You found Zinnia Sky Studio! You may have been with me from the beginning or you may have just found me but no matter how long it’s been, I’m so excited you’re here! Looking to the New Year, I thought it would be fun to start 2021 with how Zinnia Sky Studio got started.
I used to live in Illinois.
I grew up and lived most of my life in a small town in Central Illinois. My kids ran the same streets that I ran. They went to school with kids of the kids I went to school with. They learned from some of the same teachers I learned from. We knew everyone in town and everyone knew us. Then they grew up and went out to conquer the world…. and didn’t come back! So there we were, empty nesters with a lot of time to call our own.
Fast forward a few years.
Once it became obvious the kids really weren’t coming back, the negotiations started. Tim, my husband, proposed Arizona to which I immediately said absolutely not. I gardened a LOT. Most of my yard was a garden so I just couldn’t imagine gardening in the desert. But he persisted. And then he started with the bribery. And I caved because I have to admit, the bribes were pretty spot on.
What kind of bribe would convince me to leave my life?
So what kind of bribe would be good enough to leave the only place I’d ever lived? As you might imagine, I didn’t just suddenly start painting. I’d been painting since middle school. I started with oil paint, moved to acrylic when I had kids – because dry time, right? – and took up watercolor when the kids left home and I suddenly had all kinds of time to do my own thing. But I never thought of myself as an artist. I painted because I needed to make my world my own.
So I painted my walls instead of wallpapering them. I scoured flea markets and second hand stores for furniture I could transform into something fun and different. I painted my floors because I hated carpet. I painted a lot of signs for my gardens, my doors and as gifts. And since my husband knows me better than I know myself, he said that if I would move to Arizona, we’d see what I could do with my art. Oh, and I could have as many chihuahuas as I wanted! How could I say no to that?
Starting an art business in a brand new life.
So how does a non-artist start an art business? That was my big question 7 years ago and one I had to figure out. The very first and most important decision was…. what to call it! Back in my Illinois gardens, zinnias were what I grew the most of. Zinnias come in all sizes and colors, bloom from spring until after the first frost and are just as amazing in the garden as they are in a jar on the countertop – could there be a more perfect flower?
I normally wouldn’t point you to Wikipedia but they had the best, most complete description of why if you love flowers, you will obsess over zinnias. So here you go, delve in and enjoy! Zinnia Flowers
When we moved to the desert, I found a new fascination with the beautiful skies here. Skies that I had never noticed in Illinois because there were lots of big beautiful trees and it was usually cloudy. But without those two elements, the sky here was always right there, blazing with a big yellow sun or sprinkled with tons of glittery stars. I found myself looking up ALL the time!
Since an artist works out of a studio, Zinnia Sky Studio became the most obviously perfect name for this new business! There were so many more decisions to make but I’ll save that for the next post. I hope you’ll stay tuned for more About Zinnia Sky Studio!
There’s more to the story, read Part 2 HERE
