Kelly Letky - Upstate, NY U.S.A.

I am… graphic artist, jewelry artist, writer, photographer, image maker, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, runner, reader, gardener, knitter, housekeeper, decorator, crazy cat lady with a dog. Not necessarily in that order.

For the past 17 years, I have worked professionally as a freelance graphic artist. And for the last five as a jewelry designer as well. I am blessed enough, and lucky enough, to work out of my home. I can’t imagine having to go to an outside office every day after having done this for so long.

I am an amateur at many things. I started writing when I was a teenager. If there is one thing that I cannot not do, it is that.

I am a loner, an introvert. Socializing takes a lot out of me. I need lots of space, and time alone. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love people.

I am learning, as I move through this “certain age,” to love, truly love, humanity. (And I wish I’d figured that out much sooner.)

I am learning. That in itself is a good description of me. I am curious, driven. I always need a challenge. When I was young, a teenager, I always felt I was a bit different. It took me a number of years to figure out that I was feeling the desire to create. Years later, I realized that we are all creative, we are all different, yet still, we are all the same. Part of the same human condition.

And I am an artist… depending on how you define it. I believe that if you sit down and do the work, go through the process, open the vein and let your soul bleed out, then you are an artist. That doesn’t mean you will be a Van Gogh, a Hemingway, an Adams. But you will be an artist. I believe that anyone can draw or write or take a beautiful photo with enough hard work and practice. Enough commitment. Enough heart.

Talent is a separate issue. Some people are born with a talent for one thing, others a talent for something else.