Today’s 37th Feature Friday is an artist named Alison. She works with oil paints in the beautiful picturesque place of France, while restorating her family home. All I know is that i want to see pictures of Alison’s restoration home (hint hint). That’s enough of me, now over to Alison.
Business Name: Tarn Art
Name: Alison Mann
Where are you based in the world? France
Business url: www.tarnart.com
Tell us about the person behind the business – You: I live in France with my family and 3 goats, 2 big dogs and 6 cats, 1 of whom we have just adopted with her 4, 2 week old kittens. I am very much a country girl and never happier than when I am with the animals and looking after my enormous garden. On moving to France we bought a house in need of restoration, infact all it really had was walls and a roof. That was 9 years ago, the house is nearly finished, it’s mostly the exterior that is still to do.
I was a Garden Designer in England but soon found that in rural France people were only interested in what they could eat, not on having a well designed garden. So I turned to my first love painting. I particularly love oil paints. I love the bold colours and textures that I am able to achieve with oil paints.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Fairly soon after arriving in France, I set to work creating a garden out of a field full of nettles, brambles and rubbish. We have 4 acres around the house in which I have planted many trees. Approximately 1 acre I have turned into a flower garden and shrubbery and it is this that gives me most of my inspiration as well as the countryside around me.
How did you get into starting your own business? I started my business nearly 9 months ago, when I decided to turn my hobby into a business. I needed to find work and what can be better than having an excuse to do something that you love!
Name 2 blogs you like to visit. I like to visit blogs that talk about healthy living such as Karen Knowler’s blog or about goats such as Eden Hill’s blog …… I’m rather passionate about my goats!
What do you when you want to relax? When I want to relax I normally watch an adventure film with my family or a girlie film with my daughter.
What are you reading now? I’m not reading at the moment all my spare time is spent at the computer. But when I do read I like books by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.
Share one goal you completed recently. One major goal I have achieved lately is to sell a painting through Etsy. In-fact I sold 2 paintings in a week. I was so happy.
What do you wish you knew before you started your business? Before I started my business I didn’t realize how much is involved in selling online. I have had to learn so much about SEO’s and good photography.
What would you say to someone thinking of starting their own business? If I was to advise someone before they started their business, I would say to do lots of homework. Learn about how to sell online, how to get seen, how to use SEO’s.
Thank you Alison for sharing your business, a little bit of France and your animal family with us 🙂 You can connect with Alison here:
twiitter.com/tarnart | www.facebook.com/www.tarnartcom | www.pinterest.com/tarnartcom/