Meet Errin Witherspoon - Camp Rover Conference 2024 Sponsor
I - Amanda - found Errin through Instagram and knew we had to have her for Camp Rover Conference 2024.
Reaching out to people and doing “the ask” can feel a little icky sometimes so I like to just pull off the bandaid and ask “Hey, do you want to be a part of my conference?”. Thankful, Errin was VERY excited - almost as much as me! - and was an instant “Yes!!”.
It’s been very fun mapping out her interactive art area and I can’t wait for you all to see it, get to know Errin, and be a part of it all.
Here’s a little more about Errin Witherspoon (she/her) of Errin Witherspoon Art through a little get-to-know Our Sponsors interview.
What is the hardest part about what you do?
Hands-down, the most difficult thing about what I do is silencing my inner critic so that I can get things done. She's got a real nasty streak!
What is the all-time dream part of your job? The thing you still pinch yourself that you get to do? And, tell the people how often you actually get to do it.
The all-time dream part of my job is that I get to show people how we are ALL creative and that anyone, at any time in their life, can start learning to let that creativity come out in all the ways it wants to come out. I get to show them how I'm proof that art is healing and watch them surprise themselves with how much they can admire their own creativity when they're in a supportive and encouraging environment.
If you could tell your Day 1 starting-a-biz-self one thing what would it be?
I would tell my Day One self that it's going to take time to find the people who appreciate you for you and love your work because of what it says to them. That it's going to take a lot of failure, but that reframing that failure as the growth it actually is will be what keeps you going. And that it's perfectly acceptable to hear someone else's opinion of your work or of how you should run your business, and then ignore them and do what is right for you.
Someone wants to get into art. What advice - from an expert - would have saved you a lot of time, sweat, and tears?
You may have been lead to believe that a "real artist" is someone who toils away in their studio alone putting all their loneliness and sorrow, or anger and fear onto canvas for the world to dissect. Or that a "real artist" is someone who spends years studying art either in school or from a great master. Those things may be true - but a "real artist" is also someone who creates art for themselves with joy and pleasure and chooses to share it with the world without concern for what the world may think of it. Be that artist - always.
Fun fact about you or your biz?
I paint faces (mostly) but don't paint faces - it's all just nonsensical blobs of colour when you look at it up close. It's not until you step away from the work – see it from a new perspective – that it actually starts to make sense.
Fav book? Fav show? All your time go to movies while working?
My favourite book is always the last one I read. I often listen to a documentary about the person I'm painting while I paint them. Or, if they're a musician, I'll listen to their music while I work on their portrait. It somehow helps me connect to my work when I hear their voice, or listen to their story.
