My Shop's Origin Story....
Hi there! Thank you so much for visiting my shop. So here's my story...
I've always wanted to learn to paint with watercolours. I've only ever painted with acrylics my whole life. So the pandemic gave me the perfect chance to start my watercolour journey. After purchasing a bunch of Windsor and Newton student grade watercolours, of course I started checking out all our Instagram artists out there. That's when I discovered SHINY watercolours!
Of-course I wanted every single colour out there! Who can resist glitter and all things shiny!?!? What I also discovered was the incredibly relaxing act of watching the watercolour making process. SO SOOTHING watching the mulling, the pan filling and especially the pillow topping.
There were a couple things that led me to decide to create my own watercolours.
1. I couldn't afford to buy ALLLLLL the colours out there (Wish I had an unlimited budget)
2. I realized there were limited editions colours which meant that once I run out of a colour, I wouldn't be able to get it again (which is a pet peeve of mine in general - to be able to get things that worked for me in the past, not just paints)
3. I've always been interested creation (hence the crocheting)
So after months and months of reading and watching videos from fellow artisans, figuring out how to be a small business owner (the branding, the marketing, the packaging, the ordering, the creating and more), I finally decided to start my own shop.
One of the things I wanted to make sure is that I stock colours that can be always available. So if one of my fellow artists run out of a colour, they won't have to worry about not being able to restock their stash! Of-course this is easier said than done, given that the availability of my paints would depend on the availability of pigments but I will still keep trying my best to keep all colours in stock!
Fast forward to the shop creation - I knew I needed something unique. There are so many amazing handmade watercolour makers out there, each with their own uniqueness. I decided incorporate a bit of my personal life into my shop. I had also started fostering cats during the pandemic and thought... wouldn't it be cute if I could somehow incorporate my own babies and foster babies (I have 4 cats and 1 dog) into my art? Then voila, the idea of paw samplers were born. My dream (or maybe my retirement plan) is to someday open a cat sanctuary where I can help cats of all ages find their forever homes or live out the rest of their years knowing they do not have to worry about their next meal or if they will survive the night. I hope by then, my shop will be able to support my dream (but I got many years to make that happen!)
If you made this far in my store, I thank you again for taking the time to read. I'll probably edit this one day =P
Hope you enjoyed your visit and feel free to message me about my paints, my cats, less so my dog or anything about my shop!
Have a wonderful day <3 xoxo
cynthia
