Meet Kim Tuttle | Artist & Stay at Home Mom

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kim Tuttle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kim, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Work life balance is always a tricky thing no matter what your situation is, I’m a stay at home mom to a 4 year-old daughter and I’m very much looking forward to her getting into school. We raise Coturnix Quail and have some backyard chickens to provide for our family, plus taking care of all our other pets: two cats, three snakes, two lizards, one betta fish, and a sulcata tortoise. Finding balance in all that along with my business is definitely a lot but I do enjoy staying busy! Along with my art business, I also offer website design and in-house sticker production to fellow small businesses. My partner helps me balance life and work, they remind me to slow down and give myself weekends off, I also try to not do work after 6pm so I have time with our family and time to myself. Setting boundaries with your work is super important, especially when you work for yourself. I’ve burned myself out several times when I didn’t limit my work hours because I would work early and late, every free moment I had I was working on something. I still find myself trying to do that since it became a habit of mine, I do love what I do so it’s hard to tell when I’m overdoing it. My work life balance has come a long way but it’s far from perfect, I think it will be an ever evolving thing as life changes come and go. Like when our daughter gets into school and I have more time to myself to work full time as an artist, will I work the same as I’m working now but more efficiently? Or will I take on more opportunities? Start new projects that take up more of my time? Only time will tell and for now I just need to focus on each day as it arrives. I try to stay mindful and grounded, I think that is an important ingredient to managing work life balance, it helps you slow down to assess whats around you in the current moment. When I’m not mindful or grounded, life moves way too fast and I feel lost. I’m really grateful for my support system that helps me balance life and work!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a jack-of-all-trades artist, I do a little bit of everything and I love trying new things! The core of my commission work is in watercolor pet portraits on canvas. Watercolor is a very delicate medium and meant for paper but I use absorbent ground to prime the canvas for watercolor. I also seal my work with a UV archival varnish to protect it from fading or smearing since watercolor can be reactivated with water. Using canvas and UV varnish allows my work to be displayed without framing which is convenient for my clients, I used to work as a custom framer so preserving artwork is very important to me.

Lately I’ve been really into digital art, one of the pictures in this article is of a recent digital art commission of a Xenomorph Horse for a friend. I also have a picture of a sticker design of my personal corn snake Bob Ross aka Bobby Boi as his namesake. I really enjoy fun concepts that are out of my normal range of artwork. I love how my art has changed over the years as I pivot into different things like sticker design and even website design, I am proud of my ability to adapt and grow. Making my own stickers in house was a huge learning curve but I love the opportunities it’s provided. I’m able to do small batches of stickers and offer pet portrait stickers for people. A lot of sticker printing businesses online have minimum order requirements of 50 stickers and that can be frustrating when you just need a couple.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend was to visit, I would definitely take them to my favorite coffee spots: Enroute in Goodyear, The Black Sheep in Glendale, and the New Penny Cafe in Avondale. Depending on the time of year we could go hiking in the Estrella Mountain Park since it’s right by my house. Also I’d show them my shelves in all three of the Retail Therapy AZ locations of course and help them pick out local goodies to take back home. Maybe take a couple days and visit Cottonwood up by Sedona, that little town is so cool! My partner and I went there for our 5th wedding anniversary and stayed in a little casita airbnb, it was an amazing experience! We especially enjoyed the prime rib sliders from the Tavern Grille as well as the coffee and breakfast from Crema Craft Kitchen. Other than that I can’t think of anything else, I’m a homebody and enjoy spending time with our animals in the backyard.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Honestly I wouldn’t be where I am today without my small business community, my partner, or my friends. Specifically I’d like to shout out Kim & Lyn of Soulgear Creations for being amazing booth neighbors at my first markets and for all the support they’ve given me in all of my business endeavors. Also Tiffdoodles for being the first sale at my first market, then a regular customer, and eventually my art friend! Lastly I have to thank Retail Therapy AZ, I’m so glad I took a chance on their markets since it led to meeting Soulgear and Tiff along with many other small business friends in this community, they took a chance on me to design their website, and welcomed me into their store fronts. My life really changed for the better in March of 2023 at the Outlets at Anthem Saturday markets.

Website: http://kimberlyreneesart.com/

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyReneesArt

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