Featured Member Interview: Lucy Shupe

What inspires you to create?

Everything - of course!  Nature; photos - old & new; other people's art - old & new; family history - old & new; patterns; old things and odd things; sometimes even the art materials themselves.

When did you decide to pursue art, or did art pursue you?

I can't remember a time when I wasn't doing something 'creative.'  Some of my earliest memories are of making paper doll families and clever things for my Barbie dolls.  I received my first camera in fifth grade and have rarely been without one since.  I often feel as though I see the world through a viewfinder - whether I have a camera in my hands or not.  I also started making cards early on.  Of course it was just folded construction paper and crayon flowers back then.  The older I got the more things I tried: sewing, painting, knitting, embroidery, making miniatures, baking. writing, jewelry, rubber stamping, and scrapbooking (to name a few!).  If I'm not making something and expressing myself I'm not happy.  I can never decide which is my favorite art form - I love it all.  In the more recent past I have added digital art, altered books, and now - art journaling.

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If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Frustrated.  Perhaps I would be a baker.  I used to be quite the cookie baker, but now everyone is watching their figures!

What other jobs have you had which have aided you on your creative path?

Most of the jobs I have had were so boring that they pushed me towards the creative things in my free time.

altered book

At the art supply store, which section do you gravitate to first?

Where I head first in the art store is totally dependent on the day, but I rarely walk out with only one medium.  It's all good.

What new technique or art form would you like to learn?  Do you have plans to do so?

I'm always up for new things!  At the moment I'm exploring different forms of art journaling.  I would like to learn more about art quilting.  And I'm always wishing I had time to learn more digital art techniques.  My list of future projects is quite long.  If only I had the time and energy.

If you could do anything, and knew you could not fail, what would you choose to do?

Achieve world peace...  Save the planet...  Spread the joy of art!

Thanks for this peek into your creative world, Lucy!

Cape Cod Flowers