Hello again!

I’m so happy to bring you your second dose of creative inspiration for the day!  If you haven’t had a chance to read Kelly Ventura‘s day-in-the-life post or Rachel Nanfelt‘s interview, then do yourself a favor and find some creative inspiration (and down to earth real talk galore)

And right now, I get to introduce you to the ever talented Jorey Hurly!

I’m an artist, designer, and author.  My first book, Nest, a picture book for kids, was recently published by Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, and I have 3 more picture books in the works. In addition, I also work as a designer for clients such as Papyrus and Olli Ella, I sell fine art prints through Minted and my Etsy shop, and I do a daily drawing blog.

I was kind of born into it, really, although my specific path wandered around a bit along the way. My mother is a sculptor, my father andbrother are filmmakers, my grandmother was a bronze sculptor, both grandfathers were painters, and now I’m married to an architect.  I studied art at Princeton and design at FIT.  I also went to law school, which was an amazing intellectual challenge but I found my way back to the arts. I started a handbag line back in 2002 which I sold in boutiques in San Francisco and when we moved to New York I went to work for the textile design company Hable Construction.  I was on the design team at Hable from 2005 until we moved back to San Francisco 2010, when I started doing my drawing blog, which led to freelance work and then to my picture books.

What does your typical day look like?  I can tell you exactly.  Possibly too exactly.  I embrace a pretty strict structure, but ultimately I think it gives me more freedom if know that there will be time to get my work done.

6:00 kids awake (4yo and 6yo daughters)

6:15 coffee made.  My husband and I alternate mornings waking up and making coffee.  We are coffee people.

6:30 – 8:00 breakfast for everyone, lunches packed, everyone dressed, hair and teeth brushed.

8:00 leave to walk kids up to school.

9:15 back home, drink more coffee

9:30 – 11:30 Work session 1.  I always devote this morning session to work for my publisher or clients (as opposed to my blog or fine art prints). It’s not a lot of time so I put my blinders on and go to it. I work in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet.

12 noon pick up younger kid from preschool

12 – 2:30 do housework and errands with one kid in tow. I feel guilty sometimes that I’m never giving my daughter full attention because I’m also doing groceries/laundry/dishes/vacuuming/etc.  But I’ve found that I just can’t get my work done if I do any housework or errands during work time.

2:30 more coffee

2:45 – 5 pick up older kid from school and do kids’ after-school activities or sports.

5:30 – 7:30 dinner, bath, kids to bed.

7:30 – 9:30 Work session 2.  This is when I do the daily drawing for my blog, print and pack Etsy orders or do anything for my minted fine art prints, and catch up on my e-mail correspondence and social media.  And I always know that when necessary I can stay up and finish up any paid work that has an imminent deadline.

9:30 Husband home from work (he has a design strategy firm, VITAL).

10:30 Sleep like a rock.

I love their marketing reach combined with the quality of their products.  It’s so, so rare to find a partner that has the chops to get the word out about your work the way minted does that also has a great taste level and impeccable quality.  I’m excited to see where they go in the future.

I don’t really do specific things to seek out inspiration, I just keep a record of everything inspiring that I encounter in my daily life.  I keep an archive of thousands and thousands of photos on my phone and I keep various nature guides handy so that later in the evening I can look up a plant or bird I saw out the car window. Then I organize and edit these ideas during down times like when I’m waiting for something or both kids are in swim lessons, etc.  That way I always have an idea ready for my daily drawing blog.  And the practice of drawing daily ends up developing certain themes pretty thoroughly over time so that when client comes to me or I’m thinking about a book proposal I already have a trove of art that’s a starting point.

That said, I would love to take a trip for inspiration to somewhere really exotic (to me) like Africa or India and look forward to that once the kids are older.

Work every day and put your work out there.  I know people will steal your ideas but so far I think that the value of having your work widely seen exceeds the downside of being copied.  In my experience lasting professional relationships and a career come from your ability to keep generating ideas and — above all — executing them well, which is something no one can steal from you.