Spotlight On ...

The Pairabirds!

1. Tell us a little bit about who you are and your life up to this point in time.
My name is Tabitha Bianca Brown. I'm a twenty-something illustrator who loves to glue things together and paint things up. My nails are usually covered with the stuff.

2. Besides your fantasy creative life, what else are you doing currently?
Thrift store shopping, organizing the playlists on my Mp3 player, trying to enjoy the summer sun.

3. What do you offer in your Etsy Shop?
I currently offer original paintings, mixed media work, and drawings. I may add prints in the future.

4. Where do you create?
My initial sketches can occur at any moment. I keep a sketchbook in my purse and on my nightstand. Finish work is done on my drawing table (after I remove other unfinished work and clutter from the table).

5. Where do you get your inspiration from?
Music is usually my inspiration. I listen to quite a bit of 70s Jazz and Funk. The colors and moods of those two genres are reflected in my work.

6. How did you learn how to do your craft?
I studied illustration at the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2001-2005 (I graduated in '05).

7. How do you promote your wares?
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/people/thepairabirds/
DeviantArt http://tabithabianca.deviantart.com/
My website http://www.thepairabirds.com/
and my blog http://coverthatmother.blogspot.com/

8. What has been the most important lesson you've learned since you started selling your own creations?
The most important thing I learned was to create what I love. Making something that I don't like, just for the sake of a few sales, gets old fast.

9. Is there any advice you can give others who are just starting out?
Take good pictures of your work. If you're selling online, people don't have the opportunity to touch and feel your work. You have to show the beauty through pictures. Advice on Etsy: promote outside of Etsy and directly to your niche.

10. Do you have any favorite Etsy artists you'd like to promote here?
This is so hard for me. I have a ton of favorites. But, two of my current favorites are: Shop 66 (great vintage kitsch) http://shop66.etsy.com/ and Tonya Engel (beautiful dream-like illustrations) http://tonyaengel.etsy.com/.