Hello from the Studio!
Lucy Davis Creatives - Who are we? Who am I? Yes, that's right - it's just me here creating art for you! I have been creating art for my entire life, so my mom says. I drew anything and everything. I shaded and contoured. I met friends with the same insane passion for art that I had. We began to plan for careers. College bound. I had options, so many art schools.
I chose the University of Hartford in CT. In 1989, I packed up my little, silver Peugot car and hit the highway. Big Plans, Big Goals. One plump chinchilla. I met talented classmates on our first day and we clung to each other for our 4 years. Journals. Late night assignments. Critiques. Cheese fries. ( I can't really tell you more here but let's have coffee!) We learned printmaking, computers - if you can call them that- how to paint and figure drawing (I can tell you about Bill later!) . Graduation 1993 .. well that went too quickly...
From there - I pursued being "found" by the Children's book publishing world. Still a task I pursue, a dream, a goal... jumping way forward to 2006 - Print ON demand! I was able to write, illustrate, print & self-publish my own books. SUCCESS. Something else out of my head, until the next book appears. Breathe..
So in 2005... 2 cars, 4 adults, 2 kids, a cocker spaniel, a husky and some kitties - we were off..... we're still here. It's been 15 years.. I'm staying! Since the move - I have raised my 2 brilliant kids, who are 17 and 22 now. I worked with fabulous teachers and special needs kids at my youngsters elementary school for seven years. I left Warren School to open my shop, Canvas Paint N Party, for adults to come & paint n sip with friends! At the shop, I also had the "zoo" where kids could meet 2 sugar glider, a chinchilla, 2 guinea pigs & 2 pygmy hedgehogs. Animals are always part of daily life. I even tested the waters with PaintNPartyGO subscription art boxes - a fabulous idea I tried while this is was incredibly popular with online shopping!
I closed my shop in December 2019 - to pursue my illustrations you are seeing here. Animals. Hand drawn and colored in Faber Castell pencil. My beloved colored pencil. I made one, then two, then the ETSY orders began rolling in for these unique portraits of friend's dogs. Birthday presents, a gift for mom and especially, sad as it is, memorial images of beloved pets. What an honor to depict these doggies with their favorite shoe, or the client's favorite mountain view. So I sit, filling in the "short" version of my under 50 years, letting you know - it's just me, here with my pencil at my slant board, listening to an audible book and creating an image of your beloved best friend for you to treasure & pass on to the future generations with stories & laughter. I am created images for my portfolio to share with you here and on my Instagram page. I am accompanied by Mylo the husky, Benny the retired seeing eye dog, 4 ninja cats, one hedgehog, two bunnies, two sugar gliders and my darling, angelic beloved chow chow pup, Kenai.
As we ventured through 2020- the COVID 19 pandemic - I spent a majority of my time creating dog portraits for friends and honing my colored pencil style even more. In March of 2020, I decided to draw an illustration for a jigsaw puzzle about camping and outdoor activities in Montana. After a month of patiently waiting- the first order of puzzles arrived on January 30th, 2021! The Montana Backcountry puzzle was presented on Facebook and on our ETSY shops - orders rolled in...they continued to POUR in! SOLD OUT the first printing of puzzles in the first 24 hours! Truly unbelievable and the greatest business day! I decided to design the Last Chance Lane: Vintage Camper puzzle. As the first two designs rolled off the shelves across the country - I started to design Central Bark. I grew up in New Jersey, so Central Park in NYC was familiar to me as my father worked in the Big Apple when I was a kid. Combining dogs and the most famous park in to one puzzle scene just made sense! October 2021, Central Bark was released! As we zoom towards the holiday season - our puzzles are in West Yellowstone, Helena, Augusta, Laurel & soon, Missoula, Montana. This has been a very exciting year. Oh - did I happen to mention I illustrated my first Middle reader book cover with a Montana publisher. Raccoon Summer was released April 2022 through ChickenScratch Books!
The ultimate dream is to see my artwork & puzzles on the shelves of your favorite tiny book shop in picturesque Cape Cod style towns. Thank you for following my mini story, I look forward to chatting with you.
~Lucy Davis: mom, British Mini Cooper driver, author, baker, glamper, pet spoiler, puzzle designer, middle reader cover artist and freelance illustrator in Helena, Montana.