Over the past weeks, we introduced the Relaxing Pink contest which we also advertised as the Calming Pink contest. In our post Relaxing Pink contest winners, you were able to see all the beautiful, inspiring art created by our 10 top contestants. Today, we are going to give you a deeper look behind the scenes with an interview of our winner, Kaye Menner.
Before diving into the interview, we want to refer you back to why we are diving so deep into art. We like to walk people through decluttering and getting organized while reducing the emotional chaos that comes with decluttering. We found, in our own experiences spanning decades, that viewing beautiful objects such as relaxing, calming art brought us to a state of relaxation. It gave us a breather from decluttering. It allowed us to recenter ourselves and get past the emotional drudgery that comes with sorting through items you need to organize or donate. For our full take on our decluttering process, you can view our online course on Udemy, Decluttering Without The Emotional Overwhelm. For a summary of our 3 step process and how we use colors to calm us down, you can review our blog post Creating Calm Using Colors.
We are so grateful to the 474 artists from Fine Art America who competed in our contest. Altogether, they submitted 2,307 pieces of art for our judges to assess. We tallied a total of 3,415 votes to get our winner, Kaye Menner. What an accomplishment! If you want to see all 2,307 pieces of art you can see the full contest here.
Inside The Clutter (ITC):
How long have you been doing art / photography for?
Kaye:
I commenced my amazing passion for photography around 2005 after purchasing my first digital camera. I have not stopped my love of photography since.
ITC:
What got you interested in the creative arts?
Kaye:
I have always loved 'arts' of all kinds, and once I purchased my first 'digital' camera, I was hooked! My mother was an artist (painter and pencil drawings). Not sure that I followed in her footsteps, but something 'artsy' was passed on to me!
ITC:
Did you formally study any where or did you just pick it up?
Kaye:
After my amazement as to what I could view through a camera lens, I decided to do an online course. I did this through Proud Photography - a wonderful course covering all of the important aspects of professional photography with personal tuition /correspondence. I have also done many online tutorials to further enhance my knowledge and professionalism.
ITC:
Who were your mentors?
Kaye:
For the first few years, Proud Photography and the amazing members were really my mentors as they had forums where we could exchange positive and negative feedback on our work. Now I receive comments and retweets on twitter and other sites also.
ITC:
What is your favourite art medium?
Kaye:
I love all mediums of photography, but I must say that macro photography has always been a favorite of mine.
ITC:
Who were / are your favourite artists / photographers in history?
Kaye:
I love a lot of history art, but like so many, so will not pick one now.
ITC:
Tell me about your winning piece – what was the inspiration behind it, what were you thinking about when you were doing the piece / taking the shot?
Kaye:
I have always loved macro photography, and loved flowers, especially dahlias. I have a fascination with water droplets and the refractions that can be captured. I was inspired to do a photo shoot of a pretty pink dahlia in my garden after the rain. It was a lovely bright and sunny day and I was able to capture the water droplet at the right moment.
ITC:
Kaye:
Timing is of the essence with water droplets. I always like to capture them when they are just about to drip, but a second too late, the chosen droplet drips! I can spend hours waiting to capture my desired shot. The angle of the shot and the background behind the flower and droplet is also very important.
ITC:
How do you find support for doing art? What or who are your go–to people or communities for supporting you in being an artist? Do you use Facebook groups, community organizations, workshops, family, friends, a network of artists in person or online, or a combination of many people and groups?
Kaye:
I have always had a lot of support when submitting my photographic images, initially through Proud Photography where I took my detailed course years ago, but thereafter from entering my images to contests on many online sites. I am also on several social media platforms where I receive many lovely positive comments and support also. My family and friends are also very supportive of all my artwork.
ITC:
Tell us about your connection to art. What motivates you to create your pieces?
Kaye:
Just looking outdoors motivates me. Just going on a walk, I always take my camera. There is always something special to capture if one looks closely. And of course, my love for photography and the desire to capture beauty in nature and explore beautiful landscapes, especially beach scenes.
