 I think the great thing about creativity is that you can start off with essentially maybe an idea, a color direction, but with the randomness and creating those elements, the end may be something completely different to what you originally thought it would be. And that's a great thing about creativity and particularly abstract, because you can just do what you like and go with the flow. My name is Jane Montieth and I am a contemporary artist working primarily with alcohol, ink and resin. You can't get the same vibrancy as far as I'm concerned with any other medium. I would describe my work as a very saturated, textural, lots of layers and lots of color. I find inspiration from so many different places. Nature does definitely come into play. I like to create a lot of pieces that are stacked, almost like rocks. You're just putting together like a puzzle, it's like a jigsaw puzzle. When it comes together, I'll just know. I work off of my kitchen in my home. I have a very small space, but I have a lot of natural light, which is really important as an artist, I think. And I always end up on the floor and just start creating. I'm just in my own little world. Nobody else to bother me. You're not taking kids to school, you're not making dinner, you're just hanging out creating. I don't think I have any routines or rituals. I do have in my mind those sense of direction how I'd like to take my art. You have to think about composition, especially depending on the scale that you're working with. I have a color combination in mind and then I'll use a number of different tools to create different textures. Texture plays a big role. I create those with different techniques. The textures can be line work or just the way that I manipulate the ink. I like to have an organic feel, so I will cut everything out by hand. I like to keep pieces, I don't like to throw them away because down the road I'll be creating something else and then I'll see a piece off to the side and think, oh that's the perfect piece that I need for that art. Every once in a while I get frustrated. You just need to mix the wrong color and you can end up with a muddy mess very quickly. I primarily work on UFO paper, which is a plastic composite. It's what you need in order to work with alcohol ink. It's not a very forgiving medium. You don't want it seeping into the substrate. It has to sit on top and it's a very fast drying medium. So you need to have different solutions and different techniques in order to extend the working time of the ink. I will use paper brushes and I will just pick up the paper and move it around to create a soft look or I'll use rulers and things like that to drag across and create different looks that way. You can't really duplicate the art again after you create it with alcohol ink. I like the fact that it is free flowing and random because I consider myself very organized in the sense that I like things to be perfect and at the end of the day I know we can't be perfect. So you have to allow yourself to just let go sometimes. I think color in my artwork is important because I am a very plain person. I've tried doing a lot of black and white art and as much as I love other artists, I use those types of hues and tones in their work. When I try and do that, I don't feel that it's me. It doesn't come across as me. The fact that I can bring color into my art is just another way that I can express my personality. Sometimes it works out exactly how I want and how I envision and then other times it doesn't. That's the hardest part is just letting go but still being happy with the piece at the end of it. I think I've accomplished everything so far that I've set out to do. As soon as you start focusing on your art as a business rather than a hobby, you will become successful. At the end of the day, I sell my work online. I have a community that supports me. Every artist needs the support of another artist. I think there's so many artists who are afraid to talk with others and get ideas. I think you should. It helps you to become that much more inspired and that much more focused on your work and produce work that you're happy with. You can make a living doing exactly what you want to do. I think my ultimate goal is to do this for the rest of my life until I cannot walk anymore. It's just something that brings me so much joy and happiness on a daily basis. I never want to give that up. Being able to incorporate creativity into my life every day, that means the world to me. It means that I can be exactly who I want to be. I feel like a kid a lot of the time. I don't feel like an adult. I'm just doing what I've always wanted to do, having fun and making a living from it. There's nothing better than that.