Meet Laura Barbosa from Toms River, New Jersey, who is a full-time artist. Yes, full-time, as in she makes her living off her art, just as her slogan says, “Living to Paint ~ Painting to Live.” Laura paints modern art, contemporary and abstract paintings. She is also a digital artist with many unique designs to choose from. Her digital artwork can be purchased as pdf images here on Zibbet.

Laura is an Internationally collected artist with public collections. She has been featured in many publications and her art was chosen for the new series on HGTV called “Battle of the Block.”

Laura promotes her art with a Facebook Fan Page. You can also follow her on Twitter. And don’t miss Laura’s blog for plenty of inspiration.

We are pleased to have Laura in our Zibbet Community and we hope you enjoy her interview.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

   Hello, my name is Laura Barbosa and I am a full time fine artist & business owner. I live off the sales of my original paintings, fine art prints and digital collage sheets. I am a self taught artist and love to create fine art such as animal portraits, textured palette knife work, figurative art and modern abstract paintings for galleries, businesses and home owners. I am also a graphic designer and supply the scrapbooking community with a unique variety of printable images created out of my handmade  designs catering mainly to mixed media artisans, jewelry makers, homemakers and crafters. My art is collected on an International Level, Licensed with Icon Shoes, Featured on HGTV, Published in Hair’s How Magazine, NY ARTS Magazine, Forbes & more.

   I am also a mom to 2 wonderful dogs: One Dogue De Bordeaux (French Mastiff) and One Pug. We live in South New Jersey near the Seaside Boardwalk where they filmed the reality show “Jersey Shore.”

2. Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?

   Apart from being creative, I volunteer my free time at local hospitals and nursing homes with my Therapy Dog: Henna bringing joy to sick and elderly people.

   In 2008, I donated 3 - 24 x 48″ paintings to the bright and beautiful therapy dog organization to raise money for their program and to keep therapy dogs in our facilities. The Community Medical Center in Toms River New Jersey purchased the 3 paintings for $7500.00 and that money went into the therapy dog fund. The paintings are now a permanent public collection on three floors of the hospital -Oncology, Hospice and Outpatient Radiology.

3. What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?

   My inspiration comes from everyday life and nature. My big secret is: I love the Vampire Diaries! Before I start working, I download songs from the soundtrack so I can listen to them while I work. If I am in a more serious mood and creating art with great detail, I might change over to classical music or Andrea Bocelli. The only other ritual I have is clearing my mind before I start working either by taking the dogs for a walk or sitting in the yard for awhile to relax. One thing is for sure: Painting original art on canvas must be done when you have the best desire to do it. I can never force creativity, it just has to flow subconsciously or it won’t turn out very good. I think it is a lot like writing a good blog post from the heart. A good painting must come from the soul.

4. Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?

   Yes, I have 3 heroes in the world. The first is Susan Boyle for never giving up on her dreams no matter what. She proves to me that hope and faith are so important.

   The second person is Rodney King. I got to know him through watching him on the reality rehab show with Dr. Drew. I look up to him because of who he is and his ability to truly forgive the people who hurt him and that was such a big deal to me.

   The third is Picasso because he speaks freedom to my soul and also gives the impression of expertise and knowledge of his craft. He is remarkable and timeless and is also known as a great business man in which I truly admire.

   I was slightly brain damaged at birth, and I want people like me to see that they shouldn’t let a disability get in the way. I want to raise awareness - I want to turn my disability into ability. ~Susan Boyle

   Can we all get along?  ~Rodney King

   Action is the foundational key to all success. ~Pablo Picasso

5. What other passions do you have in your life?

   I am a lover of God, the earth, a go green person, a vegan and a champion for animal welfare. All these things I am very passionate about.

6. What do you like most about Zibbet?

   My favorite thing about Zibbet is my shop page because it is totally customizable and I am able to post all my widgets. This is something many other sites don’t have. I love having my tweets and my prints available to my clients on the side bars and being able to add whatever I want has really made my shop great looking and interesting. The feedback is also a very cool idea because I can put my favorite feedback on my home page and it automatically updates itself. Also, Zibbet is constantly making the site better and thinking of new ways sellers can sell more and buyers can find what they are looking for. I think it is a great place to be as an artisan and a great place to find original and unique art and gifts. The future for Zibbet looks very promising. I am hoping to get rid of all my other shops and sell all my art exclusively from Zibbet.

7. What ‘new’ things would you like to see added to Zibbet?

   The one thing I would like to see added to Zibbet is more showcases and spots that we can purchase to advertise our work and make more sales. Other than that I think Zibbet is on the right track..

8. How do you promote your work?

   When I first started selling my paintings over the internet, I read many articles and found out that Art Blogging was an essential key element to getting noticed by the public. I also wanted a place where I could post my artwork and explain my techniques so I had articles for future reference.  My first blog post was not very good because I thought about what I would say and put the words down very mechanically. But through the years, I have learned that any article or blog worth reading must come from the heart. This revelation also helped me name my wordpress blog: “The Heart Of Art Blog - A Virtual Meeting Ground For Art lovers” Since then my art blog has become a diary of my artwork, events, commissions, tips on techniques, a place to share my inner thoughts about selling art, and the best place for me to write down my true feelings and interact with the public. The Heart Of Art Blog has gained popularity through facebook and also has introduced me to many other artists who are now great friends and influential clients and galleries.

   Finding me is easy now because I have spent the last 5 years trying to make my presence known by getting my name in the public eye. Being seen is very important no matter what you are selling. Remember: “Out of Sight, Out of Mind’. Becoming popular online takes time and I did it by joining free art sites, social networking communities, and listing my artwork in many different brick and mortar galleries. It will take time to join all these sites but if you do it, eventually people will know you and remember seeing you before and this is very important.

   Facebook has also been very important for getting noticed by thousands of friends and now thousands of fans. I have had 3 offers from International art galleries through Facebook and signed up with an agent who sells my paintings at top galleries worldwide. It is worth the time to create and maintain a fan page. Facebook is one of my keys to success.

   Twitter has also been instrumental in helping me find new modern art collectors and followers looking for coupons and tweets about new work.  I tweet about 5x per day. Also my Ning networks are excellent for networking with other artists and it all seems to create a snowball effect. The more you are known, the better it is to be found.

9. How would you recommend other Zibbeters make the most of Zibbet.com?

   I think all Zibbeters need to constantly promote their Zibbet shop by using twitter, face book, blogging and pasting a Zibbet badge on all their personal sites to direct traffic back to their Zibbet shop. Making business cards with your Zibbet shop address is always something you can carry with you and pass out to everyone you meet. I always take my cards with me and pass them out at every given opportunity.

10. In the future I’d like to be…

    In the future I’d like to use my art to help homeless animals and make a difference in the world by raising awareness and making enough money to open up a shelter/art gallery where I create art for healing. I would also like to sit next to Oprah and see if we can come up with a great idea on how to use art as an educational tool for children in 3^rd world countries.

Tags: Barbosa Art, Featured Zibbeters