Hands On: Get To Know: J.C. Spock

I'm in awe of J.C. Spock. I've never met her in person, though having followed her blog and stalked her three (you read that right, three!) Etsy shops, I imagine she is one of the most giving, creative, and honest souls you'll ever meet.

I started following her work a while back when she started sharing her Brave Girl prints to raise money for breast and ovarian cancer research. And I only recently learned that she is new to painting. "Before this year, I didn't really know how to paint or draw, so I started researching and reading, following favorite artists, joining mixed media groups and viewing on-line videos. It still took me a while to develop my style and to drum up ideas once I had the basics down. Now I often have multiple ideas come at once and need to keep a journal nearby so that I can sketch it out before I forget!"

When I asked her about her about the inspiration for her charity work, here's what she shared with me: "I originally created the Brave Girl piece for a friend who was dealing with breast and ovarian cancer in her family and tested BRCA positive herself (and has since underwent a prophylactic mastectomy). The raw emotion, candor and vulnerability that I witnessed during her journey has been humbling and inspiring all at once.

"Because I felt odd making a profit off of the image that documents a painful experience in her life, I asked if she had an organization she'd like me to donate the proceeds to and she immediately responded with FORCE (Facing our Risk of Cancer Empowered - http://www.facingourrisk.org) This non-profit offers support, education, advocacy, awareness, and research specific to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and they offered much assistance to my friend (as well as a scholarship to their annual conference). She was looking for a way to pay them back and this was a perfect opportunity for all of us.

"After partnering with FORCE I was inspired to create the Sisterhood Girls piece. Now I donate 50% of the proceeds of any merchandise sold of the Brave Girl or Sisterhood Girls images. Since September, over $350 has been donated to FORCE due to sales of Brave/Sisterhood Girls in my Etsy shop, and I am currently working with them on a national fundraising effort.

"I give away a lot of art because it's such a small gesture that can have a big impact. I believe that the kindness of strangers is so underestimated and yet so powerful. Every week I receive emails from cancer survivors and their families/friends about my artwork and how it's helping with the journey. I am so grateful to be able to connect with people on such a personal level through my work."

And in addition to her art, J.C. Spock is also an accomplished photographer and has her own green eco-crafting shop (Green Earth Goodies)

where she makes a number of items that are repurposed, reused or at the very least, recycled in content.

"I'm a creative spirit and am so grateful to have taken the leap and leave the corporate world in order to follow my heart. I love creating art and crafting, taking photos and being a creative spirit. But my mixed media paintings make me happiest of all and truly feed my soul."

You can get to know J.C. Spock a bit more, too. Find her on...