Meet the Creative: Tara Pryor

Welcome to the next in this series of interviews bringing you inside the worlds of some of my favourite creatives.

This time I have the absolute joy of introducing you to a dear friend, a fabulous artist and creator of stunning wildlife art, please meet Tara Pryor!

Please introduce yourself and your brand….

Hi, my name is Tara and I'm the artist behind Hodgepodge.

How are you today and what’s on your workbench?

Today I am busy catching up with admin after a Christmas break, so I am surrounded by books, but normally I am surrounded by pencils and paints.

Could you let us take a peek at your workspace?

What are the inspirations behind your work?

The main inspiration behind my work is wildlife and nature and everything in between. 

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in the arts, and who or what have been the most important influences on your Hodgepodge life and career?

Hodgepodge was first formed in 2014 when I was on maternity leave for my first born. I started making custom gifts from wood, my first best seller was photographs on wood. I worked like this up until 2020 when I was forced to close due to the covid pandemic. By this time, I had built up a following and to keep engagement I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in 10 years and started sharing this with my followers. The feedback I got from this was amazing and I decided to take the leap and start to shift the focus of my business to something I had always wanted to do, but took a step back from as I had been told by a college tutor that I couldn't make it as an artist.

The biggest influence in the start of my art career was a tutorial by Sarah Stokes, which reignited my love for all things watercolour and wildlife, but now conservation has the largest influence on the pieces I create and the emotion behind the potential loss of a species.

What was your first Hodgepodge project and how have you progressed to the projects you make and sell now?

The first ever piece I created was a photograph transferred onto wood using a mod podge technique. Now I have progressed to not only creating stunning pieces of art, but I utilise the equipment I used in the start of Hodgepodges career (such as laser cutters and UV printers) to create my own gift ranges such as wooden pins, jigsaws, jewellery and much more, all featuring my original artwork. This is something I have been able to expand on and offer up to other artists for their own products.

How do you start the design process and where do you get your design inspiration?

When it comes to creating my work, I get most of my inspiration to begin from photographs I have taken when visiting places such as Yorkshire wildlife park or reference photos from other talented photographers who kindly give me permission to use their creations to start my own. When I have created an art piece, how it turns out usually decides what I create from that piece, whether that means recreating it on all my different products, or if in fact, it should remain as a standalone original piece of art. 

What have you learned that’s been invaluable to your creative process?

The most invaluable thing I have learned along the way is to trust my instincts. When I first started, I was in the mentality of make everything that everyone asks for and I will be successful, but that caused a lot of money loss and loss of time as I was busy trying to please everyone. Now I focus on the feeling that I have when I create. Since realising this, the pieces I have created have all been more successful than those I created trying to please other people. This is why when I create commissions for other people of their pets, I like to get to know about them and their characters, so that I can portray those traits emotionally as well as visually. 

What have been the greatest challenges of Hodgepodge so far?

There are many challenges when running your own business, but the biggest I have had recently was attending a 37 day long event. It was challenging both, physically, emotionally and logistically.

When you're a business owner, especially a creative one, it is extremely hard to not take offence if people choose to walk past my chalet. I learned a lot about myself and my business during those 37 days, both good and bad, but the best part of it was I know how to grow moving forward. 

What’s the best thing about running your own business?

The best thing about running my own business is that I am in control, I set the rules. This allows me to have the best work/life balance. Although I work harder than I ever did when I was employed and much longer hours, it’s worth all the while to be able to share the benefits with my family, as well as being there for all my children's events and needs. Had I known about self-employment at school, I absolutely would have chosen that route much sooner than I did.  

What myth would you like to bust about running a creative business?

I love my business but starting out I was made to feel a lot that my business was a hobby. That it had no longevity and that because it was my hobby it wasn't a real job. This is not true in the slightest. You don't have to be fully self-employed to be classed as running a successful business. Many creatives I know have second jobs to keep them afloat, does that make them any less of a business person? Absolutely not. It took me 2.5 years to call myself an artist as my trade, because of the stigma that what I was doing wasn't a job, reinforced by what I was told in college that I couldn't make it as an artist, but here I am, in my 12th year of running my business, 8 of those have been as a full sole trader.

Do you have a best seller or favourite to make?

I love all my products, but each year surprises me with my best sellers as no two years are the same, but my favourite thing to make, by far, is the original art. I am at my happiest, when I am sat with my materials, my paper and go off to my own space where I can be myself, I love surprising myself with my skill, making lots of happy accidents along the way.

What are your favourite materials/tools to use?

I love working with watercolour and coloured pencil, and I will always choose them both equally when people ask me what's my favourite thing to work with, but this year I have decided to come out of my comfort zone and delve into pastels as well as creating more mixed media pieces. It something I have always wanted to try, but never been brave enough to do, but this year is my year of experimenting! 

What do you listen to/watch when you’re working?

While I am working, I have a very eclectic list of what I like to listen to. Usually depending on what I am creating. If it’s a moodier piece for example, you can bet that I will be listening to a murder podcast, whereas if it’s something I need to work on for long periods at a time, I tend to listen to musicals that are continuous so there is no stop start, I can just begin and don't tend to stop until the music ends. My most listened to this year were Hamilton and Wicked but other genres from the 1930's onwards can be found in my playlist! I'm also partial to a Disney film in the background too, again usually with a good soundtrack, so Stich, Lion King, Tarzan, Encanto etc.

What tip or truth would you tell yourself at the beginning of this journey if you could go back and give them a heads up?

If I could go back and tell my younger self anything before I started the business, it would be don't listen to that college teacher. You can make it as an artist; I lost out on almost 10 years of doing the job I love because I wasn't brave enough to challenge what I was told. I make a point of talking to my children regularly about what they want from life and support them 100%. My second son has taken to drawing and since we have been cheering him on, he has had two of his pieces featured exhibitions in the OXO Gallery in London. Imagine the difference anyone can make by not having a limiting belief forced upon them at a young age. 

What is it about Hodgepodge that you are most proud of?

I always joke that Hodgepodge is like my fourth child, I am extremely proud of how far it has come, but my proudest point (other than featuring in galleries in both London and Edinburgh) Is that I have taken the plunge into teaching my skills. I love being able to help people explore art and fall in love with it, seeing people's confidence grow in what they create is by far the best feeling I have within my business.  

 What do you like to do when you’re not creating beautiful artwork?

When I am not creating my artwork for Hodgepodge, I love creating art for myself of my family, but when do put the pencils and brushes down, I can't sit still to relax. I love reading and am a keen knitter and love to crochet but I will give any craft a go, all whilst watching true crime of course!

What are you looking forward to next?

Next, I am looking forward to growing hodgepodge lessons, both in person and online as well as taking my art to the next level and investing in myself. I have just booked to go to an art retreat in south Africa with the artist Sarah Stokes, that I mentioned earlier on, in the hopes of expanding my skills and photography for reference photos. Its nerve wracking but I cannot wait!

Where would you like to be in 10 years?

In the next ten years, I would like to be teaching more, exploring more and supporting conservation more, in every way that I can. I hope that I will help open the world of art up to as many people as possible, because many times it has been my saviour, and to share that with the world would be amazing. 

How can we find out more about you?

You can find out more about me and what I am up to with all my socials and website below :)

www.hodgepodge.co.uk 

Facebook: Handmadebyhodgepodge

Instagram: HodgepodgebyTara

YouTube