Making Something Out Of Nothing
Being an artist who is also an environmentalist is what Valerie Rose De Cruz is. “I practice the 3R’s, reuse, reduce and recycle”. In fact, most of her do-it-yourselfs (DIY) are recycled material or things people would throw away. She reuses materials by discovering a new way to use it so that it does not need to be gotten rid of. The items are usually used for her creative projects. Some examples would be Cds, plastic bottles, newspapers, repainting old shoes and more.
One of her highest no. of searches for ideas before she creates is Pinterest. The social network allows her to generate creative ideas for her many projects. Being someone that has a deep attachment to the environment, building, decorating and remodelling something of low costs, or even no costs whatever, is the only pull she needs to be drawn into creating, which indeed started at a very young age.
Valerie realised her artistic side during her primary days when she first drew Disney’s Little Mermaid in art class. Since then, with the help of her mother who also knew a thing or two about art, she tapped into that side of herself and began creating.
Although her journey began with drawing and painting, as she matured, she started creating her very own DIY’s, taking inspiration from one of her all-time favourite artist, Walt Disney. Understanding and falling in love with his work has helped her constantly see the magic in life and also adding that small aspect to most of her creations. Her first DIY projects were scrapbooks with her best friend.
Her interest and passion for creating art has kept the hobby thriving within her. However, what helps more is always having a can do attitude and mind set. Knowing that she has the ability to inspire and impress people and herself makes her feel empowered in a way she has never known before. Also it doesn’t hurt to customize materials of interest making things more heartfelt and special.
“When I am happy or calm, or even inspired with something beautiful that captures my attention, I start working on something”, she said. Lately, Valerie’s art has been focused on places she goes to and moments she experiences. An example of her work is soil she collected and placed in different vials from the many countries she visited when she went on a trip to Europe.
The amount of time she takes into creating pieces usually varies with the nature of the project. Some projects take up to a couple of hours, whereas others take a couple of months. Three human sized paper mache figurines took her a month to complete, but most of her projects are an exception time wise, because she describes herself as a perfectionist, paying close attention to detail. Besides, she practices good time management, only working on projects during her free time and semester breaks.
The kind of art that is created from the heart, is to her the best kind because you hardly can put a price on it. For the future though, whether she plans to put a price on it, her answer to that is maybe. She feels like making it a side profession is something she is definitely open to as you can never go out of style with talent.
“The four top artists that I look up to is Walt Disney, Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Van Gogh. Their works of animation and art are pieces I aspire to create someday”, she noted. She even attempted and succeeded in recreating Van Gogh’s starry night on her jewellery box, knowing that if she puts her mind to it, she can create almost anything.
It is generally known that you would have to have talent in order to create a DIY or be artistic. However, according to Valerie, talent means nothing, while experience acquired in humility coupled with hard work means everything. It is effort, hard work, persistence and the interest to do it. One of her favourite quotes explain it best, “an artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work”.
Of course like any other person, there are challenges. But the main one she battles with is putting her work out there and getting it recognized and valued. A lot of work and exposure goes into that. When it comes to spending on the hobby, Valerie doesn’t spend too much as she uses mostly used items, unless she is in need of paint or a hot glue gun.
For those that want to venture into the art world like her, her advices are simple.
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Take a chance and have courage to just do it
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Be confident no matter how it turns out
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Be determined and put in the work
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Never give up
“Do ensure to always take a leap of faith, because that will take you places and don’t ever worry about boundaries because with art, there isn’t one”, says Valerie.