ITC:
How many pieces do you create in a week, month, year?
Kaye:
I always capture many images wherever I go, but just lately have not had as much time to post as many as I'd like.
ITC:
How has the process been for you? What was it like to get from just starting out to the skillset and experience that you have now?
Kaye:
It has been a very long and interesting learning curve. I have loved every minute of my learning and progress and will not stop learning!
ITC:
What advice would you give to artists just starting out?
Kaye:
Enjoy your photography.
Don't be too critical of yourself.
Practice and learn as your go.
And do some courses if you choose.
ITC:
What great advice! I find it is so easy to be overly critical of your own work yet many others find it amazing.
ITC:
What advice would you give to artists that are experienced but not getting noticed or selling any pieces?
Kaye:
In this day and age, everyone needs to promote their skills, eg photography, so get online to the many amazing sites to promote.
ITC:
Kaye’s favourite sites are listed at the end of the interview as well as links to her personal sites and stores.
ITC:
Do you ever get burnt out or just lose all creative inspiration? If so, how do you get past that?
Kaye:
I must say I never get burnt out without the desire to photograph. Only due to being very busy or health issues (and Covid) recently. To those who seem to lose some interest, don't worry. It will probably be temporary. Just take your time, go on a quiet walk, either around your local neighborhood, or on a lovely bush walk. Always have your camera in your bag! You never know what might amaze you on your travels, eg a funny face on a tree or even a funny cloud pattern. It is really endless as to what we can find on a simple walk.
ITC:
Do you usually sell your art online or do you sell through a physical store?
Kaye:
I mainly sell online but if someone local likes my art, I am most happy to print them an image or sell an online digital image at a discussed price for their own use. I have sold a few images through local church, school and council art shows.
ALL MY IMAGES ON FINE ART AMERICA ARE AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE ELECTRONIC DIGITAL PURCHASES by contacting me through Fine Art America, or by direct by email to me at menner@bigpong.com.
Price to be discussed and short contract signed.
ITC:
That wraps up our interview and what a fabulous discussion we had with Kaye. I really found so many of her tips really helpful. Here are her websites and social media links if you would like to see more of her artwork. She gives us some comments on her different sites below, just click on each site to get to her inspiring artwork:
Fine Art America
Lens2Print
(English 'Print on Demand' Photography and Arts site similar to Fine Art America)
Twitter
I have around 27.6k followers on Twitter. I think my best social media for promotion
Facebook
Pinterest
I have lots of images on my Pinterest account
Linkedin
Flickr
Instagram
Inside The Clutter (ITC):
How long have you been doing art / photography for?
Kaye:
I commenced my amazing passion for photography around 2005 after purchasing my first digital camera. I have not stopped my love of photography since.
ITC:
What got you interested in the creative arts?
Kaye:
I have always loved 'arts' of all kinds, and once I purchased my first 'digital' camera, I was hooked! My mother was an artist (painter and pencil drawings). Not sure that I followed in her footsteps, but something 'artsy' was passed on to me!
ITC:
Did you formally study any where or did you just pick it up?
Kaye:
After my amazement as to what I could view through a camera lens, I decided to do an online course. I did this through Proud Photography - a wonderful course covering all of the important aspects of professional photography with personal tuition /correspondence. I have also done many online tutorials to further enhance my knowledge and professionalism.
ITC:
Who were your mentors?
Kaye:
For the first few years, Proud Photography and the amazing members were really my mentors as they had forums where we could exchange positive and negative feedback on our work. Now I receive comments and retweets on twitter and other sites also.
ITC:
What is your favourite art medium?
Kaye:
I love all mediums of photography, but I must say that macro photography has always been a favorite of mine.
ITC:
Who were / are your favourite artists / photographers in history?
Kaye:
I love a lot of history art, but like so many, so will not pick one now.
ITC:
Tell me about your winning piece – what was the inspiration behind it, what were you thinking about when you were doing the piece / taking the shot?
