What's Up?

I am a young crafter and creator from Illinois! If you're wondering, the name Bear was created when my mom told me I can't put my real name on the internet. I called my Etsy shop TheCrochetingBear, so it only made sense in my head to be called Bear from then on. That's basically how that happened. Now, a few of my friends have started calling me Bear instead!

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For as long as I can remember, I have loved art. When I was younger I thought I could make it as an artist by selling my paintings and drawings. Yeah, that hasn't worked too well for me yet, but I am still working towards that dream of mine. I won't give up on it! That is still very much a huge part of my rebrand, it will allow me to chase that dream!

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Everything I know how to do, whether that be art, crochet, knitting, or anything else, I have taught myself. I've taken a few art and painting classes here and there, but I've done the bulk of it on my own time. It's all just so interesting to me! My favorite things to paint at the moment are pine trees, mountains, and sunsets, but you can usually find all three of those things in just one of my paintings. Recently I have made attempts to do some more realistic paintings, only some of them have turned out good enough to sell. There is one Polaroid painting I did that I am really proud of, and I will cherish it forever. Or at least until it sells, then I'll just reminisce on how beautiful it was by looking at the photos I took of it.

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You will likely see a lot of sunset photography on my website as well as the paintings. Sunsets are definitely a recurring theme here.

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I am very passionate about my art. There are so many reasons why, but here's one of them: Not all people can do what I can do. There is always to possibility to learn, but not everyone can. It's a rare thing, I feel. I want to be able to create something everyone will love, so my art is more generally nature and landscape based. I have many whishes and goals with my abilities, and all I can do it hope that I can reach them.

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I've never been interested in the technicalities of starting and running a business, but after trying it out I can't stop trying to learn more about everything! I didn't realize how many aspects of a business there are that need to be cared for at all times. I love that I am able to have four social media accounts to post and promote my work and products on because I don't know how else I would run my business, honestly.

 

Also, I get a lot of people (mostly old people) telling me this, "You're too young to be so talented!" Or, "You're too young to be so good at all of this!" In the past I was able to laugh it off, but that really isn't a compliment for me anymore. It's getting old hearing that, I'm getting old hearing that. These people think it's a compliment, but it actually hurts a bit. I'm not too young, never have been too young. I'm actually doing better than most of the people who say that to me.... There's a level of respect that must be maintained for younger business owners, creators, and artists. Nothing can stop us all from being the amazing, talented people we are. Even our age doesn't hold us back. So, you can start doing what you love at whatever age you please. Age alone should not hold you back. There is no right age to be insanely creative or talented. I know you've seen those stories about kids doing crazy things online. You could be one of those kids! Start that business you've been dreaming about for the past couple years. If I was able to do it without knowing what I was doing in the slightest, then you definitely can too!

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There aren't too many things that make me interesting. Just that I love playing around with many, many art mediums. And that I now independently own (with the guidance of my parents of course) a pretty good sized handmade business. So if you ask me what my hobbies are and I say "art", just assume that I mean all of it, not just painting and drawing.