Featured Etsy Shop: SouthernBlood

Name: Matthew Hyatt, 23

Business Name: SouthernBlood

Website: www.southernblood.etsy.com

Where are you located? kentucky!!!

How did you become an artist/craftsman? pablo picasso said, "every child is an artist. the problem's how to remain one when he grows up" i can easily said i never grew up. i still watch transformers the movie. i have been making things ever since i was small. but in high school it took off. i'd make jewelry for the girls and people would pay me to rip and patch their jeans with all kinds of vintage fabrics. then i started making t shirts and haven't stopped.

Who/ what inspires you? God inspires me in all that i do. Humanly speaking, Monet, Sisley, any aspiring photographer, all things natural and bright colors.

What type of things do you design or create? right now the shop basically only has jewelry but i'm working on a new line of t shirts soon to be posted. i'm excited. i've focused all these on our inner anger and another line on interesting, somewhat comical natural things like grizzly bears or sheep. odd, i know. that's why i'm excited. i'll do any kind of jewelry from necklaces to earrings to other pieces. i have a new line of jewelry that utilizes a tree over one hundred years old that was sadly struck by lightning and collapsed. i think it will be amazing.
so an easy answer to the question...jewelry, tees and anything else that can be recycled into things like envelopes.

What are your hobbies? i'm a painter and photographer at heart. i use mostly acrylics now, the liquitex super heavy body and heavy bodied ones. i love impressionism. i also have a nikon d40x with an 18-55mm and 70-200mm lens with a few filters. i am out for at least a half an hour each day just taking pictures. i love picture studies of things like clouds or color changes from light on the environment.

Describe your ideal workshop or workspace. ha. a quiet temple set in an asian forest with candles and kotos and flutes playing softly in the background. i try to emulate that in my studio here. sometimes there's metal playing though. lol. i am so consumed with asian culture and history so if i could move to japan that would be ideal. i want green walls, huge windows and open doors with sunlight pouring in.

What are your long term goals? my long term goals...wow...i'd love to be a recognized photographer. i am working on the painter...i'm the solo exhibit in the Zeppelin Art Gallery here in kentucky through July 31st. i really want people to enjoy and find their own idea and meaning in my photos and paintings.
otherwise, i hope to be married next year and live in a serene cabin in the woods.
i published a book of poetry called, "I Am Icarus", as well and i'd love to be an accomplished poet.
you can check it out here: www.cafepress.com/iamicarus

Please describe your favorite piece. my favorite piece on etsy? well, i'm totally digging this one: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12719332, the Midsummer's Night Necklace...i love shakespeare's writings and i feel like it truly embodies the entangling and weaving plots while still being subtle and a little colorful. i love the vine pattern which, to me, makes the piece...if it were another pattern it would have no effect.