Paper Arts + Creative Fuel: Meet Artist Anna Brones
A special interview talking all things artistry + money + creative community
Hello dear readers. Thank you for being here. I am just getting this newsletter into my monthly release window- a week away from April- but here it is! The last 6 weeks of my life have been a total whirlwind of change. A lot of sudden shifts and transformative energy moving through. I feel I will have much more to share and dive into about all of that in future newsletters, but for now I’m still just holding on as a lot of life moves around me and falls into a new alignment. The last several months have been a real lesson in letting go. I feel that in so many ways, I am in the biggest surrender of my life. I know that sounds dramatic, but the world itself is dramatic sometimes and moments need to be honored and felt in their truest impact for what they are offering. I know so many people right now going through big changes and pivots in their own ways. Some by choice and often times, out of their own control. It is a constant recalibrating, letting go and releasing of expectation (If you want to read more on the relationship of letting go + control, check out my husband Rob’s new substack here). Not to mention, our individual experiences are always a reflection of the greater whole, which currently feels like it is moving through so much destruction & loss, and hopefully, new growth on the other side. Surrender has been a theme in my life for the past year. How do we surrender to what is, while staying in our own integrity with an open heart, even when things are so hard? A topic I find endlessly inspiring and clarifying when I feel lost or confused. I also find coming back to my creativity over and over to be the most grounding and hopeful practice that there is. Staying connected to other artists and creatives throughout these big moments of transformation is crucial for me.
And speaking of other artists…this month, I am continuing with my interviewing series, and I am so excited to share words from my talented friend,
. Anna and I have been connected throughout most of my artist career and its been beautiful to witness each other growing on our own multifaceted creative paths. I hope you enjoy reading her wise insights, and please feel free to leave any more questions or reflections you may have for Anna in the comments below.
In your own words, can you tell us what you do for a living?
The current things that I do to make a living are visual art, writing, and teaching. I work entirely for myself (ie I don’t have any day job or part-time “regular” job), so in terms of actual finances, it can look really different from year to year. I actually think that this conversation about making a living as an artist/creative is really important, for two main reasons:
1. It’s usually not a linear path, and it’s often cobbled together with an assortment of things
2. Creative work is labor and labor deserves to be compensated
I think when we’re transparent and open about the “how” behind our creative businesses, it helps all of us. With that in mind, currently the three main chunks of my business that bring in a semi-reliable income are my newsletter
, my online shop where I sell prints and other assorted things, and teaching. Then of course there’s the whole category of Things That Could Eventually Be Part of The Income. For example, this winter I worked on a very big book proposal, but there’s no promise that will come to fruition. I think anyone making a living from their creative work usually has a few things like this: projects that take time/bandwidth but that don’t necessarily have an immediate monetary pay off. And then there is the final category of Projects That Could Land at Any Minute That I am Unaware Of. These are more “holy grail” type projects, the things you don’t necessarily pitch or go after yourself.Last year I worked as one of the writers on the book Parklife Hideaways for Gestalten, which was a project like that, and so was my papercut illustration project for Joy of Cooking a few years ago. These kinds of projects are the reason that creatives keep frenetically checking emails.
When did considering yourself an “artist” begin for you? Did you feel like an artist as a child, or was it something that you came to when you were older?
I very much felt like an artist as a child, but I didn’t feel comfortable using it as a term to describe myself until I started doing art for work. I really HATE admitting this, because I would be the first one to say that you do not have to make money from your art to consider yourself an artist. But there was something about incorporating my artwork into my profession that made me take it seriously, and that allowed me to feel more comfortable using the term. It’s not just personal though—it’s also very much induced by our culture which determines value with a dollar sign. It makes me think of the Virginia Woolf quote, “Money dignifies what is frivolous if unpaid for.” We have a lot of work to do as a culture to change that.
I’m always fascinated by how/why we end up where we do, because it’s never a linear path. If you told me in my early 20s that this is what I would be doing, I would probably have been surprised. But I think if you had told 6-year-old Anna the same thing, she would have been like “yeah, obviously” and then gone back to whatever project she was working on. Which is to say, in hindsight I can see the through line and the seeds for a creative path that were planted early on.
What is your favorite medium/artform to create with?
I think that I will always love paper, and always love the graphic nature of papercutting. But currently I’m actually a little bored with papercutting, which feels a little funny to say. I’ve been more into writing this past season, so I feel like my visual practice has been put on the back burner a little bit. I’m ok with that, because as someone who works in different mediums, I know that they all ebb and flow. In visual work, I love black and white (clearly), but the papercuts can sometimes feel a little stark to me, so I’ve been wanting to experiment with printmaking to get a little more gradation. I’m basically always drawn to anything that’s very bold, graphic, and abstract in nature.
How did you first get into the work that you do? How would you describe your niche, and how did you find it?
I’d say my main “niche” is papercutting (although it’s not my only creative avenue). I’m entirely self-taught. I used to make earrings out of old bike tubes, and for that I would use an x-acto knife. One day the x-acto knife and cutting mat were sitting out on my table, and I needed to make someone a birthday card, so I decided that I should try to cut one. I just kind of kept going from there!
The other “niche” I guess would be the whole Creative Fuel umbrella. That actually started out of a book proposal on creativity. I had pitched it and it got turned down enough times that I felt pretty deflated. A few months after that, I decided that it would probably be a good marketing choice to write a monthly newsletter, and I figured I could dig into some of the topics I had put into the proposal. While no one wanted to publish the book, I was still interested in the topics. The first Creative Fuel newsletter went out in January 2018, and it has grown in all kinds of ways ever since. In 2020 I started hosting a weekly Creative Fuel session on Zoom, and that helped to build up the community element of it (and my online teaching skills).
With most of the stuff under the Creative Fuel platform, I try really hard not to overthink things (which is no easy feat) and keep it as organic as possible. That makes for a newsletter that is fairly personal, because I’m drawing from my own experience as a creative, but it also covers broader themes. The main driving factors behind everything under the Creative Fuel umbrella are basically: 1) whatever I am personally interested in; 2) trying to cultivate a community that helps to support others in their creative paths. In that sense, it’s not so much that I found the niche, but it was created over time.
When you are struggling to find your creative voice, what are some practices that bring it back for you?
When I find myself in those kind of moments—the ones where ideas don’t seem to surface, where nothing seems to be working—it’s usually the indicator that I need a break. I’m not always so great at taking the hint, which means that I often find myself having a bit of a meltdown/existential creative crisis before coming to the realization, “oh, you’re just tired.”
I’d say that over the past few years I’ve been trying to get better at identifying this cycle and keeping myself from getting to that more extreme breaking point, but I also know that for me, a little bit of burnout is almost always part of the creative process. Some people have a very diligent and regular creative practice, but for me, it’s a little more up and down. I work really hard and intensely on something for a chunk of time, and then I come up for air.
Often, taking a break isn’t so much an active choice as it is simply a reality: when I’ve pushed really hard I just can’t come to my creative work, energy or idea wise. That place doesn’t always feel great, but having done this for long enough, I know that it’s also a constant ebb and flow, so eventually I will come out of it. When I’m in that low spot, I usually take that as a cue that I need to move my body more, read a book that isn’t work-related, etc. In other words: I need to take time for all the other things that aren’t just the producing part of creative practice. And then if all else fails, just painting stripes with my favorite watercolors. Or texting an artist friend to commiserate on how tired we are and how we’ll never have any ideas ever again. Then we laugh and inevitably come up with an idea.
Who are some artists/creatives/change makers that inspire you?
Do you want a ten-page document? Kidding! There are so many people who I am inspired by. Here are a few:
Lindsay Stripling, Just Seeds, Lena Wolff, Miriam Klein Stahl, Wendy MacNaughton, Heather Bird Harris, Zaria Foreman, Julie Cloutier, Kelli Anderson. I’m also really inspired by Art Toolkit and Case for Making, who I think are both great examples of small businesses built around creativity and community. And she is no longer living, but I’d say one my personal creative muses is Tove Jansson.
What advice would you give to someone trying to become a professional artist?
I think that there are two categories of advice for this. The first is the “business” advice, by which I mean, all the logistical stuff of what it looks like to run a small business. I think a lot of people would think of this as the “boring” advice, but it’s the structure that underlies all the rest and makes all the creative work possible. I’m no expert at any of this, and my own experience is basically all trial and error, but one thing I would say is to treat your business as its own entity. Yes it’s you, but having a bit of separation from it allows you to think of it as its own thing. For me, that means that I have an LLC, and that has its own business bank account and credit card. Use bookkeeping software (if you feel like it’s hard to set it up, it’s worth it to pay someone to help you with that), and if you don’t like doing taxes, then it’s very worth it to pay a tax professional to help you with that. Start a retirement savings account, and if possible, make friends with someone who knows a thing or two about personal finances. We have so much emotional baggage when it comes to money, and it’s too easy to play into that “starving artist” trope. That doesn’t serve us at all, and I think that as artists and creatives it’s really important for us to take a stand for fair compensation and to value our time and work. That’s how we work at chipping away at this culture that has told us that creative work isn’t as important, or shouldn’t be compensated.
The second category of advice would be the more philosophical/emotional advice. First and foremost: it probably won’t look like what you think it will look like. The only “real” job that I’ve ever had was working for a start-up adventure travel magazine in Portland in the mid 2000s. We had a ping pong table and kegs in the office, which is to say, that I don’t really have any corporate experience, so my entire professional life has been navigating my own path. That being said, we are surrounded by corporate culture, and I think we all have a sense of what the traditional “rules” are for careers and professions, and what society expects of us. Opting for an artistic/creative path certainly goes against most of that. You have to be comfortable with a certain level of uncertainty, and you have to be ready to constantly check in with yourself about why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Running an art business is hard. I think with my work, on the outside people see something that is very bright, joyous, and communal. But internally, I have plenty of breakdown moments, and often am questioning what I am doing. It’s pretty rare that I have a week that goes by without me hearing my internal voice saying, “it would be very nice to have a regular job with benefits.” I’m used to that voice by now, and I know the answer is to have a pretty solid list of values to come back to that remind me of why I am doing what I am doing, and why I want to keep doing it. I’ve also done this for so long now that even if I were to listen to that voice, I don’t even know what the alternative would be, and that is a great motivation for continuing to make this whole creative/art career work. I’ll figure it out because I have to figure it out! Being a professional artist is a matter of knowing how to pivot when need be.
Do you have a mentor? If so, how has that support helped you get to where you are now?
I don’t and I wish I did. So consider this my official mentorship application to anyone who wants to apply! That being said, I think when you’re on the creative/artist professional path, you have to have a community around you that understands and supports what you’re doing. I have two very close friends who I would consider my “creative business complaining and brainstorming” department. Those various text threads are full of existential dread… and joyous morale boosters. I also have an extended circle of artist acquaintances (you included!) who I know are always open to answering questions or commiserating on a problem, as well as other friends who work in different professions and can offer up ideas and support on some of the non-artist related stuff (see: personal finance friend). So that’s actually another piece of advice that I would give, is that you need a creative support network. Sometimes this path can feel pretty lonely and you want to know that there are other people on it with you.
Please tell us about some of the current and upcoming offerings you have!
I’m going to be doing a spring release of new things in my shop in a few weeks, and I’m always thinking of creative ways to build out the newsletter, so in April I’m doing another seasonal offering called UNFURLING. This is a digital creative retreat, essentially five days of prompts/reflections that you do on your own time.
I’m also leading an in-person retreat in June with my friend and artist Sarah Uhl and there’s still one spot available if anyone wants to come.
Because I’ve spent so much of this interview talking about more businessy stuff, one of the things I’ve been putting a little more effort into this year is wholesale. So if anyone reading this runs a cute little shop and you want to stock my artwork, you can do that here.
Current Inspirations and Musings…
I am currently reading You Are The Medicine by Asha Frost, an ancestral + energy healer from the Neyaashiinigmiing First Nation. It is a beautiful reflection on the moon cycles + indigenous wisdom, and how we can find our own sense of self and medicine within by listening to the seasons of nature herself. I discovered Asha through a podcast interview my friend Waverly did on her podcast A Wave Away. Check it out!
I know I’m about 30 years late to it but I am thoroughly enjoying watching Northern Exposure on Amazon Prime. This show came out in the early 90s and I remember my parents watching it religiously every week. There isn’t very much I can handle these days when it comes to media- I am SUPER sensitive to violence of any kind (Like, I can’t even handle Stranger Things). There is something delightfully easy and quirky about Northern Exposure, and that is all I need in entertainment these days.
My husband is gluten free and I’ve enjoyed looking through some new to me cookbooks that cater towards that kind of diet. Aran Goyoaga’s book Cannelle Et Vanille Bakes Simple: A New Way to Bake Gluten Free is full of lovely whole food inspired recipes. The tahini truffles are incredible.
And speaking of my husband Rob yet again, I am SUPER proud of him and his new substack, Kind Moon. Kind Moon is also the name of his coaching and facilitation business, where he helps people integrate meaningful and big life experiences, and leads them through transformative ceremony experiences. If you are into longer form, footnote heavy, beautiful reflections on life and ritual, check it out :)
I recently added two smaller sized limited edition prints to my online shop- my Sub Rosa Croissant and my Whitestone Oyster. Check them out here and here. I’ve had many requests for smaller sizes of these two and have decided to print a limited quantity at a smaller size to still honor the integrity of the larger piece, and because those larger ones are soon to run out.
Thank you all for reading along, following along, and subscribing! As my work shifts in the near future, my Substack will be taking on a new form with more offerings. And, announcements on in person watercolor workshops coming soon too!
Wishing you all a restful, easeful, inspiring and expansive eclipse season. Happy Full Moon!
A part of me is glad the Creative Fuel book was turned down for publishing because that resulted in the creation of an amazing community!
Love and appreciate this interview. SO SO much of it speaks to me. I need a personal finances friend! and a mentor! 😄💛
Also love the musings, Molly! Adding You Are the Medicine to my list ✨