Welcome! I’m Ria.
Being called to create was not on my bucket list. It was placed there.
It’s funny how we absolutely love something so much that we can’t see ourselves not doing it. I absolutely loved being a project manager: travel, work from home…it seemed to be the perfect day-time job. As a hobby, I enjoyed making greeting cards. My motto was (and continues to be), “Everyone likes to receive something special in the mail.” I was published in trade magazines, a rubber stamp company catalog, and sold a good bit in a few local mail shops for years. But, after another layoff from the corporate world, I had a decision to make: continue to look for work in my field or make what had become a passion of mine into a full-time career? After five years of making greeting cards I wondered – was it still a passion? Something seemed to be missing.
MIXED MEDIA & FIBER ARTIST
And then the answer came.
It was just boring. I wanted to create a different look for the greeting cards, and I wanted them to ‘say’ something – something other than the standard ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Get Well’ greetings. Finding different types of sentiments was not the problem. There are rubber stamps that can be used with different sentiments, but it wasn’t my voice coming through—and my voice is what I needed to find.
So I made these…
This freedom from my norm pushed me to use something other than rubber stamps and dye inks. I remember going to a local art supply store and the clerk asked me, “Which medium do you prefer?,” “Paper,” I said. She laughed and I smiled though I didn’t understand what was so funny. I had no idea what she meant. I now know that paper is a medium and wonder today if the laughter was due to the deer in the headlights look I was giving her.
As I pondered my next steps, words like journey, explore, freedom and embrace kept swirling around in my mind. The word explore stuck out the most. I have enough paper craft materials to fill an entire store, but in my space I also had donated bottles of acrylic paint along with other supplies. Since I don’t believe in coincidences, they were given to me for a reason: to use.
And then the light bulb came on. “I’ll just become a full-time artist,” I thought to myself.
I believe I was called to create.
I believe ideas are given and light bulbs are turned on and God gave me the idea (along with the passion) and set me on this path with a purpose. I believe I was created to inspire, and I am inspired to create. I wanted to do something different, and He made that happen.
As if I wasn’t convinced enough, the following scripture set me straight the following Sunday in church:
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power to work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20
The light bulb remains on.
With love,
