Artist Spotlight: WoodyMart

http://www.woodymart.etsy.com

Since it had been so long since I spotlighted any artists I decided to focus on two awesome artists. Here is the second one. Meet Woody Miller and see his unique and awesome art work. His art reminds me of my childhood. It has a great feel and the artistry is truly amazing.


WoodyMart


Tell us a bit about yourself

After attending the Academy of Art in San Francisco, I've continued to pursue art in many ways. I live in a way too small apartment with my wife and two nutty cats, where I work on my art in a way too small studio, with way too much stuff in it. I am inspired by lots of artists, by music, colors, nature, crafts, hand made stuff, picture books, good stories, movies, vintage goodies, bamboo, orientalist art, and of course, monkey's. I just keep striving to create images that delight, inspire, conjure feelings, and take one away to another place or time. I also work at picture frame shop where I create frames, do wood carving, gilding and french matting.


When and how did you discover your talent

When I was little and would get in trouble, we got put on time out. We (my brother and I) had to sit at a table in the corner of our kitchen. There was paper and pencils there, so naturally this is where my art training began. At school I always had friends who wanted me to draw them things, characters, F-16 fighter jets and such. So I always gravitated towards it, plus my wonderfully talented aunt Jill (a great artist herself) always helped inspire and teach us to continue trying new things with art. Now I can't stop making stuff and learning new techniques, I just love experimenting and creating.

What inspires you

Well, other than what's listed above, some of the artists that inspire me are: Pep Montserrat, Chris Van Allsburg, D.B. Johnson, Peter Brown, Shag, Charlie Harper, Wayne Theibaud, Jean-Leon Gerome, Alma-Tadema, Wolf Kahn, and Chris Sheban. Quite a mix and match, but I like to think I pull a little bit from each and make it my own. Other than artists, I like old movies because they always have such great costumes and sets, new ones too, but a little cgi goes a long way. I just love exotic things, tropical memorabilia, "Orientalism" painting (from the 19th century), Moroccan stuff, arabic patterns and tiles, Thai silk designs, I could go on. I try to just soak up whatever I can and use colors from here, shapes from there, patterns, whatever.


What dream do you have that hasn't been fulfilled yet

Lots, but I'm still just thirty-something, so there's time! Right now I'm working on a couple children's picture books, which has been a dream of mine I think since reading Richard Scarry books as a child. I have a missionary friend in Africa who works at orphanages and I'd love to be able to find a way to use my art to help there, either to bring them funding, or maybe inspire or teach the children. Also, I'm still working on getting that Italian villa off the coast of Lake Como where I will have a huge studio...


Any advice for us fellow Etsyians

I just recently started to sell more items from the Woody Mart on Etsy, I guess my advice would be just try to get the word out, keep adding new items every so often, and keep working at finding the right price point/ size/ medium/ product that people like. Etsy is great not only for selling, but I love finding stuff to buy, it's so great to know that someone hand made something with care. Don't just put stuff up to make money, put stuff up that you love, stuff that you'd buy.


I hope you enjoyed meeting Woody and seeing some of his fabulous work! He was also cool enough to send me a picture!



Visit Woody's site at http://www.woodymillerart.com and also his blog at http://pachydermexpress.blogspot.com!

A HUGE thank you to Woody and Cindy for taking the time to talk with me and answering my questions and allowing me to feature them!