It all started in 2020, yes during the start of the entire world shutting down due to covid-19. I was living in the bustling city of Boston, Massachusetts and overnight I saw the city I loved turn into a zombie land filled with a cloud of fear.
At the time I was working as the Marketing Manager at a Functional Medicine Clinic. I had my 9-5 routine going into the clinic every day and sitting at my desktop computer. It was very well… comfortable. Yeah, that’s the word for it, comfortable. But I was content. Once we all got sent home from work when the pandemic hit I guiltily found a bit of excitement light up in myself for the opportunity to work from home. Okay yeah, I worked from home here and there before, but this time I knew it was going to be a long time since I was going back. Then, I never went back. I met the love of my life and moved to be with him in Maine. Who knew that Maine would spark so much creativity in me? But damn I owe a lot to the beautiful state of Maine! And this is where it all started…
I decided to download adobe Illustrator on my computer. I thought, hm this could be fun right? For my Marketing job, I already did a lot of graphic design and I knew I loved that. But can’t I do this in my free time too? I started playing around with the software, drawing simple squiggles. Then I found some solace in drawing colorful squiggles and tracing them. They turned into these funky colorful designs but above all, it turned into therapy. For once I was able to sit down, listen to my favorite music, and stop my mind from racing.
That’s when “Adding Some Kolor” came to life. I designed my own website, threw some squiggles on there, and set up dropshipping so I could sell my designs on products! It started with pillows (which you’ll see are still on my site because they have a special place in my heart) and then I put them on phone cases. The phone cases were cool but tricky to find a supplier that could print my designs while keeping the vibrancy. After a year or so of doing that, my boyfriend and I set out to move across the country to Montana. Why? Well, we both have a passion for travel and were very fortunate that our careers allowed us to do just that.
Montana was eh… don’t get me wrong, absolutely beautiful! We got to see some amazing things like Yellowstone NP and Glacier NP. But it didn’t fill me with life. I kinda put Adding Some Kolor on the back burner and tried the whole TikTok thing. Which if you followed me, I’m so sorry! I’m not sure why I did it, I consider myself an Entrepreneur so at the time I was looking for an outlet to express what was going on in my head. So after 3 months of that, we moved to Oxnard, California!
California had always been this place that I thought was completely overrated but boy was I wrong! I think it’s entirely underrated, especially Ventura County… but that’s beside the point I’m rambling. Once we got to California I had a wave of creativity come over me, literally waves and waves and waves where I felt the motivation and passion to start creating again. But I knew I didn’t want to sit at a computer screen or look at my tablet to do it.
That’s when I came across these “Plaster Artists” on Instagram. I started watching others create these beautiful pieces that just looked like so much fun to make. So I went to Home Depot, grabbed some random material (which so happened to be spackling), sat in the living room of our tiny 500 sq foot apartment, and just started running my hands through it. After I was done making my first piece, I immediately fell in love. I fell in love with the process, the way I felt when my hands ran through the material, and the outcome of it all. It was relaxing, thrilling, and insanely therapeutic! From there I just kept doing it, I kept buying supplies and trying out new techniques. I figured out how to make frames for the pieces, which let me tell you was one heck of a process. Then I started recording myself so I could show the world what my creative outlet is and why they should try it out too!
It’s really all taken off from there. It’s my way of letting go, of thinking of nothing but the music in my ears and where I’m going to move my hands next. It’s the best discovery I’ve ever made in my entire life and I’m so grateful to be able to share this spackling art journey with you because man…. It’s fricken fun and you should try it too!!
P.S. If this inspired you check out my Spackling Art Guide to get started on your creative journey!
