handmade by pintameldia

hello sweet friends, how are you today? did you have a good and delightful weekend? i had a calm weekend, we went to spend the weekend with mr twiggs’ family in his hometown. it’s a little rainy day today… but well, let’s see what the week has for us! today i wanted to start by sharing with you some interesting artist i found on etsy a few weeks ago. as you know this feature is about handmade work, which actually fits in almost everything that happens on etsy, except the {vintage} part. however this feature is meant to share with you some inspiring work and above all, how it all starts in these artists’ lives. today’s artist comes from bilbao, spain. her name is esti. let’s hear her… about her own work.

“i am a self-taught artist and illustrator, living in bilbao, spain, working under the name of {pintameldia} (this stands for paint my day). even though i always liked drawing, i didn’t really start painting until i was almost thirty. i had been involved in the spanish music scene, as a tourmanager, promoter, indie-label founder and music journalist, and little by little fell for painting as my own creative outburst. however, soon my first daughter was born and i put painting aside. after a couple of years, the craving for some creative and artistic time took hold of me. i started drawing because allowed me to do something in a limited space, with limited resources. it was something i could do anywhere and keep easily in folders or drawers.”

“my inspiration comes mainly at night, from my dreams. during the daytime i listen to lots of music and many times i find myself paying attention to music lyrics. my mind tries to knot some of those words or feelings to the dreams i’ve had. and that’s how the drawings come to be. words in conversations, photographs, books and images from newspapers or the internet can also make an image sprout and grow in my mind. i posted something related to {this} a few days ago.”

“when i am drawing i don’t try to accomplish anything in particular. i want to come up with the closest version to the image i have in mind, with my particular skills. it feels almost as if i don’t own it, that it’s something that passes through me, from a dream or an instant to the paper. i come from a big family, full of strong women so it feels right to draw feminine characters and hope to reflect how women interact, how they believe in magic and myths, how they feed spirituality, how they support  family traditions and, ultimately, how they are mirrors of my own existence.”

“i am fortunate to have reached an audience through my site, something that i will always be grateful to the internet for. however, i have only recently realized that not many people know that i don’t paint my drawings. all the color you see in my drawings are paper scraps. sometimes i feel tempted to paint again (and eventually i will), but i do enjoy playing around with few pens, scissors and papers and seeing the outcome.”

“on the other hand, last summer i felt the urge to draw some children stuff, it was as if i needed to change my drawing language. i started drawing two characters over and over and that’s how the {thomas & olivia} series were born. jopefully a couple of books with their stories will be released throughout this year. you’ll see a zine version of the first one at {pikaland’s zine pikapackage}. i have lots of material based on those two guys to put out.”

“as for my goals, i have recently opened my online etsy shop and i hope to see it running properly this year. there are lots of things that i am working on that i want to see in it: prints, to begin with, because lots of people ask me for them, postcards, notebooks and posters. this year i want to dedicate some time to collaborate with some friend artists, as we did last year with the {happy family project}. there are lots of people i admire and that i want to work with.”

“this year has begun in an incredible manner: a print of a drawing of mine has been released in a limited edition by the {working proof}. i am thrilled to be among their artist roster, which is one of the most amazing i’ve seen around. at the very end of last year i saw my art on an {album cover} and inside layout and next month i’ll see another one. It feels so right to me to be bounding my art to music projects, after all.

“surely, my greatest goal this year is to make a living out of my art. last year i stopped having my desk job and turned all my energies to my art. i couldn’t be happier, having the chance of doing what i most love. but i also need to learn, and that’s on my list too: i need to learn more digital stuff so i can’t stop asking friends and family for help.”

this is really inspirational isn’t it? i must be honest with you, all that strength to become a full-time photographer/artist/blogger… whatever related with arts, it’s really coming down this week… i am starting to feel all the pressure to get a real job and i can’t think of a pleasant thing to do that puts me behind a desk from 9am-6pm. i just don’t. but i need to pay my bills… and let’s face it, things are not exactly easy around the whole world, right? so… this interview was quite inspirational for me at this point. i hope you feel the curiosity to browse through esti’s work on {etsy} and also her {blog}. see you in a bit!