Amethyst and the Moon - Artists Stephanie Ryan & Melissa Schulz

It all started for me with a mural and a moon ~ I love the arts. I also love painting and dreaming under the moonlight and so The Moon from My Attic was born, to celebrate what I most connect with. One of my biggest dreams when I was a kid was to have my own studio in an attic, you know, like the real painters such as Monet and Modigliani, two of my favorite artists. My aunt, who was also an artist, used to sing beautiful songs to us kids while teaching us how to paint. One of the songs was about a man on a river boat praying under the moonlight for good luck - in Italian, of course.

So the moon has been on my mind for a long time and I am thrilled to have as my guests this week a pair of formidable artists who have found a way to collaborate in a business venture together and recently launched the Amethyst and the Moon. They are both very creative and fun!

Artists Melissa Schulz and Stephanie Ryan

Melissa Schulz is a brand strategist, a licensing agent, a creative and marketing director, an artist and a jewelry designer. With close to 20 years of experience in the art licensing, product development and marketing fields, Melissa has helped artists and companies strategize their business growth. All the while, she has devoted creative time for the development her own lines of jewelry and mixed media pieces.

Stephanie Ryan is an artist and designer with 20+ years of experience in the product development field. In 2012 she launched her brand and licensing business and has had many early successes. Stephanie's art can be found on dinnerware, fabric, home and garden decor, greeting cards  and much more!

The Moon from My Attic: What's the main story behind the team? How did it form? We worked together in the past and have always talked about collaborating and we knew we had similar aesthetics and interests and thought it would be so fun to combine those things and work together again. Over the course of the last year we found ourselves living through some life challenges which forced us to do a lot of soul searching and through our discussions of what we wanted for our lives we kept coming back to this idea of working together.

These little conversations sparked a passion within us that grew and quickly turned into a tangible dream of combining our love for crystals and the healing powers found within them and the magical realms that surround us into a collaboration that we were both very excited about. We love the idea of taking this passion and presenting it to the world in a beautiful way. We also love that we can shine a little light of inspiration and healing on others during their times of soul searching, too.

TMFMA: What's your creative process about, i.e. how do you work together, how do you develop a product as a team? The most important thing is that we have a very strong vision of what Amethyst and the Moon is. That is our foundation and as a result we are able to work independently and collaboratively towards our goals.

TMFMA: What do you enjoy the most when collaborating? We are both night owls and find that magical things happen under the light of the moon. Hours pass quickly during this time and we love how the inspiration and ideas flow between us as we iMessage throughout the night. The energy between us is so strong when collaborating about Amethyst and the Moon it helps to feed our lives and other businesses as well.

TMFMA: What online or other tools do you use to keep coordinated and in the loop on common projects? We love Google Drive! Google documents and calendars are fundamental. iMessaging, facetime, screenshots and iPhone photos are LIFE SAVERS as well as a great way for us to keep each other laughing throughout the day.

TMFMA: What's the advantage in working together? We both bring a unique set of skills and expertise to our collaboration with just the right amount of overlap to create the perfect synergy. We are very comfortable with each other and have a high level of trust between us. It is such a gift to get to chose who you spend your time with and we love working together. We also seem to have the sense of humor of 15 year old girls which means we like to laugh and giggle a lot! One of the things we promised each other when we started this is that Amethyst and the Moon would be a way for us to have fun and feed our souls. You really need to find the right partner in order to fulfill that kind of dream and that is the biggest advantage of us working together.

TMFMA: What excites you to work together? The energy that is created by the two of us working together really excites us and gets us into bigger picture thinking for our lives and business. We especially love the idea of being able to help others on their journey to connect to their hearts and souls and what lies beyond them with inspirational art and messaging, jewelry and healing products.

TMFMA: Any suggestion or tip for other artists interested in starting up a group? It is so important that you have the same vision. Articulate your vision through visual and editorial references so that you know you are on the same page and your dreams are aligned. Private Pinterest boards are great for this and fun too!

