In honor of Maker’s Monday, I am thrilled to feature the incredibly sweet and talented Dara Weyna of Coffee and Lilacs as our Mompreneur this week. Dara expresses her art through various mediums including drawings, paintings, crocheted items and jewelry. I discovered her through an event where her coloring book, The Grass Can Be Purple, was featured and it gave me an opportunity to do something I had not done in a long time. I got to sit and enjoy the process of coloring just for myself.
Dara is an educated and trained artist who double majored in French and Fine Art with a minor in Art History. She studied in Paris and traveled throughout France during several semesters in college. She’s definitely a lady after my own heart, since I also studied French and photography. Kindred spirits I would say! With supportive parents, Dara had the opportunity to nurture her artistic skills from the beginning and making all things beautiful.
After Dara had her first son, she began blogging to maintain her creative energy. Taking pictures and writing a virtual journal was the right synthesis, as she says, to allow for creativity while being a stay-at-mom. This led to the birth of her blog “Coffee and Lilacs,” a name inspired by her late grandmother. Now that her kids are older, she has more time to herself and has slowed down on blogging, which has allowed her other passions to evolve. The concept of time shifted for her, especially after her second son was born, when it felt like she would never have time to make anything again!
After her late grandmother, who taught her how to crochet when she was a young girl passed away, Dara started a project called “You Are Loved,” in which she crocheted small, colorful hearts for people as a way to cope with her loss and to honor her grandmother’s kind and giving nature. She would give them away to friends and strangers to show that they are loved. Being able to make and share something with the sole intent of bringing people joy brought new meaning and awareness to her creative process. She continued this practice with small, 4 x 4 art postcards that she would make with her children, which they named, “Love Art” cards and would hide them around town for people to find. Her latest creations are beautiful, crocheted rocks that have uplifting messages on the backside. To her, it’s a continuation of the spirit of “You Are Loved” and is currently working on building up her inventory to be released in her etsy shop in January.
It was never Dara’s intention to set out to be an entrepreneur, but it happened organically with craft fairs of jewelry and crocheted items, and now also her coloring book and cards which are all available on Etsy and at the Napa Bookmine.
As an artist, mass production is not part of her practice, but the coloring book has been a great project to have readily available to share. Dara’s biggest joy in sharing her art is seeing the happiness that it brings people and how much they appreciate and care for the energy and love she has put into making the pieces.
The coloring book has been a wonderful vessel of collaboration between her and the public, and she has offered several free coloring events throughout Napa at various locations such as the library, retirement homes, PS1 and Redwood Middle School among others.
When Dara is not working on her personal artwork, she teaches crochet classes at Yarns On First and is also on the faculty at Stone Bridge School where she teaches 3rd, 4th and 8th grade Handwork classes. However, while at home, her favorite place to be found is being creative with her children in her art studio…or outside getting some energy out. With two boys who are 8 and 6, it’s important for her to keep them active, so hiking and biking are perfect activities when they are not drawing, painting or building wacky sculptures. Being a night owl helps her maintain her creative flow and gives her a chance to bring to life all the ideas that manifested in her head during the day. Dara also takes time to work out as her self-care outlet. It’s been important to take time to rejuvenate when she dedicates so much of her time to taking care of her family.
When asked if Dara had any words of wisdom, she wanted to encourage you to always take time for yourself, as hard as it may feel sometimes to do so. In the end, not everything is going to get done in life, but even less gets accomplished when we don’t take the time to nurture our selves. Like most new moms, she felt that she had to be everything and do everything and didn’t give herself permission for self-care. Now she knows it was something she could have used more of when her boys were younger. In terms of entrepreneurship, it is important go with your gut and embrace your heart because it will lead you to where you need to be. The excuses will only put barriers in the way of where you need to go.
So, if you are looking for some inspiration, perhaps start with a coloring book! Let your creative juices be inspired and it would also make a sweet gift for the holidays. It’s really the perfect gift for anyone, even yourself. It’s a great way to nurture your creative side, because it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect or a masterpiece. Enjoy a cup of tea or a glass of wine and allow yourself to Zen out and be creative. I also learned that after you’re done, you can repurpose pages and make them greeting cards. Happy coloring!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CoffeeandLilacsLove
https://www.facebook.com/coffeeandlilacs/
https://www.instagram.com/daraweyna/