Jina Gelder Illustration & Wildlife Art

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

I wanted to carry on a little from the last blog post. 'Winging It...' was largely about the creative side of the business and how I personally went with it. However, I wanted to do a post solely dedicated to one person who made it all possible, my Mam (which is Geordie for Mum, Mother, Mom etc). A few sentances didn't seem enough. When I was in school she taught me to sew and supported any dreams I had to be a poor artist and when I finished university in 2011 I moved back h

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