondays. i know that i miss blog updates from my favourite blogs on the weekend, and having something longer that i can come back to and visit is always helpful.

{yeah, i know it - i'm hooked.}

anyhow, i stumbled across this week's featured artist while i was searching through listings and listings and listings of talented painters, and amy's work jumped out and bit me. for some reason, her style reminds me a bit of julia from red otter - classic, simple, almost victorian, elegant. like a fairy tale!

i've just started painting with watercolour again, but i hope that eventually i can make it look as easy as amy does; and as good!

- enjoy. xo
Name: Amy Abshier-Reyes
Location: Kansas City, MO

01. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm a painter/illustrator and a whole lot of other things besides. I grew up in a rural community in Texas, graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, and moved around a lot before deciding to move back to Kansas City. I show paintings at various galleries in the US and sell small paintings and prints on Etsy.

02. What first made you want to become an artist?

I've been making art since I was a little thing--always drawing, painting, making up stories--you should hear my mom go on and on about it!


03. Tell us a bit about how you first discovered painting - what were some challenges that you encountered and how did you overcome them?

I've always loved painting, and I painted with whatever materials were at hand: finger paint, watercolors, acrylics. I didn't properly learn how to paint with oils until college, though, and that opened some huge doors for me. It's my favorite medium now. I still encounter challenges, though! Feet are some of the hardest things to paint and make them appear believable.


04. Where do you draw your inspiration & motivation from?

I love old illustrations from the 1800's up to the 1960's, old snapshots of ordinary people, dreams (I have crazy, vivid dreams). Sometimes it's just a word or phrase that conjures up images, or something I saw from the corner of my eye. I'm always alert and open to inspiration--it comes from all over and can hit at any moment.

05. Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I'm a mom and a wife and, for a regular paycheck, I work in an auction house. I love to read. I love music and I collect records (my husband and I met working together at a record shop).


06. What's your favourite item in your shop?

It's hard to say--some of my favorite things sold long ago. I'd have to say my oil paintings--I list a new one every so often and they're so different stylistically from my watercolor pieces, that they make a nice contrast. Hmmm, now you're making me think...



07. Can you name a few undiscovered artists that you'd recommend to the world?

My friend Rachel Stuart-Haas is incredible--I love her paintings. And Amy Earles' illustrations and paper dolls are amazing. And I love Elsa Mora's work: she makes beautiful cut-paper pieces, jewelry, illustrations--so many things! There's so many talented people I've discovered through Etsy--it's really wonderful and inspiring.


08. What's something unique/interesting about you that you've always wanted to mention in an interview but never found a way to work it in?

I have a tendency to get easily obsessed with little things, whether it's collecting, or painting, or books. I find something that just *sparks* and I have to learn everything I can about that thing or idea; explore it fully, talk about it at length. Thankfully the obsession never lasts too long!


09. What is the best advice you have ever received?

Ooooh, so much. But here's one of the best:
I'm afraid of a LOT of pretty mundane things--I just get anxious very easily. And years ago a good friend said to me,"What are you so afraid of? What are they gonna do---take away your birthday?" That idea is so silly it makes me less anxious and able to deal with things that I might normally shy away from.

{check out more of amy's work at kansas city's blue gallery, her blog, on flickr, and of course, on etsy.}

featured artist: jared may

this week's featured artist is another oldie-but-goodie. if i could singlehandedly pick out one photo to showcase as representative of all of an artist's work, the below picture would be, without a doubt, the one i would choose for jared may. it's as if it's his brand photo ... the one that everyone can recognize him by. his own little (prettier) nike swoosh.

i had first found his shop on etsy last year when this photo was featured on the front page treasury - and fell in love instantly. from there, i'd go and look in his shop on a regular basis to see what new photos he'd recently posted; the style, richness and warmth of all of his work is so characteristic of the feelings it emotes. rich and saturated, jared's work always elicits a tangible physical reaction that can vary from calming to brooding to hopeful. (for proof, see here, here, or here.)

{not to mention, he's got a series on dandelions - and i love dandelions!}

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm Jared. I teach math at an alternative high school and use photography as my primary means of artistic expression. I also draw and paint a little bit, and I like to pretend that someday I'll write and record a really cool record. I suppose I'd also like to write.

I'm fickle.

02. What first made you want to become an artist?

Honestly, I think I'm just trying to add my own bit of beauty within the much larger world of beauty I see around me. I suppose artistic expression is essentially just one person sharing their own viewpoint with others. I feel fortunate that I see so much beauty all around me, and I just love that others enjoy seeing what I have to offer.

03. Tell us a bit about how you first discovered photography - what were some challenges that you encountered and how did you overcome them?

My mom put a camera in my hand when I was eight. I don't know that I've encountered too many challenges. I've taken thousands of bad photographs, if that counts. When I used to shoot film, I had a couple of photo shoots where I returned home to find that there was absolutely no film in the camera. That was heartbreaking. Thank goodness for digital cameras.



04. Where do you draw your inspiration & motivation from?

I am constantly inspired by beauty all around me. Sometimes I forget to look, but honestly there is beauty everywhere, if you learn how to look. I am inspired by other artists, by wonderful books, by people, by nature, everything.

05. Apart from creating things, what do you do?

As I mentioned above, I teach math. I'm almost done with my schooling that will allow me to be a principal if I choose. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with my career, but I love teaching.

The most important thing in my life is my family. My wonderful wife helps me out with my Etsy shop, handling most of the shipping duties. She also works in education. We have three boys, and the four of them are the joy of my life.

{bet you didn't know that this isn't jared's first appearance on wunderbug!}

06. What's your favorite photo that you've taken? Why?

My favorite photo changes all the time. One that I come back to a lot is Windblown Grass. I keep it in my Etsy shop even though it almost never sells, just because I like it so much. It captures everything I love about Kansas - a powerful thunderstorm, wild grass, and the energy brought through by the wind. Every time I look at that photograph, I feel like I'm standing in the breeze right before the storm hits, which is one of my favorite things about living in the midwest.

07. What undiscovered artists would you recommend to the world?

My mom just opened an Etsy shop, as a matter of fact. She takes photographs of pets and creates beautiful works of digital art. Check her out at http://CherylMayPhoto.etsy.com

08. Name your top five books, movies, songs/musical groups, and web sites besides Etsy.

Right now I'm re-reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which is even better than I remembered. Off the top of my head, I love the Lao Tzu, the Dhammapada, and any book that helps me prepare for my next national park trip. I'll use up my fifth book slot by mentioning that I'm planning to pick out a Dickens work for my next novel, once I finish On the Road.

My favorite films include It's a Wonderful Life, Harvey, A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer, and just about any Hitchcock film. Musically, lately I'm obsessed with Alison Krauss. Before that, it was Coldplay, then Jack Johnson, the Shins, and Medeski, Martin and Wood. I look forward to whatever's next.

I don't have five web site suggestions. I spend a fair amount of time (and money) at Amazon. I'm a sucker for going through and rating everything I've ever seen, heard, or read. I'm also fairly well addicted to Flickr, but nothing tops Etsy for me.


09. What's something unique/interesting about you that you've always wanted to mention in an interview but never found a way to work it in?

This one stumps me. I lived in Seattle for a little while, and I don't think I've ever mentioned that before. Not sure how interesting that is, but there you go. I missed the thunderstorms. A lot.


10. What is the best advice you have ever received?

Enjoy all things now while you can. Life moves quickly and this too shall pass.