Where are They Now? Catching Up with Some of the Artists I Interviewed
You may have noticed that I'm posting on a Tuesday instead of my usual Friday. I'm working on sharing some shorter posts between my regular posts. I'm not sure how often I'll do this, but it's fun to experiment and try some new things in this new space.
And speaking of trying new things, I've been contemplating starting up another interview series. What do you think? Do you enjoy reading interviews with creative women who are living their dreams? Are there specific kinds of questions you wish I would ask? Let me know what you think.
In the meantime, I thought I'd catch you up on what a few of the women I interviewed on my old blog have been up to lately (and if you weren't around for the original interviews, you can go take a look at those, too). The bravery and success of others helps us all to find a bit more courage in ourselves. I've said this before and I'll say it again, we're all in this together. Let's learn from one another and cheer each other on.
Sarah Venema's was the first real interview I did on my blog. Sarah is a Colorado-based professional photographer whose work is stunning and whose positive outlook is so inspiring to me. Her photographs capture "sun-drenched, love-filled laughing moments". (My not-so-secret dream is for Sarah to be my photographer, taking photos of me in my studio and garden for my website).
Recently Angie Noll interviewed her on The Not Starving Artist Podcast and it was a lovely, inspiring conversation. Angie has interviewed many inspiring women and I hope you'll find some time to listen to her interviews. Learning about others' successes and definitions of success, especially those that might go against the norm, is encouraging when we're trying to forge our own paths.
In February of 2016 I interviewed Jayme Marie Henderson who writes the blog Holly and Flora. At that time Jayme lived south of downtown Denver and worked as a sommelier in a landmark Denver restaurant. On her blog Jayme shares her cocktail inventions, often focused on local, in-season ingredients. Her photography is gorgeous and I always enjoy seeing snippets of her garden and hearing her honest thoughts about her life which are often sprinkled throughout her posts.
Not long after our interview Jayme leapt for a big dream and today she and her fiancé are co-owners of The Storm Cellar Vineyard and Winery on the western slope of Colorado. They've transitioned to living on the property and farming the grapes full-time with a goal of offering their first wines for sale next summer. It has been a monumental amount of work and I am so excited for her! You can watch the trailer they created for this project here and follow along with the vineyard on Instagram here.
One more for today... In March of 2017 I interviewed Jill and Kayla Haupt, the mother-daughter team behind Under a Tin Roof. I "met" Jill and Kayla in the issue of Artful Blogger Magazine where I was also featured. Kayla's article really resonated with me and I was curious to get to know more about her.
This past year these women have skyrocketed their dream of a handmade, country life even further when their family purchased a farm and added a CSA to their offerings. It's been beautiful to watch their progress (follow along on Instagram and their blog).
What about you? What successes have you been celebrating lately? Let's celebrate together!
Or maybe you're still dreaming. What have you been dreaming about? I know it's scary to leap for your dreams. It's hard to risk failure. And when you look at the successes of others it can be intimidating as well as inspiring. The truth is that no one's success comes easily. Every one of these women has been faced with failure. But they kept going. I hope you'll take a little step today in the direction of your dream. I promise you, it will be worth it.
*photos in this post © the artists