Ow, yes, of course, it's my webhome, studio, and shop. Welcome! I'm so happy you found your way here. My name is Amreta, the lucky owner of this whimsy place, and the creator of the graphics.

What happens everyday here, I can tell you, is constant trial-and-error-and-tweakings! :o) It's pretty much self-taught thing, but believe me my friends, it is exciting!

It has to be. You see, drawing graphics is first of all a hobby. I have an equally exciting fulltime job, and I can only focus on my graphics when I get home in the evening, on weekends, and on day-offs. I work on my graphics and website from a corner room in our family home in the city of Jakarta, armed with a laptop, an genius optical mouse, a play list of my favorite music (the list changes all the time), plus endless supply of hot coffee or tea or chocolate (and oh, I take a walk, do yoga or call my mom in between :o))

Creating what I call by 'happy little artwork' requires a huge dose of laughs, happy thoughts, and lots and lots of lovely inspiration, be it from illustrated books, magazines, scrapbooking stuff, vintage fabrics, those pretty blogs. Don't be afraid to be a child again. Sometimes funny imagination really helps: today play the role of that quirky wizard experimenting with colors to create the right potion, and tomorrow, what about that sweet lucky fairy coloring flowers in the garden with sparkling paints?

Wouldn't that be fun!

It all started in year 1999 when I got my second computer from my dad and I was tempted to create my own graphics. Pretty awkward in the beginning and my first graphics were quite 'weird', so to say.  But over time after surviving all the trial and error and tweaking - I got this addiction and it's amazing how it's going, up and running, and I enjoy the 'adventure' very much. It makes me happy!

Hmm, not really. Probably it all fell naturally on me as I started my adventure in this world by being born to an artist couple. I grew up watching dad putting his creative energy into canvases and mom into fabrics. Our house was full of dad's paintings, the smell of oil paints, and mom's collection of patterns and batik. And though my parents never encouraged me to become an artist specifically, being an artist's daughter I was allowed to dream alot of dream since I was little (even to act like my idol of all time, Pippi Longstocking!), and from early in life I made friends with Mr Miro, Mr Matisse, Mr Bach, Mr Mozart and Mr Beethoven, who were certainly my dad's favorites. And I always say that I first became an art student at age 3 when I had to sit in dad's class whenever my parents couldn't find someone to babysit me :o)

On the boat to Bali
with Dad, 1982

Ow yes, very much, certainly. I'm deeply impressed by my Javanese childhood. Though at that time things just seemed 'normal' for me, and I wasn't particularly interested in designs. I was more into traditional dances and playing the violin, two things that gave me 'identity' before later I discovered internet graphics. Now I also know where my love of folksy things (including folk music) comes from :o)

Not only about art, my first 'selling homemade' experience can be traced way back to my childhood, to my primary school years when mom invested in a small freezer and after school I would help mom selling frozen syrup to a food stall. Life was pretty simple back then in my hometown. Almost everyone in the neighbourhood each brought their homemade specialties to food stalls, especially during the fasting month, a tradition that is still so much alive until today. (read about it in my blog here and here)

Well, to be very honest, I don't know :o) I didn't choose my style. It just occured to me 'like that'. I think, besides your childhood, your experience around the times when you create your art would very much influence your 'choices'.

In 1990 I was blessed with a chance to go to France as an exchange student with AFS International - and oh, can you imagine the cultural shock? - during those years when the words 'internet, email, sms' still couldn't be found anywhere in my brain. I had no 'live reference', only a few books from the French Cultural Center. But that was the beauty of surprise and discovery. So much living in a crowded city at that time, I was over excited to find that my host family lived in a tiny town in the Eastern France - almost a village - with a big garden full of flowers on the back. On many occasions weekends were spent at the family's farmhouse in the Vosges mountains. If not, my host mom would take me to the village markets on Saturdays. One day, it was a trip along the wine road in Alsace region and I was introduced to those fairytale-looking villages amidst the vineyards, with the oh-so-cute half-timbered houses and bunches of flowers on each window and in every corner of the villages. Ladies and gentlemen, after that one year in France, I swore by country style.

At my host family's farmhouse
in the Vosges in France

A walk in the Vosges with
my host family in France

My second adopted country is Sweden, which I visited for the first time in 2002. Some of my host families there live in the country side in those yellow or red typical Swedish cottages, one by a forest and one even by a lake. I was swooned. My childhood dream of Pippi Longstocking came true! Another dream came true when my host family took me to visit the home of Swedish artist Carl Larsson, who has inspired and influenced the Swedish style of decorating. Once again I swore by country style. But this time I was also fascinated by Swedish designs and crafts.

Carl Larsson's home in
Sundborn, Sweden

My host family's cottage
in Sweden

Running to the lake by my
host family's home in Sweden

Sure sure sure! Million of times, I think :o) Just like in other artistic work or other kind of adventures, sometimes you may just get stuck, uninspired, having no clue, not knowing what to do. In my case, most often the challenge was finding a time - but I've learned that if you're determined enough, it's something you can actually control. The hardest thing that occured to me was somehow when I did have time but I just sat there, confused and uninspired, or, if I managed to draw something, the result dissapointed me. Then one day I came across Elizabeth Gilbert's (author of Eat, Pray, Love) website and read her 'thoughts on writing' - and I found the answer to my question. I'm glad I'm not alone. No one asked me to be a graphic artist at the very first place, and I never promised the world I would create super-duper-sophisticated graphics either. I have just always loved creating art. And if now I decided to draw graphics, I tell myself: life has been so good to me, I have plenty of things to be thankful of every moment every day, so now get back to work, and be happy :o)