In 2021 we had another major life change. We had lived in Louisville, Kentucky and just across the river in southern Indiana for a total of 12 years. I am from North Carolina and had felt a strong pull to move back closer to my family for some time. So in February of 2021 we moved our family to the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We rented a place in Blacksburg for a couple of months and then found our home in Floyd county Virginia in May. During this major transition I really feel like my creativity dried up. Alot of my time and energy went into working with my husband to renovate our 1902 farmhouse. I was also starting over in a new place where I hadn’t figured out all of the shops, festivals, etc. And honestly, things are just culturally different in a small town vs a bigger city. Once we moved I realized how I had taken for granted the connections and art community I had made in Kentuckiana over the last several years.
I still sold my natural history prints during this dry season which I am so thankful for. The highlight of this year was having my NC natural history prints featured in Our State magazine! My grandparents and parents have subscribed to this magazine for years and I was so excited to have my art featured there. My grandma (who is in her 90s) has been one of the biggest encouragers in my art and it was so meaningful that she was around to see it.
After struggling with a long stretch of being creatively dry, I decided to switch things up a little. In January of this year I started venturing into printmaking and linocut art. I think using a different part of my brain in a new creative technique really helped and I have greatly enjoyed carving and printing my own art. This year I have released 17 new designs so far which is huge for me.
Reflecting back on the last 10 years I cannot help to be humble and thankful. The biggest way I have seen God care for me and love me over the past 10 has been through creating art and running this business. I am not an organized, big vision person. Honestly at the end of every year I reflect on the year and ask myself if I should keep doing this because I don’t have any ideas or plans for the next year. And every year I hear God urging me to just simply keep creating. And so I do. And every year new opportunities come along that I didn’t even see coming. In fact, I have often tried to plan out a new opportunity for myself and most of the time it flops. Its often frustrating but at the same time keeps me humble (and sometimes makes me laugh). I know that my creativity is a gift. I see that in the ways it ebbs and flows. I struggle during the dry times but it makes me extra grateful during the creatively rich times.
This small creative business has been sustained through toddlerhood, adopting another toddler into our family, an extremely dark season, a global pandemic and moving to a new state. I’ve grown in my confidence in being able to call myself an artist despite the fact that I never went to school for it. I’ve grown in seeing my creativity as a part of who I am and have tried to not only use it to bring in money but to serve and love others. I don't know what the next years hold but I am grateful for the journey this far and hopeful for what the future holds.
Lindsey Spencer
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