When Inspiration Hits

It took me a long while to consider myself an artist, and that is probably why I've only recently realized that I'm not the one in charge here. I would joke that the sets made themselves because I would set out to make one design and it would turn out completely different than what I thought it was going to be. I learned to accept that I was the conduit for the art, and honestly I feel truly special and humbled to be able to be apart of the process. After I finished The Flowers: Renee in Wonderland I started to recognize my art process. I almost didn't finish that set, but when I did, I noticed the longer a set sat on my table, the crazier it was going to come out!

I'm still learning how me and the art work together but since I've started to trust myself and the art process I have saved myself a lot of time and grief and product! With this particular set I thought I was going to make a nice gel set with an isolated chrome sun. Simple but vibrant, and the only issue I thought I possibly run into is painting OVER the chrome, because I had never done that before. Also, to be very transparent chrome was previously difficult for me, but at this point I am finally able to get the chrome on the nail! Imagine my surprise when I was not able to isolate the chrome AT ALL! I was seriously annoyed, and I tried twice until I remembered the sets make themselves! This set did not want to be a gold chrome sun! Did I know that it wanted to be this elaborate? Absolutely not, but I'll probably wear these nails for every single market I do going forward that's for sure!

The Original Inspiration Picture

The Process

Once I scrapped the idea of the chrome I started thinking about how I was overdue for a flower set and I decided to make a Pt 2 of The Flowers which meant that there would be several flowers. I wasn't sure how many or which ones, but I had been seeing a bunch of orchid nails. I just didn't care for the cutesy orchids! Personally I think orchids are monsters with faces, (Stranger Things got it right) so I wanted to really give them the personality and the mouths the trending flowers did not have. At this stage I didn't know what the theme of the nails would be or anything else. I have to take it one step at a time or I get overwhelmed and lose my head (we trust the process!)

As you can see, I was not expecting to cover the entire nail, hence the leaves but we press on! (Ba dum tssssss) I was thinking of my Bouquet of Peonies set, and thought I could make another nail bouquet. That thought prompted me to google "What flowers pair well with orchids" and the prettiest deepest blue flower came up! I'm a research girly AND obsessed with flowers so although I immediately decided to go with that flower I red a little bit about it first. Every single part of the Delphinium is highly poisonous to both pets and humans. The theme of my nail set was born! Beautiful things can be deadly and orchids are already monsters in my mind, so I wanted to find one more flower to fit.

One thing I also learned while making my nails is that I should create them one hand at a time. While my orchids and delphiniums were marinating, and I was working on other sets I wrote myself a note. Now this is highly unusual for me, but I told myself to add peonies. Sometimes when the inspiration strikes, just do the thing! I would have remembered I wanted to add peonies, but if I didn't write that note I would have just made the peonies! Like I said, I learned to stop fighting with myself so I was not married to the idea of the Deadly Trio if peonies were going to be added. They would have just been a bouquet set like I originally thought. But since I wrote the note to add peonies, I knew that wasn't exactly right.

I had no idea what I was looking for, so I finally got the bright idea to google "what flowers pair well with orchids and delphiniums." Immediately a picture of ranunculus's came up! I was sold by the name already because it was giving alien invasion, or the fungus that starts the zombie apocalypse, but when I read their description it literally said "peony like flowers" I was FLOORED! I always knew it was a conversation, but to see it so clearly know still gives me the chills! They knew I knew what peonies were so they left me a note! Of course by "they" I mean the art... or the nails? I have no idea, I'm just here to make the art!

Surprises In Art

While in the middle of this set, I decided to take becoming a market vendor seriously and signed up for a Wing's Festival in which I had exactly a week to prepare for. During this time I purchased a tent, two tables, two chairs, and a whatever else I thought I needed so by the time I realized I needed a contactless/bluetooth way to get email subscribers and I did not want to waste money on business cards, and did not quite want to spend $100 on a cute table stand as of yet. I got the bright idea to finally try out making an NFC tagged nail. I had to figure out how to do it AND see if it would work underneath a nail design, and that is how Nori the NFC orchid was born! It was actually pretty easy to do and worked about 70% of the time and he was a BIG hit! This prompted me to decide to create an NFC branded 3D nail set for business and personal branding.

Setting out to make a simple nail set for content and consistency turned into a functional art piece that will bring me recognition for years to come.

As always, I love sharing these pieces of my journey with you. Mush Love, Renee!