my songs too. Like every one of my songs is just a creature in a diff erent form. Each has its own personality and color and is very much alive. Do you have a special place that you create? The dining room area has always been my workplace. Someday I’m going to have a giant dining room table and a quarter of it will be my eating area and the rest will just be my art place. I love just spending a day off doing single-sitting pieces at my kitchen table. You seem to knock out pieces pretty fast. I don’t like to specify how much time it takes me to fi nish a piece because people think when you do something quickly it devalues it. But those people don’t take into consideration how long and how many hours of my life it took to get to the point where I can do something so easily and graceful, where I can deliver a product to you in an hour. ISSUe 6 What can you tell someone who is trying to live their dream as an artist? Utilize the internet! I’ve come across so many artists who don’t have a business card or don’t have a website. How do you expect people to see your work? I get business regularly off of Facebook or Tumblr or my site or Instagram. I’ve been commissioned by Fender for the past two years. I wood burn high-end U.S. made acoustics that they display and sell at the music convention NAMM that happens in Anaheim every January. And it sucks because I hate the internet and what social media has to done to our generation. Everybody’s comparing their insecurities to everyone’s projected success. But I use it. It’s the way people get business now. You can’t just say I’m just going to paint and then people are going to come fi nd me. No! You need to put yourself out there! What do you tell yourself when you’re feeling down or in a rut? I have daily reminders on my phone. One is “You’re here for a reason, now start acting like it.” Even though I can’t see the path or where it’s taking me, I’m sure as hell going to walk it. Check out Melanie’s work : June- The Laughing Goat in Boulder July 15- Matchbox on Larimer in Denver More info about Howl Moonshine Howl: facebook.com/HowlMoonshineHowl 29
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