Liva Rutmane is an art student in Latvia, and I find her Etsy shop most interesting. I loved being in art school, because you had the freedom to try so many styles and mediums, and this is evident from her shop. She’s got original work, etchings, drawings and woodcuts. Some of her subject matter is pretty different, but in a good, thought provoking way!
Check out her shop to see just what I’m talking about by clicking on the post title!
Studio Beehorst is an artist family of eight living in downtown Grand Rapids MI. They are a family who collectively supports themselves off of their art. They offer classes in woodcut printing, and have their Etsy shop where they sell their wood cut prints, original art, textile arts, and soft sculptures.
They live a simple life with a chicken coop in the backyard and bicycles for transportation. They’ve been with out a car for 5 years now. This is a quote from their blog which I thought was rather brilliant... “In not owning our own car we are forced to cooperate with our friends and neighbours for the times we just need a car to get somewhere or haul something back and forth. This helps cultivate our community. Not having a car, we are forced back to a human scale. We don’t shop at the big box store where they have the “big savings” because it is too far away. We shop at our neighbourhood grocery store because we can walk there. Last summer when it was time for a family vacation we went to a camp ground that was close enough to ride our bikes to. We borrowed an extra bike trailer for our gear.”
Isn’t that a fantastic attitude? Talk about turning lemons into lemonade. It seems that this family has gained something precious by losing something that the majority of the western world thinks we can’t live without. I say Kudos to you!
Check out their shop by clicking on the post title!
