Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Ferrer.
Maria, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I am a 37 years old Venezuelan wife and mom living in Houston since 2015. I’ve been a creator since I can remember, and today although I still find it a little hard to call myself an artist, I don’t remember a moment of my life not being surrounded by something artistic… so, yes, probably, I am an artist in my own particular way. I grew up in a beautiful and loving family who always encouraged me to pursue my dreams of becoming whatever I wanted to be… and now, I can finally see that dream coming true.
I have a background on Marketing and Advertising and working on that field gave me the opportunity of being next to inspiring people almost all the time and if there’s something I learned from them and my job, in general, was that nothing is impossible and creativity has no limits, that’s probably the reason why one day, two years ago, I decided to grab a pen and start the beautiful and exciting journey of learning calligraphy.
Learning calligraphy has been not only my passion in the last years but also my safe space where I finally found what I think I was supposed to be doing. Even when I am working on a commission, calligraphy time is “me time”, is my moment to enjoy and relax by doing something I just love to do. The beauty behind every stroke, the respect for the simplest rules and the excitement to break them once in a while to have a unique creation is fuel for my veins, not to mention the happiness I can see in people when they see my work, that little moment we share is priceless.
For me, there’s nothing more therapeutic and enjoyable than calligraphy, that’s why once I felt I was good enough I decided to make it a business because who wouldn’t give everything to have a job they love? That’s why “So Crafty Studio” was born to serve not only the Houston area but all over the country.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Having a background on Marketing and Advertising gave me the chance to learn a lot about graphic design and digital mediums to create art, that’s why it is very easy to find me not only doing my calligraphy but also in front of my computer designing unique pieces for my clients.
That’s one of the particularities of So Crafty Studio, and one of the features I am more proud of, that I can actually combine different mediums and techniques in order to create a final artwork.
My preferred mediums are pointed pen calligraphy, hand lettering (especially brush lettering… my favorite and my first step into this journey), watercolors and digital arts like digital lettering, calligraphy, and graphic design. So, let’s say I need to present a new design to a client, I would start by creating a sketch on a blank page, then I would make all the elements with watercolors adding as many details as possible to finally start digitizing them for the final art design. The calligraphy and lettering work would be made digitally as well to be part of the artwork. I put all together digitally and print them out. If it’s an invitation, I would do the calligraphy work for the envelope by hand and would add some special details like a wax seal stamp or ribbons.
Every time I create something I try to do it like it is for myself. Until I am not 100% happy with it the client won’t see it… and I am very exigent, so I tend to be my biggest critique which is good because it helps me to improve the quality of my work every single time.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
For me, every time I got a commission is a little piece of success.
I can’t say it enough: “Every time someone decides to work with a small business, there’s a person in the back doing a happy dance”, and yes, I always do the happy dance because it feels like a huge success to have the trust from a person who decided to believe in you and your work.
I feel blessed and so privileged for having the opportunity to share my art with others and also for having the tools to create a small business in a country we are still adapting to, and that feeling is a huge sign of success for me as well. I hope my business keeps growing and I try to work very hard every day to achieve that without compromising my responsibilities as a mom and a wife, and just finding the way to make that happen makes me feel successful already.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can see my work on my website and my social media accounts where you can find me as @SoCraftyStudio.
To support my work you could visit my website, my profile on The Knot (link is on my website) or my Etsy shop socraftystudio.etsy.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://socraftystudio.com
- Phone: 8328756041
- Email: hello@socraftystudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socraftystudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socraftystudio
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/socraftystudio
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/socraftystudio
Image Credit:
Photography by Aly Hester Photography
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