Hi there and welcome to the Fox & Fables blog!
As someone who is not a blogger, or reader of blogs, this is very new to me. Honestly, if you had told me a few years ago that I’d start a blog, I probably would have laughed. I’ve never been the type of person to share many things about my life, let alone put it on the internet! Fox & Fables has forced me to develop a presence on social media and I have been very surprised to have found community and self-confidence through sharing my work with the world. This is my reasoning behind starting a blog! My hope is to connect with and encourage other artists and creatives by sharing my thoughts and experiences of running a small art business.
So, I’d like to start with the inspiration behind it all. A few years ago, I had been struggling mentally – I wasn’t feeling fulfilled in my career and had no idea where I wanted to go with my life. I was getting rejected by every job I applied for and was starting to panic. You could call it a bit of a quarter-life crisis. I had been stuck in a creative rut for a long time, and craved the satisfaction of making (and actually finishing) something. Anything. So in 2018, I picked up an ink pen and a sketchbook. Using the Inktober prompts as inspiration, I started illustrating again. I remember being so proud and excited when I actually finished my first sketch and shared it on social media. I kept sharing my illustrations and became overwhelmed by the response and encouragement from my peers! I started getting questions about where people could purchase prints of my work. At that point, I began to wonder if I could actually do something with this? I started following artists that inspired me, reading article after article and became consumed by this idea that being a working artist is an actual, attainable job. Like many, I had grown up thinking it was just a hobby and sayings like “starving artist” were coined for a reason. The more I looked, the more I realized opportunity was everywhere! I just had to put in the time and effort.
Being inspired by nature and children’s literature, I came up with a name. And thus, Fox & Fables was born! I set up an Etsy shop, continued to practice and learn and grow in my work. I became obsessed and it was all I could think about, my brain just started spewing ideas. With my then-boyfriend, now-husband encouraging me on a daily basis (truly none of this would have happened without him) I was happy again, I had something to strive for, and I was more motivated than ever. The rest is kind of history. Three years later, it’s been a slow process watching my business grow and my impatience can get the best of me sometimes. It feels like it’s taken decades and then no time at all to get to this point. The last three years have been difficult, I won’t lie. I know that the future won’t be easy either, which is the cost of entrepreneurship. However, this experience has pushed me to better my mind, my skills and seeing my hard work pay off has been so rewarding. So I appreciate you being here along with me on this roller coaster ride! I’m continually excited to see where the road will lead, and hope that you can find some inspiration as well. Stay tuned for art tips, how-tos and business insights in the future!
And with that, I’ll leave you with this:
DOWNLOAD FREE “CREATE OPPORTUNITY” ART PRINT HERE
Love, Emma