The other side of me

One of my favorite hobbies since I was a little girl has been doing artwork. Believe it or not, after deciding I didn't want to go to med school, I actually changed gears and went to Chicago where I earned my masters in medical illustration. As a medical illustrator, I learned to produce things like this:

Tendon transfer surgery

 And this:

Transmission at the synapse

And this:

Limbic system

.....but what I really like to do is this:

"Gypsy"

"Gi"

"Lily"

Recently, after leaving my job at the animal hospital and moving to PA, I've had a lot of extra time on my hands (between submitting job applications) so I've decided to use that time to refocus on my fine art. After all, it really does make me happy, and perhaps I could even make some money.

So I've been doodling and painting and in general just having fun. Kate (of lucysquest) actually was the one that inspired me to try painting some saddle pads after I was lucky enough to get two of her handpainted pads as a present one year. She is incredibly talented. If you haven't seen her designs you really should check them out here :)  Anyway, I started dabbling with one or two pads for Charlie; I figured a compass rose pad would be nice seeing as how his registered name is Wayfinder:

Well no sooner had I started then I got hooked. It seemed the more I painted the more designs kept filling my head and I really had a hard time stopping (I finally ran out of blank saddle pads).

On Saturday, as sort of my Lancaster County premiere, I took all of my saddle pads as well as a few canvases and several notecard sets to a local heritage festival with my mom and sister who were also selling handmade items. My goal was to get my name out there for custom work, although I figured it would be nice to sell something. Well the selling part was kind of a bust, only sold a few card sets, but then again it wasn't a real horsey crowd. However, the exposure was decent and many people took my business card. Hopefully I can get some private commissions out of it. I started up an Etsy store, too, which I hope may bring in a little something (TimpsonIllustrations).

A shot of our booth

My section

My mom was selling some handmade clothes as well as these really cool tea and wine cozies out of repurposed sweaters. Each design is unique and I think they'd make great gifts so I think I'll help her set up an Etsy store of her own.

Tea cozies

Wine cozies

My sister, Meg, has her own small business where she makes scarves, bags and other accessory items (Gema Creations). They both did well, selling several items, and we all had fun hanging out together on such a beautiful day (well, until late afternoon when storms started rolling in so we packed it up early). I'm hoping maybe we can find another show or two to go to together again in the near future.

Scarves and bags from Gema Creations