Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Kustenmacher.
Kimberly, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always taken interest in art and had an appreciation for artists and their work as a means for expression of emotions, ideas, and the symbolism behind each unique piece. Art projects and crafts were at the peak of my curiosities growing up and I found myself getting involved in various projects even outside of the classroom. Through the years, I always used artistic expression as a creative outlet, painting with acrylics, tie dying clothes, bedazzling everything, and even took a shop class to learn woodworking. A few years ago, I took a class at Pigment here in San Diego and the teacher was an artist named Jenna Rainey. Between her modern calligraphy and watercolor classes, I learned how to paint with watercolors and I also dabbled a bit in artistic lettering. My love for painting was reignited and using watercolor was a different process that I was not used to. I started hand-painting every single card that I would send to friends and family for birthdays and holidays. Then I started painting while on trips as a means of preserving that memory in time. I created an Instagram account just to track a bit of my work along the way, and people started commissioning me to paint things for them including framed works and stationery. These days I am making quarantine cards featuring socially distanced cacti, birds six feet apart on a wire, or two friends giving hugs from a social distance. This business has been an incidental side hustle for me as my main career was in the hospitality industry, but I was recently laid off due to COVID-19. I’m making art more of a full-time gig right now, which has been incredibly therapeutic, and I’m having so much fun with it!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Struggles along the way consist of learning the business and figuring out how to make prints of my work and what to charge to make a profit. A big struggle has been when people commission something that is way out of my comfort zone. Recently my sister asked me to paint her twins and that’s not my style so I said “no” right away. She followed up with “I think you can do it”, and that is all she had to say for me to consider it a new challenge to create something I never had before and I was ultimately impressed with my work; it brought a great feeling of accomplishment.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I run a virtual shop on Etsy or through my Instagram platform called Gypscraft Studio. It is just me, and nobody works for me. I create with watercolor whether it’s stationery or a framed piece of work. My paintings are typically inspired by nature.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up in a small town in Louisiana, I was outgoing and a bit more extroverted than I am now. I’ve always been an outdoor enthusiast, and I enjoyed all things colorful and participated in almost every sport. I rode my bicycle and I went fishing in the neighborhood creek with my dad quite a bit when I was younger.
I was an enthusiastic teenager who enjoyed hanging out with friends and music was really at the center of it all; growing up with what my parents listened to like Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Jim Croce, and Motown hits. The first CD’s I owned were Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill, and Bush- Sixteen Stone. I ended up going to college at LSU, and Baton Rouge was pretty close to home but just far enough away that I began to experience wanderlust and independence and thus began the start of my travels, and that really transformed my life and the direction it would take. My interests were in live music, art, museums, and theater– and not much has changed in that regard. All of these years and a big move across the country later, and I’ve only missed out on a handful of Jazz Festivals in New Orleans. Oh, and I also got all of the mischievous things out of the way between the ages of 15-18 and I have been pretty well-behaved since!
Contact Info:
- Email: gypscraft.studio@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kk_creating_things
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
