Dream Doer Friday…

Kelly Rae Roberts

each Friday I feature an artisan who is living their dream of doing what they love and creating a life and a lifestyle within their art…

Kelly Rae Roberts is taking flight into art, love and life and is this week’s dream doer indeed! in a recent blog post Kelly says:

but really i want to be in the very center of where i’m at right now. because where i’m at right now is in the middle of my life’s living dreams. it’s so remarkable. i don’t want to miss anything. read more here…

Kelly’s shop is here…the above print is available

It Started with a Dream and a Blog

Kelly began her blog and her journey into creativity about the same time I started Cre8Tiva’s Blog. I watched as she blossomed and grew her wings. I watched as she found her voice as a writer and her visual voice as an artist. People love her art…her musings…but most of all they just love her!

She is the perfect example of being yourself..authentic, flawed and human…can propel you into the business of your dreams. Kelly was a social worker with a creative dream living in Portland Oregon when she first started blogging. Her husband was becoming a doctor. She made art because she needed to.

Other blogging artists began discovering her artwork as she interacted within bloglandia. Soon people were asking to buy her art. After her first year blogging she opened an Etsy shop and was finding her way into a creative business one step at a time. She documented it all with a candid openness which charmed anyone who found her blog. During the second year of the blog she launched her website, had a gallery showing or two and began writing her book, Taking Flight. She also quit her job to do art full time.

Since then she has been published in many magazines and is on the cover of Somerset Studio March/April 2010 issue.…licensed her artwork…began teaching…found her people (ideal client, fans, community)…experienced burnout…taught in Italy…moved…got new studio space…hired an assistant…did a home and gift show…felt pressure…launched a new website…created a gift line…created an e-course with over 500 students…moved twice, bought a fixer-upper bungalow  and became pregnant…

she describes her journey here…

all of these years later i still know that there will always be people who are more talented, who really do know what they’re doing, and who really do out shine me in painting + drawing. but what i’ve learned is that all it takes is a bit of passion, courage, and commitment to make a dream come true. anything is possible. read more here…

If you want to read her entire journey you can do so on her blog…just scroll down until you see: MY JOURNEY (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER) INTO THE CREATIVE LIFE (CIRCA 2006). There you will find links to each post that tells the story.

more of kelly’s thoughts on dreams…

dreams, unspoken or not, are living, breathing, sometimes screaming (or quiet) whispers of our hearts. we’ve become so good at discrediting them: unpractical. too expensive. too complicated. but what i’ve learned is that our whole life’s potential lies in the spaces between these whispers. if we pay attention to them, perhaps even take that first step and acknowledge them, then we breathe a bit easier knowing we’ve spoken a truth. out loud.  read more here…

Moral of the Story

So if you think that starting a blog and being yourself is a waste of time…just remember Kelly Rae. She has established a remarkable brand in three years. She has over 30 paid ads on her blog as of this morning. She is a published author. She is earning a good living with her art. She has a loyal following. She is living and doing her dream every day. And you can too!!