"A Day In The Life With Alexis"

When you spend a lot of time online, you tend to meet quite a few folks from all different walks of life.  And when you’re part of a big community (like Etsy) you meet lots of folks.  That’s where I met Alexis, back in 2009 I believe.  And today, I want introduce her to you.  She an artist and she was willing to share just a small part of her life with us.  Go grab your cup of coffee and morning snack, sit down and relax as we take a little journey and spend a day in the life with . . . 

Alexis, owner of

Arawlins

Duuude:  How long have you been painting?

Alexis:  Since I could crawl! Making stuff was probably one of my first passions in life. Then I went to this amazing preschool where we had just TONS of art supplies and a huge art table with glitter, feathers, easels, paint, pipe cleaners, just about anything you could think of. I think the abundance of art supplies there gave me a feeling of freedom, that I could mess up and I could still try again. That was important for me. 

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Her workspace

Duuude:  What inspired you get into this creative field?

Alexis:  About halfway through art school at CalArts I realized that I really liked graphic design too, and after pursuing a career in design I realized I hadn’t been painting much at all. So I thought it would be fun to start an etsy shop, just for fun and for motivation.

Duuude:  Tell us a little bit about your process ~ what inspires you?  Do you have a special place you go to for inspiration?  Will you do custom requests?  

Alexis:  Inspiration is everywhere. Some places I like to go for inspiration are other illustrators on Etsy and on the internet, the graphic design world, nature, animals, and the city of LA and its history. I like to convey a sense of whimsy and history with my work.

Dog In Hand Print

Duuude:  Where do you typically get your supplies?  

Alexis:  I mostly use the basics - ink pen, watercolors & photoshop. I also love finding things to use for textures, scanning them, and incorporating them into my work for both drawing/painting and graphic design.

Duuude:  I see you also do origami.  Where did that inspiration come from?  Do you do a variety of items in origami?  Will you do custom requests?

Alexis:  It’s kind of a funny story! My fiancé started folding origami cranes because he gets restless and fidgety and needs to have something to do with his hands. So he started making tons of them, when we were watching TV mostly. Really, they were everywhere! I’d find them in drawers and my cats would eat them and stuff. So I said, maybe we can do something with these cranes, and I started stringing them onto garlands so we could incorporate them into our house or give them as gifts. We started using newspaper because I work at a small paper and always have some old issues lying around. Now we both fold the cranes to make them since he taught me. :)

Box Of Birds

I did try to make an elephant with origami once but you can’t really tell what it is. My fiancé makes bunnies too. We could make a bunny garland! Anyway, we can do custom requests. Some people need a really long or short garland, and we can do that. One person even asked that we use the newspaper from her hometown! Or we can make bulk garlands for weddings and restaurants and stuff like that.

Duuude:  Where do you sell your items?

Alexis:  Just on Etsy. 

Duuude:  Anything else you'd like us to know?  

Alexis:  I recently discovered my love for photography and I’m thinking about opening another Etsy store for photos. It started because I was so busy with freelance graphic design that I was looking for a way to express myself, and so I started doing my photo a day project. (http://thephotocalendar.blogspot.com) It’s been great fun!

Forest Deer Print

Duuude:  Do you have a blog or any other sites that you are involved in that you would like to share with us that we can link in our article?

Alexis:  Yep, my website is alexisrawlins.com and I try to keep it updated with art, graphic design, and new blog entries as often as I can.

I just want to thank Alexis for taking the time to share a part of her life with us.  It’s so much fun to learn about people, where they get their inspiration from and how they share it. 

Well friends, it IS Friday, end of another week and hopefully you are all preparing for the weekend ahead.  Whatever your plans, be safe and have fun.  Until next time ~~~~~

Duuude    ; )