Find out more about Amethyst and the Moon:

www.amethystandthemoon.com

www.stephanieryandesign.com

www.melissaschulzcreative.com

Special Surtex 2013 Series – Exhibiting Artists

There are nine days to Surtex and today is the last and final day for posting Surtex promos. I originally planned on 30 pieces but I think we happily surpassed that number. I want to thank you all again for reading my blog and for participating in this colorful and fun parade - I hope you enjoyed seeing these amazing artists!

However, starting tomorrow (Saturday), we are going to post only a brief preview of my Surtex work until we are through with the show. We are down to the last few details to get ready for it and have run out of time to do anything else!

If you are going to be at the show you're welcome to come by my booth 446 and say hi if I am not with a client. I will be sharing a couple of special surprises that I hope you'll enjoy - see you soon!

Art that Feeds the Soul - Artist Stephanie Ryan

More and more, people are looking for uplifting and inspirational art that speaks to their soul and that is a reflection of their own values and dreams. When an artist comes along with that perfect point of view, that unique style and beauty that appeals to multiple generations, it is a dream come true.

Stephanie Ryan's art has that effect on people. Her art is beautiful and speaks to the soul because it comes from her own heart.

The Moon from My Attic: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your art? Hi Alex, thank you so much for the opportunity to share my story with your readers. I like to refer to myself as an artist, designer and creative soul. I love to paint, craft, write and play on the computer. My career started as a doll maker many moons ago and I have been in product development ever since. Currently, I am living my dream as a self-employed artist; I still can't believe it! My work is primarily watercolor art with thoughtful sentiment weaved throughout. TMFMA: What is exciting about your creative work? I think the exciting part for me is the creation of something new. I never know what I am going to paint when I sit down to work. I let my intuition guide me and pretty flowers start to appear. I also love manipulating the art on the computer. I go into it with the same sense of wonder every time and am always surprised by the finished product. TMFMA: Is there a person or thing that has influenced you in your artistic efforts? What inspires you? There are too many to list, I am constantly inspired by nature and my beautiful friends in the art community. I also have this inner voice that is constantly guiding and nurturing my creative spirit. I can't shut it off. My life is all about finding and creating the art that lives inside my heart. TMFMA: Tell us of your experience as an art licensing artist. I have been on the product development side of things for a long time and always wanted to create my own art for products. In an effort to live the life of my dreams, I finally faced my fears and took the leap in 2011 with the introduction of Floral Fusion, a dinnerware collection for Lenox. After the success of Floral Fusion I started to create collections and develop my brand. In 2012, I partnered with MHS Licensing to oversee all of my licensing opportunities so that I could concentrate on what is important to me - creating art and inspiring others to listen to their hearts and see that anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself. This past May, after attending Surtex for many, many years I finally had my own booth as an exhibitor! It was a dream come true. Surtex was a huge success and I couldn't be happier with my decision to exhibit. So, I guess you can call me a newbie to the licensing game but I feel like I have been doing it forever because of my background in manufacturing for the past...oh, too many years! TMFMA: What project are you currently working on and what's exciting about it? Right know I am working on expanding my collections. I am trying to envision what my dream products are and create vision boards and mock ups for manufacturers. I am also creating new art and preparing for the launch of my first fabric collection for Moda Fabrics this fall. Everything is exciting these days! TMFMA: What are your future aspirations and goals as an artist? That is a question that I have been giving a lot of thought these past couple of weeks. First, I would like to be a successful licensed artist, but I want more than that too. I want a creative life that has a purpose and meaning and I want to share my experiences and story. I'm not quite sure what that is yet. I would love to write a book, teach workshops, and figure out how to nurture other people's creative spirit.  TMFMA: Any important tip and trick you can share about licensing? Let's see...be true to yourself, create a strong brand that you love because you have to live with it for a while. Create a lot; manufacturers always want to see what's new! Create product sheets of how your art looks on products. You have to have a lot of patience to make it in licensing. It takes at least 3 years to start getting a steady stream of income coming in. Put a lot of thought into whether or not you want an agent. I think that was the hardest decision I had to make about my licensing career. Oh! and most importantly, have fun and create from your heart. Stephanie's Website: www.stephanieryandesign.com

and Blog: www.stephanieryandesign.com/blog/

You might also want to listen to her recent interview with Monica Lee at Smart Creative Women.

More of Stephanie's art: