Jina Gelder Illustration & Wildlife Art

This week I have a work experience student from Biddick Academy working with me. Peter wants to run his own art business one day. As part of his experience I suggested he went to visit some of the other artists here at The Hearth to see what they get up to in their creative process and running their businesses. Here are his thoughts.... I’ve gone to visit the other artists in the studio that have been in this week to talk and see what they work with. Every artist is different

This week I have a work experience student from Biddick Academy working with me. Peter wants to run his own art business one day and is getting an overview of what that means with regards to my Jina Gelder Illustration. I thought it might be a good idea to let him take over social media for a little bit so here is one of a couple blog posts Peter is writing... Day 1 Of Work Experience Day one was really fun I spent sometime ripping some cards with prints on them for Jina then

Recently I relocated to a unique new 17th Century studio space in the attic at the Hearth Arts Centre, Horsley. At one point in its life my little attic space was used to hide priests preaching from the first Bible translated into English but today it sits stuffed to the beams with my original paintings, prints and gift ware. I loved my year at Gibside but when the opportunity came up to apply to join the group of artists at the Hearth I felt I couldn't say no. Surrounded by

In June my cousin Rachel found 3 baby hedgehogs in the playground of the school she works at. During the day with no sign of mother and no nest in sight she brought them home. What followed was a month looking after 3 little prickly bundles of joy. The hogs were 4 weeks old when they came to live with us and we took advice from local rescue centres and online sources and set about feeding them and keeping them warm until they would weigh around 400g and would be able to survi

This is a blog post I wrote last year then cleverly forgot to post. It may be of some interest to any small businesses considering doing some of the larger shows around the UK. The summer of 2016 saw me selling my wares at a number of new shows around the country. In previous years I have focused on Christmas and a couple of shows throughout the year, in July I began a 6 week stretch of big shows all around the UK. This experience was full of positives but also was a huge amo

January marked the end of a wonderful two years for me on the Allendale Forge Studios Young Rural Entrepreneurs scheme. I had the pleasure of receiving support and a fully funded studio for a fabulous two years during which I got to meet lots of new customers, made fabulous networking connections and draw on the support which the Forge and Amanda offered me to grow my existing business into the shape it takes today. The studio gave me a retail outlet but also a space to try o

A lot of my customers seem interested in how I started my business 4 years ago. I think a lot of the time this is because I look 17 and indeed if I do an event with my Mam or Granny along to help, more often than not they are addressed by people assuming they are the artist. I think this is because you have to be crazy to try and make a living as a full-time artist. The majority of fellow artisans I know are in business as a hobby; to supplement an existing job or they are re