Kaye:
I have always loved macro photography, and loved flowers, especially dahlias. I have a fascination with water droplets and the refractions that can be captured. I was inspired to do a photo shoot of a pretty pink dahlia in my garden after the rain. It was a lovely bright and sunny day and I was able to capture the water droplet at the right moment.
ITC:
Here is the winning piece from Kaye, Spring Raindrop as featured on Fine Art America
Kaye:
Timing is of the essence with water droplets. I always like to capture them when they are just about to drip, but a second too late, the chosen droplet drips! I can spend hours waiting to capture my desired shot. The angle of the shot and the background behind the flower and droplet is also very important.
ITC:
How do you find support for doing art? What or who are your go–to people or communities for supporting you in being an artist? Do you use Facebook groups, community organizations, workshops, family, friends, a network of artists in person or online, or a combination of many people and groups?
Kaye:
I have always had a lot of support when submitting my photographic images, initially through Proud Photography where I took my detailed course years ago, but thereafter from entering my images to contests on many online sites. I am also on several social media platforms where I receive many lovely positive comments and support also. My family and friends are also very supportive of all my artwork.
ITC:
Tell us about your connection to art. What motivates you to create your pieces?
Kaye:
Just looking outdoors motivates me. Just going on a walk, I always take my camera. There is always something special to capture if one looks closely. And of course, my love for photography and the desire to capture beauty in nature and explore beautiful landscapes, especially beach scenes.
ITC:
How many pieces do you create in a week, month, year?
Kaye:
I always capture many images wherever I go, but just lately have not had as much time to post as many as I'd like.
ITC:
How has the process been for you? What was it like to get from just starting out to the skillset and experience that you have now?
Kaye:
It has been a very long and interesting learning curve. I have loved every minute of my learning and progress and will not stop learning!
ITC:
What advice would you give to artists just starting out?
Kaye:
Enjoy your photography.
Don't be too critical of yourself.
Practice and learn as your go.
And do some courses if you choose.
ITC:
What great advice! I find it is so easy to be overly critical of your own work yet many others find it amazing.
ITC:
What advice would you give to artists that are experienced but not getting noticed or selling any pieces?
Kaye:
In this day and age, everyone needs to promote their skills, eg photography, so get online to the many amazing sites to promote.
ITC:
Kaye’s favourite sites are listed at the end of the interview as well as links to her personal sites and stores.
ITC:
Do you ever get burnt out or just lose all creative inspiration? If so, how do you get past that?
Kaye:
I must say I never get burnt out without the desire to photograph. Only due to being very busy or health issues (and Covid) recently. To those who seem to lose some interest, don't worry. It will probably be temporary. Just take your time, go on a quiet walk, either around your local neighborhood, or on a lovely bush walk. Always have your camera in your bag! You never know what might amaze you on your travels, eg a funny face on a tree or even a funny cloud pattern. It is really endless as to what we can find on a simple walk.
ITC:
Do you usually sell your art online or do you sell through a physical store?
Kaye:
I mainly sell online but if someone local likes my art, I am most happy to print them an image or sell an online digital image at a discussed price for their own use. I have sold a few images through local church, school and council art shows.
ALL MY IMAGES ON FINE ART AMERICA ARE AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE ELECTRONIC DIGITAL PURCHASES by contacting me through Fine Art America, or by direct by email to me at menner@bigpong.com.
ITC:
That wraps up our interview and what a fabulous discussion we had with Kaye. I really found so many of her tips really helpful. Here are her websites and social media links if you would like to see more of her artwork. She gives us some comments on her different sites below, just click on each site to get to her inspiring artwork:
Fine Art America
Lens2Print
(English 'Print on Demand' Photography and Arts site similar to Fine Art America)
I have around 27.6k followers on Twitter. I think my best social media for promotion
I have lots of images on my Pinterest account
Flickr
ITC:
In closing, we will leave you with another piece by Kaye. She had 2 pieces that finished top 10 in our contest. Her 2nd piece is called Art of a Pink Blossom and it finished 9th.
