Featured Artist: Savard Studios and a Giveaway!

I'm so excited to share a new (and fabulously talented) Etsy artist with you today, Sandy Savard of Savard Studios.   And as a special little surprise, Sandy has generously offered to send one lucky reader one of her upcycled creations.  Look at these garden markers made out of wine corks! 

We'll get back to the details of how you can win a set of your very own after we get to know a little bit more about Sandy and her art.  So without further ado.

Sandy Savard of Savard Studios

Tell us a little about your shop and your art.

 

My shop is an eclectic blend of items for the home, body and garden. I love to paint anything! I’ve been painting walls, ceilings, trim and furniture for 18+ years. Everything in my shop Is handpainted or upcycled.  I love adding color and texture to items to upcycle them into more than they are. I love shimmer and metallic.

When did you start playing with trash?

 

Since I’ve been a decorative painter, I’ve been collecting items that I felt I could turn into something else with a little paint. I never did anything with the items because I didn’t feel I had an easy way to market them and I was always too busy painting in homes. I found Etsy recently, when I was looking for some old knobs to put on a piece of furniture I was painting. Suddenly, there was an affordable place to list my items. All the ideas I've filed in my brain for many years have come pouring out. It's very exciting! I wish there were more hours in a day. I'm constantly creating something.

Hand Painted Puzzle Wine Glass Charms

Who are the important folks/critters in your life?

 

Family and friends are the most important. My husband, who is also very creative and a bit of a pack rat, has always supported my creative endeavors. My teenage sons have been known to help in my creative endeavors and are also blooming artists. My friends are ever supportive and encouraging. My girl's weekends spent scrapbooking help me keep my sanity. 

Our family is very social and we host an annual summer party each year. We are always creative with our theme. We work hard for our invitations, decorations, food and wardrobe to all follow the theme. Our rescued terrier, Crunch, is always the starting point. What costume can we put her in this year to create the party theme? There are photos of her for sale in my store as well. Cinco de Mayo, Hawaiian Luau's and Mardis Gras have been a few of our theme's.

Hand Painted, Distressed Clock Face Table

Where do you take your inspiration from?

 

Colors and textures I see around me everyday. I love being outdoors and working in the garden. Beautiful sunrises/sunsets glistening on the water. Enjoying a glass of wine and seeing images of Italy, France and Greece, while planning a dream vacation.

What other passions do you have in life?

 

I love gardening and giving back to the earth. Our society has come to expect perfection and anything that doesn’t fit that mold is disposable. If we can give old items a new face, we save them from filling our landfills and polluting our earth.

Hand Painted Washer Necklace

What do you want readers to know about you or your art?

 

Over the top color, texture and metallics add so much beauty to our surroundings. Why go through life as plain vanilla? I hope people will discover all the beautiful colors and textures they can add to their surroundings. My hope is to bring the finishes I currently use in my clients homes onto smaller everyday items as well as beautiful pieces of furniture destined for the landfill.

Now how about that giveaway!  You can enter multiple times, one entry for each of the actions listed below that you take.  Please leave a separate comment for each action and I'll use a random number generator to select a winner on Thursday January 19, 2012 at 6:00pm EST.  Here's how to enter:

1.  Like Savard Studios on Facebook
2.  Tweet this blog post and be sure to leave your @twitter name
3.  Follow @sasavard
4.  Help Sandy build a following on her brand new blog - just click either of the Follow buttons
5.  Stop by Sandy's shop and post your favorite item below.

Good luck everyone!